Insufficient performance of cleaning and disinfection of flexible endoscopes can pose an infection risk to patients. Actually quality of reprocessing is checked by performing microbiological cultures. Unfortunately, their results are not available on the same day so that more rapid methods are desirable. We compared the ATP (adenosine triphosphate) bioluminescence for hygiene checking of the re...

In 2003, the Swiss parliament decided to introduce a 10-year moratorium on the export of spent fuel for reprocessing which started in July 2006. Before the start of the moratorium, the utilities were free to choose between reprocessing and direct disposal of the spent fuel. The Nuclear Energy Act states a series of conditions which must be fulfilled for an authorisation of the export of spent f...

In related work, we have shown that conventional digital cameras easily can be modified to directly capture anaglyphs. Anaglyph images commonly have been used to encode stereo image pairs for viewing, but anaglyphs also can be treated as an efficient encoding of two-view image data for reprocessing. Each of the two views encoded within an anaglyph has only partial color information, but our pre...

Microbiological surveillance is an important means for evaluating the outcome quality of reprocessing procedures and is an instrument of regular quality control in gastrointestinal endoscopy, whether endoscopic procedures are performed in hospitals, in private clinics or doctors’ offices. It is an instrument for detecting and redressing weaknesses and mistakes in the reprocessing procedure and ...

Background: Manufacturers’ recommendations on cleaning of tracheostomy tubes focus on general warning information and nonMatthias Leonhard Ojan Assadian specific manual cleaning procedures. The aim of this experimental study Michaela Zumtobel was to evaluate different reprocessing methods and to determine the Berit Schneider-Stickler mechanical integrity and functionality of tracheostomy tubes ...

Nuclear energy is among the most viable alternatives to our current fossil fuel-based energy economy. The mass deployment of nuclear energy as a low-emissions source requires the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel to recover fissile materials and mitigate radioactive waste. A major concern with reprocessing used nuclear fuel is the release of volatile radionuclides such as xenon and krypton that...

BACKGROUND/AIMS To prevent the transmission of pathogens by endoscopes, following established reprocessing guidelines is critical. An ideal reprocessing step is simple, fast, and inexpensive. Here, we evaluated and compared the efficacy and safety of two disinfectants, a tertiary amine compound (TAC) and ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA). METHODS A total of 100 colonoscopes were randomly reprocessed...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To determine the effect of repeated reprocessing of pediatric tracheostomy tubes (TTs) on biofilm formation. STUDY DESIGN In vitro microbiological study. METHODS Pediatric, uncuffed, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) TTs from two different manufacturers (Tracoe Mini and Shiley) were reprocessed mechanically with household detergent and soaked in sodium hypochlorite (bleach). Tw...