Instruments.-Separator, conjunctival forceps and scissors, Lungard or von Graefe knife, iris spatula 2 mm. wide, Hess iris forceps, iris scissors (de Weckers), and scleral scissors. Instead of the ordinary iris spatula I use a special one provided with a small guard projecting for 1 mm. and situated 10 mm. from its tip (Figure). The purpose of this modification is to prevent the spatula from en...

Papanicolaou smears have false-negative rates of 6 percent to 56 percent that are due, in large part, to inadequate sampling of endocervical cells. A randomized, prospective trial was conducted comparing the adequacy of Papanicolaou smears obtained with the cytobrush and Ayre spatula with smears obtained with the extended-tip spatula, as measured by the presence of endocervical cells. One hundr...

AIMS   To test the efficacy of four wipe cloth types (cotton bar towel, nonwoven, microfibre and blended cellulose/cotton) with either quaternary ammonia cleaning solution or silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) in cleaning food contact surfaces. METHODS   Swab samples collected from untreated, cloth-treated and cloth disinfectant-treated surfaces were subjected to hygiene monitoring using adenosi...

Methamphetamine (meth) from meth syntheses or habitual meth smoking deposited on household surfaces poses human health hazards. The U.S. State Departments of Health require decontamination of sites where meth was synthesized (meth labs) before they are sold. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) methods for meth analysis require wipe sampling, extraction, clean-up, solve...

Plain, buffered cotton-wool swabs and albumen-coated cotton-wool swabs were prepared with known numbers of the following: Haemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, corynebacteria and Escherichia coli. Swabs were plated immediately (0 hours) after loading with a 0.1 ml standardised inoculum; each swab was plated out four times by streaking on both halves of two pla...

Surgeons are continuing to strive toward achieving higher quality minimally invasive surgery. With the growth of modern technology, intelligent medical devices are being used to improve the safety of surgery. Milling beyond the bone tissue wall is a common abnormal milling state in ear surgery, as well as entanglement of the drill bit with the cotton swab, which will do harm to the patient's en...

BACKGROUND In women with cancer-related hysterectomy, the vaginal vault cytology has a low efficacy - when performed by conventional methods - for the early detection of vaginal recurrence. The amount of exfoliated cells collected is generally low because of atrophy, and the vaginal vault corners can be so narrow that the commonly used Ayres spatula cannot often penetrate deeply into them. This...

Objective The aim of this study was to assess whether aural stimulation with ointment containing capsaicin improves swallowing function in elderly patients with dysphagia. Study design A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, comparative study. Settings Secondary hospital. Patients and methods Twenty elderly dysphagic patients with a history of cerebrovascular disorder or Parkinson...