Evaluation of bacterial and fungal contamination in the health care workers? hands and rings in the intensive care unit

Introduction. Nosocomial infections remain a major challenge to the health care system and result in significant mortality, morbidity, and economic burden. Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at great risk of acquiring nosocomial infections. The objective of this study was to determine the contamination rate (bacterial and fungal) of the health care workers? (HCWs?) hands and ring in ICU. Methods. All health care workers were screened during the day shift in Emam hospital ICU. After obtaining informed consent, convenience samples of HCWs? hands and rings were cultured on specific media during their routine work hours, always after a patient care episode. The fungal and bacterial isolates were identified using standard microbiological procedures. Results. A total of 40 subjects were selected in this study (28females, 12males). The rate of contamination of hands and rings was observed in 73.1%. Most of isolates are known to cause nosocomial infections which included: 23% staphylococci, 7.9% Klebsiella spp., 4.7% Enterobacter spp., 3.9% Escherichia coli, 3.1% Acinetobacter spp., 2.3% Pseudomonas spp., and 27.7% were colonized with fungi. The fungal isolates were 16.6% Candida spp., 3.9% Rhodotorula spp., 3.1% Aspergillus niger, and 3.9% Aspergillus flavus. Conclusion. According to these results HCWs? hands and their rings were contaminated with various types of microorganisms. Medical and hospital personals must follow careful hand-washing techniques to minimize transmission of disease and should remove rings, watches, and bracelets before washing their hands and entering the ICU

Adjustment formulae to improve the correlation of white-to-white measurement with direct measurement of the ciliary sulcus diameter by ultrasound biomicroscopy

Purpose: This study evaluates the correlation between horizontal white-to-white (WTW) distance using Caliper and Orbscan IIz with the ciliary sulcus diameter measured by high frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) and presents an adjustment formula to improve the correlation. Methods: We measured horizontal sulcus-to-sulcus (STS) dimension of 273 right eyes of 273 high myopic patients with 35 MHz UBM and horizontal WTW using Orbscan IIz and Caliper. Mean WTW diameter, differences, and the correlation of measurement methods were evaluated. Results: The mean spherical equivalent was �8.79 ± 4.87 diopters. Mean horizontal STS dimension with UBM was 12.13 ± 0.45 mm (range, 10.81�13.42 mm). Mean WTW diameter in the Caliper method was 11.70 ± 0.40 mm (range, 10.6�12.8 mm) and 11.70 ± 0.40 mm (range, 10.5�13.1 mm) in the Orbscan method. Mean difference of UBM STS and WTW with Caliper was 0.48 ± 0.28 mm (range, �0.19 to 1.37 mm). Mean difference of UBM STS diameter and Orbscan WTW was 0.38 ± 0.31 mm (range, �0.64 to 1.29 mm). The Pearson correlations of WTW diameter measured by Caliper and Orbscan with UBM's STS diameter were 0.778 and 0.773, respectively. This difference diminished after adjustment. The 95 limit of agreement was almost the same in Caliper and Orbscan (�0.07 to 1.03 compared with �0.23 to 0.99). Conclusion: There is a significant difference in measurements between STS diameter using UBM and WTW diameter utilizing Caliper and Orbscan. This difference diminished after our recommended adjustment. © 2017 Iranian Society of Ophthalmolog

Constraints on the χ_(c1) versus χ_(c2) polarizations in proton-proton collisions at √s = 8 TeV

The polarizations of promptly produced χ_(c1) and χ_(c2) mesons are studied using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC, in proton-proton collisions at √s=8  TeV. The χ_c states are reconstructed via their radiative decays χ_c → J/ψγ, with the photons being measured through conversions to e⁺e⁻, which allows the two states to be well resolved. The polarizations are measured in the helicity frame, through the analysis of the χ_(c2) to χ_(c1) yield ratio as a function of the polar or azimuthal angle of the positive muon emitted in the J/ψ → μ⁺μ⁻ decay, in three bins of J/ψ transverse momentum. While no differences are seen between the two states in terms of azimuthal decay angle distributions, they are observed to have significantly different polar anisotropies. The measurement favors a scenario where at least one of the two states is strongly polarized along the helicity quantization axis, in agreement with nonrelativistic quantum chromodynamics predictions. This is the first measurement of significantly polarized quarkonia produced at high transverse momentum