ABSTRACT
A controlled trial of once daily cleaning of computer keyboards in an intensive care unit was performed comparing 2% chlorhexidine gluconate-70% isopropyl alcohol (CHG) and a chlorine dioxide-based product used as a standard in our hospital. A study before and after the introduction of once daily keyboard cleaning with CHG in the wider hospital was also completed. Cleaning with CHG showed a sustained and significant reduction in bacterial colony forming units compared with the chlorine dioxide-based product, demonstrating its unique advantage of maintaining continuous keyboard cleanliness over time.
Subject(s)
Bacteria/isolation & purification , Chlorhexidine/analogs & derivatives , Chlorine Compounds/administration & dosage , Disinfectants/administration & dosage , Disinfection/methods , Environmental Microbiology , Fomites/microbiology , Oxides/administration & dosage , 2-Propanol/administration & dosage , Chlorhexidine/administration & dosage , Colony Count, Microbial , HumansABSTRACT
With the completion of genome sequencing projects, there are a large number of proteins for which we have little or no functional information. Since protein function is closely related to three-dimensional conformation, structural proteomics is one avenue where the role of proteins with unknown function can be investigated. In the present structural project, the structure of MTH187 has been determined by solution-state NMR spectroscopy. This protein of 12.4 kDa is one of the 424 non-membrane proteins that were cloned and purified for the structural proteomic project of Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum [Christendat, D., Yee, A., Dharamsi, A., Kluger, Y., Gerstein, M., Arrowsmith, C.H. and Edwards, A.M. (2000) Prog. Biophys. Mol. Biol., 73, 339-345]. Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum is a thermophilic archaeon that grows optimally at 65 degrees C. A particular characteristic of this microorganism is its ability to generate methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen [Smith, D.R., Doucette-Stamm, L.A., Deloughery, C., Lee, H., Dubois, J., Aldredge, T., Bashirzadeh, R., Blakely, D., Cook, R., Gilbert, K., Harrison, D., Hoang, L., Keagle, P., Lumm, W., Pothier, B., Qiu, D., Spadafora, R., Vicaire, R., Wang, Y., Wierzbowski, J., Gibson, R., Jiwani, N., Caruso, A., Bush, D., Reeve, J. N. et al. (1997) J. Bacteriol., 179, 7135-7155].