10 results
Ethnic density and first episode psychosis in the British Pakistani population: findings from the East Lancashire Early Intervention Service
- Robert Qi, Masood Qureshi, Nadeem Gire, Imran B. Chaudhry, Victoria Vass, Jason C. McIntyre, Kaylee Barlow, Richard P. Bentall, Ross G. White, Nusrat Husain
-
- Journal:
- The British Journal of Psychiatry , FirstView
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 April 2024, pp. 1-6
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
-
Background
Elevated risk of psychosis for ethnic minority groups has generally been shown to be mitigated by high ethnic density. However, past survey studies examining UK Pakistani populations have shown an absence of protective ethnic density effects, which is not observed in other South Asian groups.
AimsTo assess the ethnic density effect at a local neighbourhood level, in the UK Pakistani population in East Lancashire.
MethodData was collected by the East Lancashire Early Intervention Service, identifying all cases of first episode psychosis (FEP) within their catchment area between 2012 and 2020. Multilevel Poisson regression analyses were used to compare incidence rates between Pakistani and White majority groups, while controlling for age, gender and area-level deprivation. The ethnic density effect was also examined by comparing incidence rates across high and low density areas.
ResultsA total of 455 cases of FEP (364 White, 91 Pakistani) were identified. The Pakistani group had a higher incidence of FEP compared to the White majority population. A clear effect of ethnic density on rates of FEP was shown, with those in low density areas having higher incidence rates compared to the White majority, whereas incidence rates in high density areas did not significantly differ. Within the Pakistani group, a dose-response effect was also observed, with risk of FEP increasing incrementally as ethnic density decreased.
ConclusionsHigher ethnic density related to lower risk of FEP within the Pakistani population in East Lancashire, highlighting the impact of local social context on psychosis incidence.
Head and Neck Cancer: United Kingdom National Multidisciplinary Guidelines, Sixth Edition
- Jarrod J Homer, Stuart C Winter, Elizabeth C Abbey, Hiba Aga, Reshma Agrawal, Derfel ap Dafydd, Takhar Arunjit, Patrick Axon, Eleanor Aynsley, Izhar N Bagwan, Arun Batra, Donna Begg, Jonathan M Bernstein, Guy Betts, Colin Bicknell, Brian Bisase, Grainne C Brady, Peter Brennan, Aina Brunet, Val Bryant, Linda Cantwell, Ashish Chandra, Preetha Chengot, Melvin L K Chua, Peter Clarke, Gemma Clunie, Margaret Coffey, Clare Conlon, David I Conway, Florence Cook, Matthew R Cooper, Declan Costello, Ben Cosway, Neil J A Cozens, Grant Creaney, Daljit K Gahir, Stephen Damato, Joe Davies, Katharine S Davies, Alina D Dragan, Yong Du, Mark R D Edmond, Stefano Fedele, Harriet Finze, Jason C Fleming, Bernadette H Foran, Beth Fordham, Mohammed M A S Foridi, Lesley Freeman, Katherine E Frew, Pallavi Gaitonde, Victoria Gallyer, Fraser W Gibb, Sinclair M Gore, Mark Gormley, Roganie Govender, J Greedy, Teresa Guerrero Urbano, Dorothy Gujral, David W Hamilton, John C Hardman, Kevin Harrington, Samantha Holmes, Jarrod J Homer, Deborah Howland, Gerald Humphris, Keith D Hunter, Kate Ingarfield, Richard Irving, Kristina Isand, Yatin Jain, Sachin Jauhar, Sarra Jawad, Glyndwr W Jenkins, Anastasios Kanatas, Stephen Keohane, Cyrus J Kerawala, William Keys, Emma V King, Anthony Kong, Fiona Lalloo, Kirsten Laws, Samuel C Leong, Shane Lester, Miles Levy, Ken Lingley, Gitta Madani, Navin Mani, Paolo L Matteucci, Catriona R Mayland, James McCaul, Lorna K McCaul, Pádraig McDonnell, Andrew McPartlin, Valeria Mercadante, Zoe Merchant, Radu Mihai, Mufaddal T Moonim, John Moore, Paul Nankivell, Sonali Natu, A Nelson, Pablo Nenclares, Kate Newbold, Carrie Newland, Ailsa J Nicol, Iain J Nixon, Rupert Obholzer, James T O'Hara, S Orr, Vinidh Paleri, James Palmer, Rachel S Parry, Claire Paterson, Gillian Patterson, Joanne M Patterson, Miranda Payne, L Pearson, David N Poller, Jonathan Pollock, Stephen Ross Porter, Matthew Potter, Robin J D Prestwich, Ruth Price, Mani Ragbir, Meena S Ranka, Max Robinson, Justin W G Roe, Tom Roques, Aleix Rovira, Sajid Sainuddin, I J Salmon, Ann Sandison, Andy Scarsbrook, Andrew G Schache, A Scott, Diane Sellstrom, Cherith J Semple, Jagrit Shah, Praveen Sharma, Richard J Shaw, Somiah Siddiq, Priyamal Silva, Ricard Simo, Rabin P Singh, Maria Smith, Rebekah Smith, Toby Oliver Smith, Sanjai Sood, Francis W Stafford, Neil Steven, Kay Stewart, Lisa Stoner, Steve Sweeney, Andrew Sykes, Carly L Taylor, Selvam Thavaraj, David J Thomson, Jane Thornton, Neil S Tolley, Nancy Turnbull, Sriram Vaidyanathan, Leandros Vassiliou, John Waas, Kelly Wade-McBane, Donna Wakefield, Amy Ward, Laura Warner, Laura-Jayne Watson, H Watts, Christina Wilson, Stuart C Winter, Winson Wong, Chui-Yan Yip, Kent Yip
-
- Journal:
- The Journal of Laryngology & Otology / Volume 138 / Issue S1 / April 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 14 March 2024, pp. S1-S224
- Print publication:
- April 2024
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
The mechanics of snow friction as revealed by micro-scale interface observations
- JAMES H. LEVER, SUSAN TAYLOR, ARNOLD J. SONG, ZOE R. COURVILLE, ROSS LIEBLAPPEN, JASON C. WEALE
-
- Journal:
- Journal of Glaciology / Volume 64 / Issue 243 / February 2018
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 04 December 2017, pp. 27-36
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
-
The mechanics of snow friction are central to competitive skiing, safe winter driving and efficient polar sleds. For nearly 80 years, prevailing theory has postulated that self-lubrication accounts for low kinetic friction on snow: dry-contact sliding warms snow grains to the melting point, and further sliding produces meltwater layers that lubricate the interface. We sought to verify that self-lubrication occurs at the grain scale and to quantify the evolution of real contact area to aid modeling. We used high-resolution (15 µm) infrared thermography to observe the warming of stationary snow under a rotating polyethylene slider. Surprisingly, we did not observe melting at contacting snow grains despite low friction values. In some cases, slider shear failed inter-granular bonds and produced widespread snow movement with no persistent contacts to melt (μ < 0.03). When the snow grains did not move and persistent contacts evolved, the slider abraded rather than melted the grains at low resistance (μ < 0.05). Optical microscopy revealed that the abraded particles deposited in air pockets between grains and thereby carried heat away from the interface, a process not included in current models. Overall, our results challenge whether self-lubrication is indeed the dominant mechanism underlying low snow kinetic friction.
Contributors
-
- By Francesco Acerbi, Ayca Akgoz, Matthew R. Amans, Ramsey Ashour, Mohammed Ali Aziz-Sultan, H. Hunt Batjer, Donnie Bell, Bernard R. Bendok, Giovanni Broggi, Morgan Broggi, Charles A. Bruno, Steven D. Chang, In Sup Choi, Omar Choudhri, Douglas J. Cook, William P. Dillon, Peter Dirks, Rose Du, Travis M. Dumont, Tarek Y. El Ahmadieh, Najib E. El Tecle, Mohamed Samy Elhammady, Paolo Ferroli, Alana M. Flexman, John C. Flickinger, Kai U. Frerichs, Sasikhan Geibprasert, Adrian W. Gelb, Y. Pierre Gobin, Bradley A. Gross, Seunggu J. Han, Tomoki Hashimoto, Juha Hernesniemi, Roberto C. Heros, Steven W. Hetts, Randall T. Higashida, Joshua A. Hirsch, Nikolai J. Hopf, L. Nelson Hopkins, Maziyar A. Kalani, M. Yashar S. Kalani, Hideyuki Kano, Syed Aftab Karim, Robert M. Koffie, Douglas S. Kondziolka, Timo Krings, Aki Laakso, Giuseppe Lanzino, Michael T. Lawton, Elad I. Levy, L. Dade Lunsford, Adel M. Malek, Michael P. Marks, George A. C. Mendes, Philip M. Meyers, Jacques Morcos, Nitin Mukerji, Christian Musahl, Ludmila Pawlikowska, Matthew B. Potts, Ross Puffer, James D. Rabinov, Jonathan J. Russin, Mina G. Safain, Duke Samson, Marco Schiariti, R. Michael Scott, Jason P. Sheehan, Paul Singh, Edward R. Smith, Scott G. Soltys, Robert F. Spetzler, Gary K. Steinberg, Philip E. Stieg, Hua Su, Karel terBrugge, Kiron Thomas, Tarik Tihan, Babu Welch, Jonathan White, H. Richard Winn, Chun-Po Yen, Jacky T. Yeung, Byron Yip, Samer G. Zammar
- Edited by Robert F. Spetzler, Douglas S. Kondziolka, Randall T. Higashida, University of California, San Francisco, M. Yashar S. Kalani
-
- Book:
- Comprehensive Management of Arteriovenous Malformations of the Brain and Spine
- Published online:
- 05 January 2015
- Print publication:
- 08 January 2015, pp x-xiv
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
Contributors
-
- By Pierre Amarenco, Adrià Arboix, Marcel Arnold, Robert W. Baloh, John Bamford, Jason J. S. Barton, Claudio L. Bassetti, Christopher F. Bladin, Julien Bogousslavsky, Julian Bösel, Marie-Germaine Bousser, Thomas Brandt, John C. M. Brust, Erica C. S. Camargo, Louis R. Caplan, Emmanuel Carrera, Carlo W. Cereda, Seemant Chaturvedi, Claudia Chaves, Chin-Sang Chung, Isabelle Crassard, Hans Christoph Diener, Marianne Dieterich, Ralf Dittrich, Geoffrey A. Donnan, Paul Eslinger, Conrado J. Estol, Edward Feldmann, José M. Ferro, Joseph Ghika, Daniel Hanley, Ahamad Hassan, Cathy Helgason, Argye E. Hillis, Marc Hommel, Carlos S. Kase, Julia Kejda-Scharler, Jong S. Kim, Rainer Kollmar, Joshua Kornbluth, Sandeep Kumar, Emre Kumral, Hyung Lee, Didier Leys, Eric Logigian, Mauro Manconi, Elisabeth B. Marsh, Randolph S. Marshall, Isabel P. Martins, Josep Lluís Martí-Vilalta, Heinrich P. Mattle, Jérome Mawet, Mikael Mazighi, Patrik Michel, Jay Preston Mohr, Thierry Moulin, Sandra Narayanan, Kwang-Yeol Park, Florence Pasquier, Charles Pierrot-Deseilligny, Nils Petersen, Raymond Reichwein, E. Bernd Ringelstein, Gabriel J. E. Rinkel, Elliott D. Ross, Arnaud Saj, Martin A. Samuels, Jeremy D. Schmahmann, Stefan Schwab, Florian Stögbauer, Mathias Sturzenegger, Laurent Tatu, Pariwat Thaisetthawatkul, Dagmar Timmann, Jan van Gijn, Ana Verdelho, Francois Vingerhoets, Patrik Vuilleumier, Fabrice Vuillier, Eelco F. M. Wijdicks, Shirley H. Wray, Wendy C. Ziai
- Edited by Louis R. Caplan, Jan van Gijn
-
- Book:
- Stroke Syndromes, 3ed
- Published online:
- 05 August 2012
- Print publication:
- 12 July 2012, pp vii-x
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
Contributors
-
- By Aakash Agarwala, Linda S. Aglio, Rae M. Allain, Paul D. Allen, Houman Amirfarzan, Yasodananda Kumar Areti, Amit Asopa, Edwin G. Avery, Patricia R. Bachiller, Angela M. Bader, Rana Badr, Sibinka Bajic, David J. Baker, Sheila R. Barnett, Rena Beckerly, Lorenzo Berra, Walter Bethune, Sascha S. Beutler, Tarun Bhalla, Edward A. Bittner, Jonathan D. Bloom, Alina V. Bodas, Lina M. Bolanos-Diaz, Ruma R. Bose, Jan Boublik, John P. Broadnax, Jason C. Brookman, Meredith R. Brooks, Roland Brusseau, Ethan O. Bryson, Linda A. Bulich, Kenji Butterfield, William R. Camann, Denise M. Chan, Theresa S. Chang, Jonathan E. Charnin, Mark Chrostowski, Fred Cobey, Adam B. Collins, Mercedes A. Concepcion, Christopher W. Connor, Bronwyn Cooper, Jeffrey B. Cooper, Martha Cordoba-Amorocho, Stephen B. Corn, Darin J. Correll, Gregory J. Crosby, Lisa J. Crossley, Deborah J. Culley, Tomas Cvrk, Michael N. D'Ambra, Michael Decker, Daniel F. Dedrick, Mark Dershwitz, Francis X. Dillon, Pradeep Dinakar, Alimorad G. Djalali, D. John Doyle, Lambertus Drop, Ian F. Dunn, Theodore E. Dushane, Sunil Eappen, Thomas Edrich, Jesse M. Ehrenfeld, Jason M. Erlich, Lucinda L. Everett, Elliott S. Farber, Khaldoun Faris, Eddy M. Feliz, Massimo Ferrigno, Richard S. Field, Michael G. Fitzsimons, Hugh L. Flanagan Jr., Vladimir Formanek, Amanda A. Fox, John A. Fox, Gyorgy Frendl, Tanja S. Frey, Samuel M. Galvagno Jr., Edward R. Garcia, Jonathan D. Gates, Cosmin Gauran, Brian J. Gelfand, Simon Gelman, Alexander C. Gerhart, Peter Gerner, Omid Ghalambor, Christopher J. Gilligan, Christian D. Gonzalez, Noah E. Gordon, William B. Gormley, Thomas J. Graetz, Wendy L. Gross, Amit Gupta, James P. Hardy, Seetharaman Hariharan, Miriam Harnett, Philip M. Hartigan, Joaquim M. Havens, Bishr Haydar, Stephen O. Heard, James L. Helstrom, David L. Hepner, McCallum R. Hoyt, Robert N. Jamison, Karinne Jervis, Stephanie B. Jones, Swaminathan Karthik, Richard M. Kaufman, Shubjeet Kaur, Lee A. Kearse Jr., John C. Keel, Scott D. Kelley, Albert H. Kim, Amy L. Kim, Grace Y. Kim, Robert J. Klickovich, Robert M. Knapp, Bhavani S. Kodali, Rahul Koka, Alina Lazar, Laura H. Leduc, Stanley Leeson, Lisa R. Leffert, Scott A. LeGrand, Patricio Leyton, J. Lance Lichtor, John Lin, Alvaro A. Macias, Karan Madan, Sohail K. Mahboobi, Devi Mahendran, Christine Mai, Sayeed Malek, S. Rao Mallampati, Thomas J. Mancuso, Ramon Martin, Matthew C. Martinez, J. A. Jeevendra Martyn, Kai Matthes, Tommaso Mauri, Mary Ellen McCann, Shannon S. McKenna, Dennis J. McNicholl, Abdel-Kader Mehio, Thor C. Milland, Tonya L. K. Miller, John D. Mitchell, K. Annette Mizuguchi, Naila Moghul, David R. Moss, Ross J. Musumeci, Naveen Nathan, Ju-Mei Ng, Liem C. Nguyen, Ervant Nishanian, Martina Nowak, Ala Nozari, Michael Nurok, Arti Ori, Rafael A. Ortega, Amy J. Ortman, David Oxman, Arvind Palanisamy, Carlo Pancaro, Lisbeth Lopez Pappas, Benjamin Parish, Samuel Park, Deborah S. Pederson, Beverly K. Philip, James H. Philip, Silvia Pivi, Stephen D. Pratt, Douglas E. Raines, Stephen L. Ratcliff, James P. Rathmell, J. Taylor Reed, Elizabeth M. Rickerson, Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., Thomas M. Romanelli, William H. Rosenblatt, Carl E. Rosow, Edgar L. Ross, J. Victor Ryckman, Mônica M. Sá Rêgo, Nicholas Sadovnikoff, Warren S. Sandberg, Annette Y. Schure, B. Scott Segal, Navil F. Sethna, Swapneel K. Shah, Shaheen F. Shaikh, Fred E. Shapiro, Torin D. Shear, Prem S. Shekar, Stanton K. Shernan, Naomi Shimizu, Douglas C. Shook, Kamal K. Sikka, Pankaj K. Sikka, David A. Silver, Jeffrey H. Silverstein, Emily A. Singer, Ken Solt, Spiro G. Spanakis, Wolfgang Steudel, Matthias Stopfkuchen-Evans, Michael P. Storey, Gary R. Strichartz, Balachundhar Subramaniam, Wariya Sukhupragarn, John Summers, Shine Sun, Eswar Sundar, Sugantha Sundar, Neelakantan Sunder, Faraz Syed, Usha B. Tedrow, Nelson L. Thaemert, George P. Topulos, Lawrence C. Tsen, Richard D. Urman, Charles A. Vacanti, Francis X. Vacanti, Joshua C. Vacanti, Assia Valovska, Ivan T. Valovski, Mary Ann Vann, Susan Vassallo, Anasuya Vasudevan, Kamen V. Vlassakov, Gian Paolo Volpato, Essi M. Vulli, J. Matthias Walz, Jingping Wang, James F. Watkins, Maxwell Weinmann, Sharon L. Wetherall, Mallory Williams, Sarah H. Wiser, Zhiling Xiong, Warren M. Zapol, Jie Zhou
- Edited by Charles Vacanti, Scott Segal, Pankaj Sikka, Richard Urman
-
- Book:
- Essential Clinical Anesthesia
- Published online:
- 05 January 2012
- Print publication:
- 11 July 2011, pp xv-xxviii
-
- Chapter
- Export citation
Pollen-mediated gene flow from transgenic safflower (Carthamustinctorius L.) intended for plant molecular farming to conventional safflower
- Marc A. McPherson, Allen G. Good, A. Keith C. Topinka, Rong-Cai Yang, Ross H. McKenzie, R. Jason Cathcart, Jed A. Christianson, Curtis Strobeck, Linda M. Hall
-
- Journal:
- Environmental Biosafety Research / Volume 8 / Issue 1 / January 2009
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 11 February 2009, pp. 19-32
- Print publication:
- January 2009
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Export citation
-
Field experiments were conducted in Chile and western Canada to measure short-distance (0 to 100 m) outcrossing from transgenic safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) intended for plant molecular farming to non-transgenic commodity safflower of the same variety. The transgenic safflower used as the pollen source was transformed with a construct for seed-specific expression of a high-value protein and constitutive expression of a gene conferring resistance to the broad-spectrum herbicide glufosinate. Progeny of non-transgenic plants grown in plots adjacent to the transgenic pollen source were screened for glufosinate resistance to measure outcrossing frequency. Outcrossing frequency differed among locations: values closest to the transgenic pollen source (0 to 3 m) ranged from 0.48 to 1.67% and rapidly declined to between 0.0024 to 0.03% at distances of 50 to 100 m. At each location, outcrossing frequency was spatially heterogeneous, indicating insects or wind moved pollen asymmetrically. A power analysis assuming a binomial distribution and a range of alpha values (type 1 error) was conducted to estimate an upper and lower confidence interval for the probable transgenic seed frequency in each sample. This facilitated interpretation when large numbers of seeds were screened from the outcrossing experiments and no transgenic seeds were found. This study should aid regulators and the plant molecular farming industry in developing confinement strategies to mitigate pollen mediated gene flow from transgenic to non-transgenic safflower.
Utilization patterns of diagnostic imaging across the late life course: A population-based study in Ontario, Canada
- Li Wang, Jason X. Nie, C. Shawn Tracy, Rahim Moineddin, Ross E. G. Upshur
-
- Journal:
- International Journal of Technology Assessment in Health Care / Volume 24 / Issue 4 / October 2008
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 01 October 2008, pp. 384-390
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Objectives: Due to the aging baby boom population, utilization rates of diagnostic imaging (i.e., X-ray, CT, and MRI scanning) have risen rapidly relative to other health services. The aim of this study is to investigate the utilization patterns of outpatient diagnostic imaging services (X-ray, CT, and MRI) across the late life course (65 years and older).
Methods: A population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted for the period April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2006. All Ontario residents aged 65+ and eligible for government health insurance were included in the analysis.
Results: Utilization of diagnostic imaging followed an inverted U-pattern: increasing with advancing age, peaking in the 80–84 age group for CT scans and in the 70–74 age group for MRI and X-rays, and then declining in the later years. Overall, females received significantly more X-rays than males (p < .01), but males received significantly more CT and MRI scans (p < .01). A small proportion of high-users of radiology services accounted for a large proportion of overall utilization. Finally, our analysis revealed that a disproportionately large proportion of high-users of MRI services were in the highest SES quintile. No SES differences were observed for X-ray or CT scans.
Conclusions: Population aging will lead to increased demand for healthcare services. Utilization of outpatient diagnostic imaging services is associated with age, gender, and SES. Given the increasing demand and the limited resources available, there may be a need for programs to target underserved populations to reduce remediable inequities. Whereas patient-level decisions regarding the use of diagnostic imaging are rightfully determined on the basis of clinical factors, allocation decisions should also be informed by the ethical principles of equity and fairness.
In her context
- Jason C. Ross
-
- Journal:
- The Review of Politics / Volume 68 / Issue 2 / May 2006
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 26 May 2006, pp. 340-342
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Anne Hutchinson is one of those iconic figures whose place in living memory is bought at the price of dislocation from her own space in time. Hutchinson's spirited witness against Puritan power and orthodoxy, displayed in her famous trials before the Massachusetts General Court and the Boston Church, has encouraged modern scholars to portray her as, among other things, a prophet of civil, religious, and women's liberty; the specifics of these interpretations matter less than the interpreters' shared sense that Hutchinson was a woman who stood apart from her culture. By contrast, Michael Winship wants to tell the story of “[t]he historical Anne Hutchinson [who] fit fairly comfortably into that seemingly alien and claustrophobic world” of Puritanism (4).
Outbreak of Toxic Anterior Segment Syndrome Following Cataract Surgery Associated With Impurities in Autoclave Steam Moisture
- Walter C. Hellinger, Saiyid A. Hasan, Laura P. Bacalis, Deborah M. Thornblom, Susan C. Beckmann, Carina Blackmore, Terri S. Forster, Jason F. Tirey, Mary J. Ross, Christian D. Nilson, Nick Mamalis, Julia E. Crook, Rick E. Bendel, Rajesh Shetty, Michael W. Stewart, James P. Bolling, Henry F. Edelhauser
-
- Journal:
- Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology / Volume 27 / Issue 3 / March 2006
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 21 June 2016, pp. 294-298
- Print publication:
- March 2006
-
- Article
- Export citation
-
Background.
Toxic anterior segment syndrome (TASS), a complication of cataract surgery, is a sterile inflammation of the anterior chamber of the eye. An outbreak of TASS was recognized at an outpatient surgical center and its affiliated hospital in December 2002.
Methods.Medical records of patients who underwent cataract surgery during the outbreak were reviewed, and surgical team members who participated in the operations were interviewed. Potential causes of TASS were identified and eliminated. Feedwater from autoclave steam generators and steam condensates were analyzed by use of spectroscopy and ion chromatography.
Results.During the outbreak, 8 (38%) of 21 cataract operations were complicated by TASS, compared with 2 (0.07%) of 2,713 operations performed from January 1996 through November 2002. Results of an initial investigation suggested that cataract surgical equipment may have been contaminated by suboptimal equipment reprocessing or as a result of personnel changes. The frequency of TASS decreased (1 of 44 cataract operations) after reassignment of personnel and revision of equipment reprocessing procedures. Further investigation identified the presence of impurities (eg, sulfates, copper, zinc, nickel, and silica) in autoclave steam moisture, which was attributed to improper maintenance of the autoclave steam generator in the outpatient surgical center. When impurities in autoclave steam moisture were eliminated, no cases of TASS were observed after more than 1,000 cataract operations.
Conclusion.Suboptimal reprocessing of cataract surgical equipment may evolve over time in busy, multidisciplinary surgical centers. Clinically significant contamination of surgical equipment may result from inappropriate maintenance of steam sterilization systems. Standardization of protocols for reprocessing of cataract surgical equipment may prevent outbreaks of TASS and may be of assistance during outbreak investigations.
![](/core/cambridge-core/public/images/lazy-loader.gif)