Performance evaluation of a new mobile air-treatment technology at-rest and under normal work conditions in a conventional hematology room

The implementation of portable air-cleaning technologies in healthcare settings - a scoping review

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed opportunities to improve prevention practices in healthcare settings, mainly related to the spread of airborne microbes (also known as bioaerosols). This scoping review aimed to map methodologies used to assess the implementation of portable air cleaners in healthcare settings, identify gaps, and propose recommendations for future research. The protocol was registered in the Open Science Framework and reported following the checklist provided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis - an extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) statement. The search strategy was performed in five databases and one grey literature source. At the last selection phase, 24 articles that fulfilled our inclusion criteria were summarized and disseminated. Of these, 17 studies were conducted between 2020 and 2022; one of them was a protocol of a multicentre randomized controlled trial. The outcomes measured among the studies include airborne microbe counts, airborne particle concentrations, and rate of infections/interventions. The leading healthcare settings assessed were dental clinics (28%), patient's wards (16%), operating rooms (16%), and intensive care units (12%). Most of the devices demonstrated a significant potential to mitigate the impact of bioaerosols. Although some indoor air quality parameters can influence the mechanics of aerosols, only a few studies controlled these parameters in their analyses. Future clinical research should assess the rate of infections through randomized controlled trials with long-term follow-up and large sample sizes to determine the clinical importance of the findings.

Effectiveness of a novel, non-intrusive, continuous-use air decontamination technology to reduce microbial contamination in clinical settings: A multi-centric study

BACKGROUND

Despite rigorous disinfection and fumigation, healthcare associated infection (HAI) remains a significant concern in health care settings. We have developed a novel airborne-microbicidal technology "ZeBox" which clears over 99.999% of airborne microbial load under controlled lab conditions [1].

AIM

To evaluate the clinical performance of ZeBox in reducing airborne and surface microbial load.

METHODS

The study was conducted in single bed and multi bed ICU of two hospitals. Airborne and surface microbial loads were sampled pre- and post-deployment of ZeBox at pre-determined sites. Statistical significance of the reduction was determined using Mann-Whitney's U test.

RESULTS

ZeBox brought statistically significant reduction of both airborne and surface bacterial and fungal load. In both hospital ICUs, airborne and surface bacterial load decreased by 90% and 75% on average respectively, providing a low bioburden zone of ∼10-15 feet diameter around the unit. The reduced microbial level was maintained during ZeBox's operation over several weeks. Most clinical bacterial isolates recovered from one of the hospitals were antibiotic resistant, highlighting ZeBox's ability to eliminate antimicrobial-resistant bacteria among others.

CONCLUSIONS

ZeBox significantly reduces airborne and surface microbial burden in clinical settings. It thereby serves an unmet need for reducing the incidence of HAI.

The Performance Impact of New Ventures in Working Environment and Innovation Behavior From the Perspective of Personality Psychology

A new venture barely makes a profit in its initial stage, and its success depends on innovation. Innovation is related to the work environment, and the innovation behavior of employees is of great significance to the performance improvement of new venture. Based on the previous research, in this study, hypotheses on the correlation between work environment, employee innovation behavior, and corporate performance are put forward first. Then, with team cooperation, organizational incentive, leadership support, sufficient resources, and work pressure as the factors of the work environment, the bosses, middle and senior managers involved in entrepreneurship, and the main members of the entrepreneurial team of 202 newly established enterprises in developed regions are surveyed online or in scene. Multivariate hierarchical regression analysis is performed to analyze the data collected from the questionnaire. The results show that the effective recovery rate of the questionnaire is 86.4%; the number of traditional enterprises is 108 (53.47%), and that of R&D enterprises is 68 (33.66%); teamwork, leadership support, and work pressure are all correlated with employees’ innovative behavior (P < 0.05), while organizational motivation and sufficient resources are not correlated with employees’ innovative behavior (P > 0.05); employee innovation behavior is positively correlated with enterprise performance (β = 0.375, P ≤ 0.01); the working environment and employee innovation behavior promote enterprise performance (β = 0.433, P ≤ 0.01); and the working environment affects the relationship between employee innovation behavior and enterprise performance (β = 0.399, P ≤ 0.05). The study theoretically enriches the research on the relationship between innovation behavior, work environment, and enterprise performance of new ventures. In practice, it is suggested that start-up enterprises provide good working environment for employees and attach importance to innovation activities at the individual level of employees, which provides useful guidance and reference for the development of Chinese start-up enterprises.

Molecular Epidemiology of Aspergillus fumigatus in Chronic Pulmonary Aspergillosis Patients

Molecular fungal genotyping techniques developed and employed for epidemiological studies have understandably concentrated on establishing the genetic diversity of Aspergillus fumigatus in invasive aspergillosis due to its severity, the urgency for treatment, and the need to demonstrate possible sources. Some early studies suggested that these strains were phenotypically, if not genotypically, different from others. However, with improved discrimination and evaluations, incorporating environmental as well as clinical isolates from other Aspergillus conditions (e.g., chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and cystic fibrosis), this premise is no longer upheld. Moreover, with the onset of increased global triazole resistance, there has been a concerted effort to incorporate resistance profiling into genotyping studies and the realisation that the wider population of non-immunocompromised aspergillosis patients are at risk. This review summarises the developments in molecular genotyping studies that incorporate resistance profiling with attention to chronic pulmonary aspergillosis and an example of our UK experience.