An improved mouth-piece to prevent environmental contamination during radioaerosol inhalation procedures

The literature suggests that environmental contamination is common during labeled aerosol inhalation procedures in nuclear medicine. We have tested an adherent mask to prevent environmental contamination in 70 procedures. Two groups of patients were evaluated, Group 1 (60 inhalation cases in which the mask was used) presented no environmental contamination in 95% of the procedures (means of 553 dpm and 596 dpm before and after inhalation, p > 0.05, mean of the differences before/after inhalation 6.95, SD = 21.2 dpm) and the only 3 cases in which contamination did occur concerned bearded men; Group 2 (10 inhalation cases in which the mask was not used) showed large increases of environmental radioactive levels in 70% of the procedures (means of 601 dpm and 2,756 dpm before and after inhalation, p < 0.05, mean of the differences 3,066, SD = 2,98 dpm), We conclude that such a mask is very helpful in avoiding environmental contamination during radioaerosol inhalation procedures.

Efficiency and soil contamination during underground application of insecticides: control of leaf-cutting ants with thermal foggers

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Viral contamination during sequential phacoemulsification surgeries in an experimental model

Purpose: To determine the incidence of Piry virus contamination among surgical instruments used with disposable accessories for phacoemulsification during sequential surgeries. Methods: An experimental model was created with 4 pigs' eyes that were contaminated with Piry virus and 4 pigs' eyes that were not contaminated. Phacoemulsification was performed on the eyes, alternating between the contaminated and non-contaminated eyes. From one surgery to another, the operating fields, gloves, scalpel, tweezers, needles, syringes, tips and bag collector from the phacoemulsification machine were exchanged; only the hand piece and the irrigation and aspiration systems were maintained. Results: In the collector bag, three samples from the contaminated eyes (3/4) were positive, and two samples from the non-contaminated (2/4) eyes were also positive; at the tip, one sample from the contaminated eyes (1/4) and two samples of the noncontaminated eyes (2/4) yielded positive results. In the irrigation system, one sample from a non-contaminated eye (1/4) was positive, and in the aspiration system, two samples from contaminated eyes (2/4) and two samples from non-contaminated eyes (2/4) were positive. In the gloves, the samples were positive in two samples from the non-contaminated eyes (2/4) and in two samples from the contaminated eyes (2/4). In the scalpel samples, three contaminated eyes (3/4) and none of the non-contaminated eyes (0/4) were positive; finally, two samples from the anterior chambers of the non-contaminated eyes gathered after surgery were positive. Conclusions: In two non-contaminated eyes, the presence of genetic material was detected after phacoemulsification surgery, demonstrating that the transmission of the genetic material of the Piry virus occurred at some point during the surgery on these non-contaminated eyes when the hand piece and irrigation and aspiration systems were reused between surgeries.

Estimating the Extent of Soil Contamination During a Redevelopment Excavation

From October 2014 to March 2015, I provided excavation oversight services at a property with substantial environmental concerns. The property in question is located near downtown Seattle and was formerly occupied by the Washington’s first coal gasification plant. The plant operated from 1888 to 1908 and produced coal gas for municipal use. A coal tar like substance with a characteristically high benzene concentration was a byproduct of the coal gasification process and heavily contaminated at or below the surface grade of the plant as shown in previous investigations on the property. Once the plant ceased operation in 1908 the property was left vacant until 1955 when the site was filled in and a service station was built on the property. The main goal of the excavation was not to achieve cleanup on the property, but to properly remove what contaminated soil was encountered during the redevelopment excavation. Areas of concern were identified prior to the commencement of the excavation and an estimation of the extent of contamination on the property was developed. “Hot spots” of contaminated soil associated with the fill placed after 1955 were identified as areas of concern. However, the primary contaminant plume below the property was likely sourced from the coal gasification plant, which operated at an approximate elevation of 20 feet. We planned to constrain the extents of the soil contamination below the property as the redevelopment excavation progressed. As the redevelopment excavation was advanced down to an elevation of approximately 20 feet, soil samples were collected to bound the extents of contamination in the upper portion of the site. The hot spots, known pockets of carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAH) located above 20 feet elevation, were excavated as part of the redevelopment excavation. Once a hot spot was excavated, soil samples were collected from the north, south, east, west and bottom sidewalls of the hot spot excavation to check for remaining cPAH. Additionally, four underground storage tanks (USTs) associated with the service station were discovered and subsequently removed. Soil samples were also collected from the resulting UST excavation sidewalls to check for remaining petroleum hydrocarbons. Once the excavation reached its final excavation depth of 20 to 16 feet in elevation, bottom of excavation samples were collected on a 35 foot by 35 foot grid to test for concentrations of contaminants remaining onsite. Once the redevelopment excavation was complete, soils observed from borings drilled for either structural elements, geotechnical wells, or environmental wells were checked for any evidence of contamination using field screening techniques. Evidence of contamination was used to identify areas below the final excavation grade which had been impacted by the operation of the coal gasification plant. Samples collected from the excavation extents of hot spots and USTs show that it was unlikely that any contamination traveled from the post-1955 grade down to the pre-1955 grade. Additionally, the lack of benzene in the bottom of excavation samples suggests that a release from the coal gasification plant occurred below the redevelopment excavation final elevations of 20 to 16 feet. Qualitative data collected from borings for shoring elements and wells indicated that the spatial extent of the subsurface contaminant plume was different than initially estimated. Observations of spoils show that soil contamination extends further to the southwest and not as far to the east and north than originally estimated. Redefining the extent of the soil contamination beneath the property will allow further subsurface investigations to focus on collecting quantitative data in areas that still represent data gaps on the property, and passing over areas that have shown little signs of contamination. This information will help with the formation of a remediation plan should the need to clean up the site arise in the future.

Desinfeção aplicada aos cones de guta-percha

Introdução: Ao longo do tempo o Tratamento Endodôntico Não Cirúrgico tem sido das áreas da Medicina Dentária que mais tem evoluído. Todos os passos do tratamento têm sido revistos de forma a aumentar a taxa de sucesso. O controlo microbiológico é crucial para que o tratamento seja um sucesso a curto, médio e longo prazo. A assepsia deve ser mantida em todas as fases deste tratamento para que este seja um sucesso. Objetivo: Ao longo do meu percurso académico pude concluir que a fase da descontaminação dos cones, aquando a obturação (fase final do Tratamento Endodôntico Não Cirúrgico) era desvalorizada, o que me levou a efetuar uma revisão bibliográfica de modo a poder melhorar os meus conhecimentos e técnica. Material e Métodos: Para a elaboração deste trabalho foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica recorrendo aos seguintes motores de busca: B-on, PubMed, Scielo e ScienceDirect, com as seguintes palavras-chave: “decontamination in endodontics”;” disinfection in endodontics”; “root canal irrigants”; “endodontics microbiology”; “Candida albicans“; “Enterococcus faecalis”; “sodium hypochlorite ”; “alcohol”; “contamination during Obturation”; “clorohexidine”; “filling materials endodontics”; “termoplastic gutta-percha”; “obturation material”; “Mineral Trioxide Aggregate”; “resilon”; “resin cement”; “resin material for root canal obturation”; “resin sealer”; “root canal”; “root canal sealing”; “root canal filling materials”; “condensation in endodontics”; “lateral condensation”; “gutta-percha”; “microlekeage”; “system B”; “fluid filtration model”;“dye penetration”. Como critério de inclusão estabeleceu-se que os artigos deveriam ser em Português, Inglês ou Espanhol e publicados entre 1995 e 2015. Dos resultados apresentados foram utilizados 110 artigos, pesquisados entre Maio de 2015 e 20 de Outubro de 2015. Foram ainda consultados livros de referência nestes mesmos locais. Conclusão: a presença de bactérias e os seus subprodutos no sistema tridimensional de canais está diretamente implicado com o insucesso do Tratamento Endodôntico. A descontaminação dos cones de guta-percha, é, portanto, um processo importante no Tratamento Endodôntico pois impede que os cones sejam colocados nos canais radiculares, estando contaminados por microorganismos que inviabilizam o tratamento efetuado. A submersão dos cones durante um minuto em clorohexidina a 2% ou hipoclorito a 5,25% está indicado e comprovado como um processo eficiente de desinfeção dos cones.

Influence of chlorine added to drinking water during the preslaughter feed withdrawal on microbiology and morphology of the broiler gastrointestinal tract

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Addressing accuracy and precision issues in iTRAQ quantitation

iTRAQ (isobaric tags for relative or absolute quantitation) is a mass spectrometry technology that allows quantitative comparison of protein abundance by measuring peak intensities of reporter ions released from iTRAQ-tagged peptides by fragmentation during MS/MS. However, current data analysis techniques for iTRAQ struggle to report reliable relative protein abundance estimates and suffer with problems of precision and accuracy. The precision of the data is affected by variance heterogeneity: low signal data have higher relative variability; however, low abundance peptides dominate data sets. Accuracy is compromised as ratios are compressed toward 1, leading to underestimation of the ratio. This study investigated both issues and proposed a methodology that combines the peptide measurements to give a robust protein estimate even when the data for the protein are sparse or at low intensity. Our data indicated that ratio compression arises from contamination during precursor ion selection, which occurs at a consistent proportion within an experiment and thus results in a linear relationship between expected and observed ratios. We proposed that a correction factor can be calculated from spiked proteins at known ratios. Then we demonstrated that variance heterogeneity is present in iTRAQ data sets irrespective of the analytical packages, LC-MS/MS instrumentation, and iTRAQ labeling kit (4-plex or 8-plex) used. We proposed using an additive-multiplicative error model for peak intensities in MS/MS quantitation and demonstrated that a variance-stabilizing normalization is able to address the error structure and stabilize the variance across the entire intensity range. The resulting uniform variance structure simplifies the downstream analysis. Heterogeneity of variance consistent with an additive-multiplicative model has been reported in other MS-based quantitation including fields outside of proteomics; consequently the variance-stabilizing normalization methodology has the potential to increase the capabilities of MS in quantitation across diverse areas of biology and chemistry.

Staphylococcus epidermidis as a cause of bacteremia

Staphylococcus epidermidis is a biofilm-producing commensal organism found ubiquitously on human skin and mucous membranes, as well as on animals and in the environment. Biofilm formation enables this organism to evade the host immune system. Colonization of percutaneous devices or implanted medical devices allows bacteria access to the bloodstream. Isolation of this organism from blood cultures may represent either contamination during the blood collection procedure or true bacteremia. S. epidermidis bloodstream infections may be indolent compared with other bacteria. Isolation of S. epidermidis from a blood culture may present a management quandary for clinicians. Over-treatment may lead to patient harm and increases in healthcare costs. There are numerous reports indicating the difficulty of predicting clinical infection in patients with positive blood cultures with this organism. No reliable phenotypic or genotypic algorithms currently exist to predict the pathogenicity of a S. epidermidis bloodstream infection. This review will discuss the latest advances in identification methods, global population structure, pathogenicity, biofilm formation, antimicrobial resistance and clinical significance of the detection of S. epidermidis in blood cultures. Previous studies that have attempted to discriminate between invasive and contaminating strains of S. epidermidis in blood cultures will be analyzed.

Leuconostoc spoilage of refrigerated, packaged foods

Leuconostoc spp. are lactic acid bacteria (LAB) implicated in food spoilage, especially on refrigerated, modified atmosphere packaged (MAP) meats. The overall aim of this thesis was to learn more about Leuconostoc spp. as food spoilage organisms with a focus on commercial products where LAB spoilage is considered a problem and the main factor limiting shelf-life. Therefore, we aimed to identify Leuconostoc spp. involved in food spoilage, as well as to characterise the spoilage reactions they caused and their contamination sources during poultry meat processing. In addition, we examined the distribution of strains of Leuconostoc gasicomitatum in different food commodities. Finally, we analysed the genome content of L. gasicomitatum LMG 18811 with a special focus on metabolic pathways related to food spoilage. The findings show that Leuconostoc gelidum and L.gasicomitatum were responsible for the discoloration and off-odours developed in beef steaks. Together with Leuconostoc mesenteroides, these Leuconostoc spp., also cause spoilage of vegetable sausages. In contrast, we showed that Leuconostoc spp. are not important for the shelf-life or quality of non-marinated broiler products although, in marinated broiler fillet products, Leuconostoc spp., L.gasicomitatum in particular, are considered spoilage organisms. Furthermore, the findings of the contamination survey we carried out in a poultry processing plant indicated that spoilage Leuconostoc spp. are derived from the processing environment rather than from the broilers, and that air movement distributes psychrotrophic spoilage LAB, including leuconostocs, and has an important role in meat contamination during poultry processing. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) based genotyping of L. gasicomitatum strains demonstrated that certain genotypes are common in various meat products. In contrast, genotypes associated with meat were not recovered in vegetable-based sources. This suggests that these two food categories either become contaminated with, or favour the growth of different genotypes. Furthermore, the results indicated that the meat processing environment contributes to L. gasicomitatum contamination as certain genotypes were repeatedly identified from products of the same processing plant. Finally, the sequenced and annotated genome of L.gasicomitatum LMG 18811 allowed us to identify the metabolic pathways and reactions resulting in food spoilage.

Part I. Energy straggling of ^4He below 2.0 MeV in Al, Ni, Au and Pt. Part II. Studies of the Ti-W metallization system on Si

Part I.

In recent years, backscattering spectrometry has become an important tool for the analysis of thin films. An inherent limitation, though, is the loss of depth resolution due to energy straggling of the beam. To investigate this, energy straggling of ⁴He has been measured in thin films of Ni, Al, Au and Pt. Straggling is roughly proportional to square root of thickness, appears to have a slight energy dependence and generally decreases with decreasing atomic number of the adsorber. The results are compared with predictions of theory and with previous measurements. While Ni measurements are in fair agreement with Bohr's theory, Al measurements are 30% above and Au measurements are 40% below predicted values. The Au and Pt measurements give straggling values which are close to one another.

Part II.

MeV backscattering spectrometry and X-ray diffraction are used to investigate the behavior of sputter-deposited Ti-W mixed films on Si substrates. During vacuum anneals at temperatures near 700°C for several hours, the metallization layer reacts with the substrate. Backscattering analysis shows that the resulting compound layer is uniform in composition and contains Ti, Wand Si. The Ti:W ratio in the compound corresponds to that of the deposited metal film. X-ray analyses with Reed and Guinier cameras reveal the presence of the ternary Ti_xW_(1-x)Si₂ compound. Its composition is unaffected by oxygen contamination during annealing, but the reaction rate is affected. The rate measured on samples with about 15% oxygen contamination after annealing is linear, of the order of 0.5 Å per second at 725°C, and depends on the crystallographic orientation of the substrate and the dc bias during sputter-deposition of the Ti-W film.

Au layers of about 1000 Å thickness were deposited onto unreacted Ti-W films on Si. When annealed at 400°C these samples underwent a color change,and SEM micrographs of the samples showed that an intricate pattern of fissures which were typically 3µm wide had evolved. Analysis by electron microprobe revealed that Au had segregated preferentially into the fissures. This result suggests that Ti-W is not a barrier to Au-Si intermixing at 400°C.

Bioaerossóis na indústria farmacêutica

Este estudo teve como finalidade, testar uma barreira contra a contaminação microbiológica em placas de contato, utilizadas em monitoramento de salas limpas para fabricação de produtos farmacêuticos estéreis. Durante o ano de 2007, foram realizados testes de contato com a utilização da mencionada barreira, e os resultados foram comparados com dados dos anos de, 2004, 2005 e 2006, quando a barreira não foi utilizada. Os ambientes utilizados para os testes foram duas salas limpas de uma planta farmacêutica localizada no Rio de Janeiro. Nos mencionados ambientes é necessário o uso de uma vestimenta especial, de forma a evitar que partículas do corpo dos operadores, bactérias e fungos, migrem para a superfície externa do uniforme e coloquem em risco a esterilidade dos produtos. Sendo assim, foi proposta a colocação de uma camiseta diretamente sobre a pele do operador durante todo o ano de 2007 de forma a evitar ou reduzir a possibilidade de migração dessas partículas; e os resultados foram comparados com os anos de 2004, 2005 e 2006, quando a camiseta não foi usada. Os testes demonstraram que houve uma redução de cerca de 50% na ocorrência de placas contaminadas. Com relação ao número total de colônias formadas, a redução foi de 75% na comparação com os anos de 2004 e 2005 e de 50% com relação ao ano de 2006

内蒙古白云鄂博超大型REE-Nb-Fe矿床脉状矿化时代与成矿流体特征

Bayan Obo REE-Nb-Fe ore deposit is the largest REE deposit in the world. Owing to its unique type and tremendous economic value, this deposit has widely attracted interests from geological researchers and vast amount of scientific data have been accumulated. However, its genesis, especially ore-forming age and REE sources, have been under dispute for a long time. On the basis of previous research works, this paper mainly conducts studies on the Early Paleozoic ore-forming event in the Bayan Obo deposit. The following results and conclusions can be suggested: Sm-Nd isotopic analytical results of bastnaesite, beloeilite, albite and fluorite samples from a coarse-crystalline ore lode present an isochron age of 436±35Ma. Besides, Rb-Sr isotope dating of the coarse-crystalline biotite lode that intruded into banded ores gives an isochron age of 459±39Ma. The two ages verify the exist of Early Paleozoic ore-forming event at Bayan Obo, which characterized by extensive netted mineralization of REE fluorocarbonates, aeschynite and monazite, accompanied by widely fluorite-riebeckite-aegirine-apatite alteration. Sr-Nd isotope composition of vein minerals is located between EMI and ancient lower crust component in the ISr(t)-εNd(t) correlation diagram, indicating that there is a crustal contamination during veined mineralization. A large area late Paleozoic granitoids are distributed in the southeast region of east open pit of the mine. The granitoids intruded directly into the ore-bearing dolomite, and produced intense skarnization. Moreover, at 650-660m of the drill core on 22 line and 1598m level flat in the south of East Open Pit, we firstly found skarnization rocks. Single grain and low background Rb-Sr isochrone dating on phlogopite in skarn gives 309±12Ma. Considering the intruded contacting relationship, the late Paleozoic granitoids, already extended to the under part of REE ore bodies, must be posterior to the latest intense REE mineralization, and is only a destructive tectonic and magmatic activity. Fluid inclusion types of fluorite in the Bayan Obo deposit consist of multiphase daughter mineral-bearing inclusion, two or three phase CO2-bearing inclusion and two phase aqueous inclusion. Petrography, laser Raman analysis and microthermometry study indicate that the fluids involving in REE-Nb-Fe mineralization at Bayan Obo might be mainly of H2O-CO2-NaCl-(F-REE) system. The presence of REE-carbonate as a daughter mineral in fluid inclusions shows that the original ore-forming fluids are rich in REE elements.

晚中生代松辽盆地形成的大地构造环境及成因机制

Directed by the theory of "Collision Tectonic Facies", the tectonic setting and dynamic mechanism of the formation of Songliao basin in late Mesozoic (J_3-K_1) are studied in the present thesis with the methods of petrology, petrochemistry, geochemistry and isotopic geochronology. The research contents in this paper include as followings. Firstly, the general tectonic frame is made up of different tectonic facies formed from Mid-late Proterozoic to Mesozoic, which are Huabei plate, the Chengde-Siziwangqi melange (Pz_1), the Wenduermiao magmatic arc (Pz_1), the Hegenshan-Chaogenshan melange (Pz_2), the accretion arec (Pz_1-P), the Raohe-Hulin melange (Mz), the magmatic arc (Mz) and the pull-apart basin on the magmatic arc (Mz). Secondly, the volcanic rock assemblages of Songliao basin and its adjacent area in late Mesozoic is the typical calc-alkaline of the magmatic arc. The types of volcanic rocks in the study area include basalts, basaltic andesites, andesites, dacites and rhyolites, and basic-intermediate volcanic rocks have higher alkalinity. The volcanic rock series in this area is the high-K calc-alkaline series. Thirdly, the total REE of volcanic rocks in Songliao basin and its adjacent area is higher than that of the chondrite. The pattern of the REE normalized by the chondrite shows the characteristics similar to that of the typical island arcs or the active continental margins in the earth, that is enrichment of LREE and depletion of Eu. The spider-diagram of the trace element normalized by the primitive mantle also expresses the similar features to that of the typical island arcs or the active continental margins, it has distinctive valleies of Nb, Ta, Sr, P, and Ti, as well as the peaks of La, Ce, Th, U, and K. The incompatible elements show that the high field strength elements, such as Nb, Ta, Ti, and P, are depletion while the low field strength elements, such as K, U, Pb, and Ba, are enrichment. These features are similar to those of orogenic volcanic rocks and imply the formation of the volcanic rocks in this area is related to the subduction. The degrees of both the enrichment of the HFS elements and depletion of the LFS elements become more obvious from basic to acid volcanic rocks, which suggests crustal contamination enhances with the magmatic crystallization and fractionation. The concentration of the compatible elements is W-shape, and anomalies in Cr and Ni suggest there is the contamination during the magmatic crystallization and fractionation. Fourthly, the isotopic age data prove the volcanic activity in the Songliao basin and its adjacent area started in the early-middle Jurassic, and ended in the end of the early Cretaceous-the beginning of the Cretaceous. The volcanism summit was the late Jurassic-the early Cretaceous (100 - 150Ma). Finally, the tectonic setting of volcanism in the late Mesozoic was magmatic arc, which originated the subduction of Raohe-Hulin trench to the northwest Asian plate. The subduction began in the middle Jurassic, and the collision orogenesis between the Sikhote-Alin arc and Asian continent was completed in the end of the early Cretaceous-the beginning of the late Cretaceous. The results of above tectonic processes were finally to format Nadanhada orogenic belt symbolized by the Raohe-Hulin suture or melange belt. The violently oblique movement of the Izanagi plate toward Asian plate in the late Mesozoic was the dynamic mechanism of above tectonic processes. At the same tome, the left-lateral strike-slip shear caused by the oblique movement of the Izanagi plate produced a series of strike-slip faults in east Asian margin, and the large scale displacements of these strike-slip faults then produced the pull-apart basing or grabens on the magmatic arc. Conclusively, the tectonic setting during the formation of the grabens of Songliao basin in the late Mesozoic was magmatic arc, and its dynamic mechanism was the pull-apart. In a word, there was a good coupling relation among the oblique subduction of the oceanic plate, collisional orogene between island arc and continental plate, strike-slip shear of the faults and the formation of the grabens in Songliao basin and its adjacent area in late Mesozoic. These tectonic processes were completed in the unoin dynamic setting and mechanism as above description.

In-situ non-destructive ultrasonic rheology technique for monitoring different lead-free solder pastes for surface mount applications

This paper investigates the application of a non-destructive ultrasonic technique for characterising the rheological properties of solder paste through the use of through-mode microsecond ultrasonic pulses for evaluation of viscoelastic properties of lead-free solder paste containing different types of flux. Ultrasonic techniques offer a robust and reliable form of non-destructive testing of materials where access to the sample is restricted or when sample handling can interfere with the monitoring or analysis process due to externally incorporated changes to the material’s physical state or accidental contamination during the removal or testing process. Ultrasonic based techniques are increasingly used for quality control and production monitoring functions which requires evaluation of changes in material properties for a wide range of industrial applications such as cement paste quality, plastic/polymer extrusion process, dough and even sugar content in beverage drinks. In addition, ultrasound techniques are of great interest for their capability to take rapid measurements in systems which are optically opaque. The conventional industry approach for characterising the rheological properties of suspensions during processing/packaging stage is mainly through the use of viscometer and some through the use of rheometer. One of the potential limitations of viscometer and rheometer based measurements is that the collection and preparation of the solder paste samples can irreversibly alter the structure and flow behaviour of the sample. Hence the measurement may not represent the actual quality of the whole production batch. Secondly, rheological measurements and the interpretation of rheological data is a very technical and time consuming process, which requires professionally trained R&D personnel. The ultrasound technique being proposed provides simple, yet accurate and easy to use solution for the in-situ rheological characterisation of solder pastes which will benefit the materials suppliers (who formulate and produce solder pastes) and solder paste consumers (especially, contract electronics manufacturers). The results from the work show that the technique can be used by R&D personnel involved in paste formulation and manufacture to monitor the batch-to-batch quality and consistency.

Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis: its incidence, heat resistance and detection in milk and dairy products

Mycobacterium avium ssp. paratuberculosis (MAP) causes Johne's disease in cattle and other ruminants and has been implicated as a possible cause of Crohn's disease in humans. The organism gains access to raw milk directly through excretion into the milk within the udder and indirectly through faecal contamination during milking. MAP has been shown to survive commercial pasteurization in naturally infected milk, even at the extended holding time of 25 s. Pasteurized milk must therefore be considered a vehicle of transmission of MAP to humans. isolation methods for MAP from milk are problematical, chiefly because of the absence of a suitable selective medium. This makes food surveillance programs and research on this topic difficult. The MAP problem can be addressed in two main ways: by devising a milk-processing strategy that ensures the death of the organism: and/or strategies at farm level to prevent access of the organism into raw milk. Much of the research to date has been devoted to determining ifa problem exists and, if so, the extent of the problem. Little has been directed at possible solutions. Given the current state of information on this topic and the potential consequences for the dairy industry research is urgently needed so that a better understanding of the risks and the efficacy of possible processing solutions can be determined.