Antimicrobial touch screen**

拟议研究的结果应该有助于减少表面细菌的存活率。虽然在许多环境中，表面上持续存在的腐败和致病菌构成了挑战，但本项目的重点将放在对人类健康构成显著威胁的触摸屏上。有很多报道称，加拿大每年至少有20万名患者在医疗机构中受到感染，估计有8000人死于这些感染。人们经常说，大多数常见感染是由卫生保健工作者、病人和访客传播的，适当的手部卫生可以显著降低感染率。令人震惊的统计数据，例如，艰难梭菌相关的死亡率在过去二十年中增加了两倍多，以及卫生保健相关的耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌感染率增加了1000%以上，表明除了常规目标之外，还应解决其他因素。我们假设普遍存在的微生物群落（微生物组）是位点特异性的；重症监护病房的微生物群是导致重症患者院内感染的耐药微生物的储存库，而公共场所的微生物群可能是短暂的，并受季节等因素的影响。Ryerson的团队专注于使表面具有抗菌性的方法，而行业合作伙伴则开发了一项有前途的技术，该技术涉及嵌入抗菌剂的透明屏幕保护膜，需要Ryerson的专业知识在现实条件下演示该技术。触摸屏成为沟通和信息管理的主要形式——食品加工厂、餐厅菜单和医疗保健环境就是其中的几个例子。为了获得足够的样本进行统计上合理的评估，由于手机在医疗环境中普遍存在，我们将与西奈山医院协调在手机上测试该技术。在这种情况下的演示也将提供对其他环境中技术的信心，在这些环境中，触摸屏已成为信息传输的标准。********

The outcome of the proposed research should make a contribution to efforts aimed at reducing the survival of bacteria on surfaces. While the persistence of spoilage and pathogenic bacteria on surfaces poses challenges in numerous environments, the focus of this project will be on touch screens that pose a notable threat to human health. There is much coverage of fact that at least 200,000 patients get infections per year while in healthcare facilities in Canada, with an estimated 8,000 who die due to these infections. It is often stated that the majority of common infections are spread by healthcare workers, patients and visitors, and that proper hand hygiene can significantly reduce infection rates. Alarming statistics of e.g., Clostridium difficile related mortalities that have more than tripled over the last two decades, and healthcare-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection rates that increased by more than 1,000%, suggest that factors in addition to those conventionally being targeted should be addressed. We hypothesize that prevalent microbial communities (microbiomes) are site-specific; the microbiome in intensive care units serves as reservoir of resistant microorganisms causing nosocomial infections in critically ill patients, while those of public spaces may be transient and influenced by i.e. the season. The group at Ryerson focuses on approaches to render surfaces antimicrobial, while the industry partner developed a promising technology that involves a transparent screen protector embedded with an antimicrobial agent, and needs Ryerson's expertise to demonstrate the technology under real-world conditions. Touchscreens became a major form of communication and information management - with food processing plants, restaurant menus, and the healthcare environment being a few examples. In order to obtain sufficient samples to allow statistically sound evaluation, we will coordinate with Mt. Sinai hospital to test the technology on mobile phones due to their prevalence in the healthcare environment. Demonstration in this setting will also provide confidence in the technology in other environments where touch-screens became the norm of information transfer.********