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Brief of diving:
- Massive wood can have antimicrobial Benefits that could make it useful for hospital construction, according to a recent study by the University of Oregon.
- The research team found that when the wood was exposed to a brief wet, it tested the levels of bacterial abundance that a empty plastic enclosure used as a control.
- “People generally think of Wood as non -hygienic in a medical environment,” said Mark Fretz, assistant professor, co -director of the University of Oregon Health Institute in the built environment and the main investigator of the study. “But wood transfers microbes at a lower rate to other less porous materials such as stainless steel.”
Divide vision:
The experiments are the first to explore the relationships between the microbial communities of cross -linked wood surfaces, a key massive wood component and the emission of volatile organic compounds under dry and wet, said Gwynne Mhuireach, a assistant professor at the University of Oregon, in the statement.
“We wanted to explore how massive wood would be considered to the everyday rigoros of healthcare configuration,” Mhuireach said in the statement. “In hospitals and clinics, germs are always present and surfaces are sometimes wet.”
The study, which also incorporated researchers at the State University of Portland in Portland, Oregon and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, sealed CLT blocks in disinfected plastic boxes to create a micro -splash with temperature and humidity carefully, according to the statement. To simulate a sanitary environment, it was leaked and air was exchanged on fees similar to hospital codes.
The team sprayed the blocks with tap water under three types of events, once, every day for a week and daily for four weeks – and inoculated them with a microbial cocktail that is commonly found in hospitals, according to the statement. They used an empty plastic box as a control and took samples for a period of four months.
The results of the study, which was supported by a subsidy of wood innovations in the United States Department of Agriculture, said that wood is effective in inhibiting bacteria and revealed clues to the wettening that will report future research and development, Mhuireach said in the statement.
In addition, the empty plastic control box had a larger viable microbial abundance than the wooden samples, excluding the first 14 days after the inoculation, according to the statement.
Wood can release compounds called terpenes, many of which make pleasant smell and inhibit microbial growth, depending on the release. Its ability to inhibit pathogens can also lead to pores that catch bacteria or antimicrobial chemical compounds that occur naturally, said Fretz.
COV emissions (chemicals that propagate quickly in the air and are responsible for several smells) also lasted after the crowd, said Mhuireach, which the team interpreted as a slight increase compared to a general downward trend.
The massive wood is already used in a hospital construction in Canada. New Prince Prince County Memorial Hospital of Picton, Ontario, will be the first mass wooden hospital not encapsulated in North America Quinte Health newsThe hospital network of which PECMH is part.
This example, as well, rarely exposed to health installations, said Fretz, due in part to strict construction codes that are slowly evolving. Another reason is widespread misconceptions on wood and pathogens, an aspect that researchers expect to change.
