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Summary: This study aimed to quantify the blood content of aerosols produced during dental, maxillofacial and autopsy procedures and to identify those activities which involve the greatest risk of infection due to exposure to blood-containing aerosols. A total of 132 air samples were taken in several dental cubicles, a maxillofacial operating theatre and an autopsy room. The concentration of haemoglobin (Hb) in the samples was quantified and, for each day of sampling, the concentration of blood/m3 of air aspirated (μL blood/m3 air) was calculated. Hb was detected in 38.64% of samples. The mean concentration of Hb in the samples was 0.10±0.19μg Hb/m3 of aspirated air, with a range of 0–0.72μg Hb/m3. No statistically significant differences in the concentration of blood aerosol per m3 of aspirated air were noted among the three types of activity analysed (P >0.05). Although there is, as yet, no concrete proof of the risk of infection through blood-containing aerosols, minimising the production and dispersal of aerosols and spatters is strongly recommended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: To establish the possible sources and routes of transmission of a multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii outbreak involving 22 patients. Study design: Descriptive, retrospective study. Methods: An environmental investigation was undertaken, monitoring surfaces, air and water. Reconstruction of the spread of the infection took several factors into account such as intrahospital movements of patients and healthcare personnel, hospitalization of patients in the same ward and in chronologically compatible periods, and length of stay. A. baumannii clinical samples were typed using the Multiloeus Sequence Typing scheme. Results: The outbreak originated from a patient admitted to the sub-intensive care unit, and the infection subsequently spread to other wards. The allelic profile proved to be the same for all the clinical isolates. Environmental monitoring yielded negative results for A. baumannii. Conclusions: The results suggest that this epidemic spread through cross-transmission involving healthcare workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We studied the geometry, intensity of deformation and fluid–rock interaction of a high angle normal fault within Carrara marble in the Alpi Apuane NW Tuscany, Italy. The fault is comprised of a core bounded by two major, non-parallel slip surfaces. The fault core, marked by crush breccia and cataclasites, asymmetrically grades to the host protolith through a damage zone, which is well developed only in the footwall block. On the contrary, the transition from the fault core to the hangingwall protolith is sharply defined by the upper main slip surface. Faulting was associated with fluid–rock interaction, as evidenced by kinematically related veins observable in the damage zone and fluid channelling within the fault core, where an orange–brownish cataclasite matrix can be observed. A chemical and isotopic study of veins and different structural elements of the fault zone (protolith, damage zone and fault core), including a mathematical model, was performed to document type, role, and activity of fluid–rock interactions during deformation. The results of our studies suggested that deformation pattern was mainly controlled by processes associated with a linking-damage zone at a fault tip, development of a fault core, localization and channelling of fluids within the fault zone. Syn-kinematic microstructural modification of calcite microfabric possibly played a role in confining fluid percolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]