Evaluation of the function of mitral valve prosthesis by non-invasive methods

The study was undertaken to examine the correlation between the parameters of central hemodynamics and mitral valve prosthesis functions which were obtained by invasive techniques, as well as these of physical working capacity, hemodynamics, and blood by noninvasive methods at rest and during bicycle ergometry in the graded exercise test. An examination was made of 24 patients every 0.5-8 years (mean 3.2 years) after replacement of mitral valves by xenobioprostheses. "Oxygen pulse" and cardiac index defined during exercise highly correlated with prosthetic mid-diastolic pressure gradients. A moderate correlation was found between dry erythrocytic mass and total pulmonary blood flow resistance. The findings may be useful for the early diagnosis of prosthetic dysfunctions.     

Chemical resistance of the gram-negative bacteria to different sanitizers in a water purification system

Background  

Purified water for pharmaceutical purposes must be free of microbial contamination and pyrogens. Even with the additional sanitary and disinfecting treatments applied to the system (sequential operational stages), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas alcaligenes, Pseudomonas picketti, Flavobacterium aureum, Acinetobacter lowffi and Pseudomonas diminuta were isolated and identified from a thirteen-stage purification system. To evaluate the efficacy of the chemical agents used in the disinfecting process along with those used to adjust chemical characteristics of the system, over the identified bacteria, the kinetic parameter of killing time (D-value) necessary to inactivate 90% of the initial bioburden (decimal reduction time) was experimentally determined.