ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In 2020, routine cataract surgery was halted in most countries due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to reduce transmission. With a consequent lack of theatre space, we developed a safe cataract pathway in outpatient department clean rooms to minimize patient exposure and time spent in hospital using a sterile laminar air flow device. We describe our initial experiences of restarting elective cataract surgery in the UK outpatient setting, outside of the operating theatre environment. METHODS: This was a prospective consecutive study of our clinical practice. A sterile air zone unit, the Toul Meditech Operio Mobile device, was used to create a sterile surgical site in three separate outpatient clean rooms from May 2020 to December 2021 in different geographical locations within Herefordshire, UK. Observations of the time spent in the department and a formal patient satisfaction survey were carried out for the initial 100 patients. All patients were followed up to assess development of post-operative complications. RESULTS: 1269 patients were included in the study. No patients sustained post-operative infection (n = 0/1269, 0%). For the initial 100 patients, the average time spent within the department was 74.3 min (unilateral cases, range 45-115 min) and 93.1 min (bilateral, 55-135 min). Patient satisfaction was high. CONCLUSION: Initial results demonstrate a safe, efficient and effective cataract surgery pathway with high patient satisfaction by converting outpatient clean rooms into ophthalmic operating theatres using the Toul Meditech Operio Mobile.
ABSTRACT
Viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 can remain viable on solid surfaces for up to one week, hence fomites are a potential route of exposure to infectious virus. Copper has well documented antiviral properties that could limit this problem, however practical deployment of copper surfaces has been limited due to the associated costs and the incompatibility of copper metal in specific environments and conditions. We therefore developed an organic coating containing an intelligent-release Cu2+ pigment based on a cation exchange resin. Organic coatings containing a 50 % weight or higher loading of smart-release pigment were capable of completely inactivating (>6 log reduction in titre) SARS-CoV-2 within 4 h of incubation. Importantly these organic coatings demonstrated a significantly enhanced ability to inactivate SARS-CoV-2 compared to metallic copper and un-pigmented material. Furthermore, the presence of contaminating proteins inhibited the antiviral activity of metallic copper, but the intelligent-release Cu2+ pigment was unaffected. The approach of using a very basic paint system, based on a polymer binder embedded with "smart release" pigment containing an anti-viral agent which is liberated by ion-exchange, holds significant promise as a cost effective and rapidly deployed coating to confer virus inactivating capability to high touch surfaces.
ABSTRACT
[...]the subject of corrosion and protection of magnesium and its alloys remains one of the most highly cited fields in corrosion science and continues to stimulate significant interest and debate. Another two papers focus on Mg corrosion inhibition, one using an empirical approach to investigate the effectiveness of lithium carbonate technology on AZ31 alloy (Kish and coauthors) and the other using density functional theory calculations to optimize the inhibitive properties of bipyridyl-based derivatives (Feiler, et al.). [...]there are also valuable contributions which investigate the corrosion of binary Mg alloys prepared by high energy ball milling of nanocrystalline powders, by Gupta and coauthors, and the influence of carbon dioxide on the atmospheric corrosion of Mg-Al alloys in the presence of sodium chloride deposits, by Esmaily and coauthors.