Necrosis of a Guinea Pig Stomach after Contact with Povidone-Iodine: a Case Report

Rodents are the most frequently used animals in surgical experimentation. It is estimated that guinea pigs in particular are the third most commonly used species in this context. To disinfect guinea pigs’ skin, either alcohol or surgical iodine are most often used. In the context of an animal research project, a Nissen operation was performed in an adult male guinea pig. Because of accidental contamination of the operative field, a 10% povidone-iodine cutaneous solution was applied to the serosa of the anterior wall of the stomach and to the gastric fundus. The guinea pig died 12 hours after surgery due to an acute necrotizing hemorrhagic gastritis. Although there have been a few reports of povidone-iodine toxicity in the guinea pig, as far as the authors could determine, this is the first time that such a serious abdominal complication is reported. The authors believe that the possibility of a similar event should be taken into consideration when planning, executing and interpreting experiments in the guinea pig.

Numerical Evaluation of Ventilation Performance in Children Day Care Centres

Modelling of ventilation is strongly dependent on the physical characteristics of the building of which precise evaluation is a complex and time consuming task. In the frame of a research project, two children day care centres (CDCC) have been selected in order to measure the envelope air permeability, the flow rate of mechanical ventilation systems and indoor and outdoor temperature. The data obtained was used as input to the computer code CONTAM for ventilation simulations. The results obtained were compared with direct measurements of ventilation flow from short term measurements with CO2 tracer gas and medium term measurements with perfluorocarbon tracer (PFT) gas decay method. After validation, in order to analyse the main parameters that affect ventilation, the model was used to predict the ventilation rates for a wide range of conditions. The purpose of this assessment was to find the best practices to improve natural ventilation. A simple analytical method to predict the ventilation flow rate of rooms is also presented. The method is based on the estimation of wind effect on the room through the evaluation of an average factor and on the assessment of relevant cross section of gaps and openings combined in series or in parallel. It is shown that it may be applied with acceptable accuracy for this type of buildings when ventilation is due essentially to wind action.