Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation and structural organization on different types of intraocular lenses under in vitro flow conditions.

AIM: To compare the adherence and structural organization of Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm on intraocular lenses (IOLs). METHODS: IOLs made of 3 different biomaterials [polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), hydrophilic acrylic or hydrophobic acrylic] were incubated into an S. epidermidis bacterial solution. Scanning electron microscopy was used to count the bound bacteria and to analyze the structural biofilm architecture. RESULTS: After 4-6 h of incubation, adherence was statistically weakest on the hydrophilic acrylic polymer. On the hydrophobic acrylic material, the bacterial cells tended to cover the substratum in a horizontal spread in a continuous monolayer. On the hydrophilic acrylic material or on the PMMA material bacterial cells tended to form only few, small scattered cell clusters. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that the pattern of S. epidermidis adhesion varies with the IOL biomaterial. Hydrophobic IOLs seem to be more permissive to S. epidermidis adhesion.

Health data management and strategic management in Brittany: some practical problems.

Recent changes in the organisation of the French health system include 1996's ordinances, and more recently (4th Law march 2002). The general tendency of all these reforms is the management of the health system at the regional level in France. In This paper we try to find how health data management systems could be concerned by this changes. In the first part we will explain why the health data management systems are implicated in theses changes. After that we specify the kind of information needed for strategic management of health at the regional level in Brittany. Then we discuss what information is available from all health data management systems at the regional level as far as decision making in health is concerned.