Staphylococcus aureus has long been known as one of the most virulent microbes, with capabilities that make it threatening in both nosocomial and community-acquired infections. It remains the most frequent cause of skin-structure and traumatic infections in the community. 1 S. aureus infections in the maxillofacial region are likely to be associated with a known portal of entry, but this is not always the case. 2 Once invasion occurs, the organism may produce virulent enzymes including coagulase, hyaluronidase, proteases, DNA-ase, lipases, hemolysins, and lysozyme as well as exotoxins. 3 Markel et al 4 point out that cellulitis associated with coagulase-positive staphylococci will often resolve without abscess formation. Hence, there is often no site from which to obtain specimens, making this infection a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. This report describes an infection in which the etiologic organism was identified as S. aureus. The source of the infection, however, remained unclear.

The role of capillarity in improving the cohesion and tensile properties of oiled yam is discussed and experimentally tested. The effect is significant for low twist Sirospun yam and results in a lower rate of warp breaks than with a wax lubricant.

The dispersion and polar components of the surface free energy of untreated and chlorinated Lincoln wool fibers have been determined from the wetting forces of water and methylene iodide. The values obtained for the untreated wool fibers were close to those previously reported for human hair. Chlorination increased only the polar component. The three-phase boundary moved in steps corresponding to the scale spacing of the fiber surface. Procedures for determining relevant wetting forces were developed.

Treating wool with tetraethylenepentamine or polyethyleneimine or rinsing wool with 70% acetone had no significant effect on the dispersion (γ ds) or polar ( γps) com ponents of the surface energy of the wool. Therefore, the previously reported effec tiveness of these treatments for resin shrinkproofing of wool cannot be ascribed to surface chemical factors. However, extracting wool with an azeotropic mixture of benzene/ethanol/water increased γ ds and reduced γ ps to zero, meaning that nonpolar polymers should spread and adhere more efficiently to wool so pretreated.

An investigation is described in which the interfacial tensions (γ) of greases extracted from the tip and base regions of raw-wool staples were measured against buffer solutions and against a Lo-Flo scour liquor. The γ-pH curves for tip and base greases against the scour liquor were found to-cross so that the tip grease had the higher γ at higher pH. The use of the detergent 9-ethoxy-nonylphenol lo lower the value of γ became ineffective with a concentrated Lo-Flo liquor.

An investigation is described in which it was found that solubilized wool grease raised or eliminated the cloud point of a non-ionic detergent or produced a ‘double cloud point’. The effect was reversed by the addition of sodium sulphate. The grease-solubilizing capacities of non-ionic detergents were increased by the presence of sodium sulphate or suint. Of the detergents investigated, the highest capacity for solubilizing wool grease was shown by 8.5 ethoxy-nonylphenol.

Exponential exhaustion curves were found experimentally to give more level uptake of dyes on wool than linear exhaustions or recommended temperature‐time procedures taking the same time. This conflicts with predictions from ‘significant dyeing rate’ theory.

When the rate of uptake of C. I. Acid Blue 138 on wool was held constant by continuously varying the temperature, either a non–ionic or a cationic ethylene oxide condensate effectively promoted level uptake of dye. Equilibrium sorption isotherms of the dye on wool in the presence of the cationic condensate showed a point of inflexion. Improved levelness in exhaustion dyeing was attained by delaying the addition of the cationic condensate until the concentration of dye had fallen to correspond to the point of inflexion in the isotherm.

In experiments with a thin bed of cloth, the maximum rate of uptake of dye by a wool yarn has been found to be limited by the concentration gradient of the dye across the yarn. A type of unlevelness observed in a conventional cross‐wound package is attributed to the same concentration gradient.

The thickness of the diffusional boundary layer has been shown to be too small to control the rate of uptake of dye under conditions similar to those used in package dyeing.

(1967). Penetration of ‘Non-swelling’ Vapours into Dry Wool. The Journal of The Textile Institute: Vol. 58, No. 6, pp. 266-267.

Two artificial soils were most effectively removed from wool in an impeller-type machine, but, considering their greatly different effects on felting rate, the differences in efficiency of all the machines studied were relatively small. A rotating-drum machine was almost as good as the impeller-type for removing a particulate soil, but was worst of all for an oily soil. Soap removed the oily soil from both untreated and shrink-resist-treated wool more effectively than did the synthetic anionic detergents, but the order was reversed for the particulate soil.

J. H. Brooks and B. A. Pethica, Trans. Faraday Soc., 1965, 61, 571 DOI: 10.1039/TF9656100571

The first page of this article is displayed as the abstract.

J. H. Brooks and G. Pilcher, J. Chem. Soc., 1959, 1535 DOI: 10.1039/JR9590001535