Application of gravitational clustering analysis to liquid gastric emptying.

A gravitational clustering analysis was applied to principal component weighting factors and t1/2 values from 100 liquid gastric emptying studies. Using principal components, groups of patients with clinical features in common were identified, whereas the analysis of the t1/2 values failed to differentiate them.

Coated bedpans: their cleaning and disinfection.

This paper reports on tests of cleaning and disinfection of stainless steel bedpans which have been coated with either a silicone grease or polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). The coatings were applied manually using an aerosol spray (silicone grease and PTFE), and by an industrial process (PTFE). Soils used comprised (i) British Standard Soil (B.S., 1966), (ii) human serum albumin labelled with technetium-99m (HSA-Tc), and (iii) a suspension of Streptococcus faecalis in broth. Tests of cleaning and disinfection were carried out in automatic washing and steam disinfector machines. Results show that aerosol spraying impairs the cleaning process but that bedpans coated by the industrial process with PTFE are superior to uncoated bedpans.

The cleaning and disinfection by heat of bedpans in automatic and semi-automatic machines.

This work is concerned with the cleaning and disinfection by heat of stainless-steel and polypropylene bedpans, which had been soiled with either a biological contaminant, human serum albumin (HSA) labelled with technetium-99m 99m(Tc), or a bacteriological contaminant, streptococcus faecalis mixed with Tc-labelled HSA. Results of cleaning and disinfection achieved with a Test Machine and those achieved by procedures adopted in eight different wards of a general hospital are reported. Bedpan washers installed in wards were found to be less efficient than the Test Machine, at least partly because of inadequate maintenance. Stainless-steel and polypropylene bedpans gave essentially the same results.