ABSTRACT The urine bag is a thermo-labile medical-hospital device used in clinical/surgical procedures in urine drainage and collection. As it is a thermolabile material, it is commonly sterilized by ethylene oxide, a highly toxic, mutagenic and carcinogenic cyclic ether gas. Currently, several countries require, through documents and standards, the quantification of ethylene oxide in medical and hospital devices. Thus, this work describes the development and validation of a method employed for the quantification of ethylene oxide (ETO) in urine bags. The method was developed based on the guidelines of ISO 10993-7, ANVISA and INMETRO. The work range, linearity, limits of detection and quantification, repeatability, intermediate precision and selectivity were evaluated. Statistical tools such as Levene's test, Grubbs, residual analysis, F-test of two variances, paired sample T test and ANOVA table, were also applied to evaluate the method. The linearity of the work range (10 – 400 mg.L-1) showed an adequate correlation coefficient (r > 0.9993), with a homoscedastic profile with absence of outliers while the limit of detection and quantification were 1,95 and 6,5 mg.L-1 respectively. After validation, 45 samples of urine bags of different batches were evaluated, which demonstrated levels of ETO below the limit of detection (1,95 mg.L-1). The results highlight a simple method that meets several regulations with a wide working range, high sensitivity and capability to quantify ETO not only in urine bags but also in other medical devices.

We investigated the healing process on excisional wounds infected with Staphylococcus aureus in rats, treated with 50 µL of ethyl acetate III from Vernonia scorpioides (Lam.) Pers., Asteraceae, rifamycin diethylamide B 25 mg, or saline. The lesions were measured daily and after seven days were surgically removed and histologically processed. The results indicate a favorable action of the EAIII, demonstrated by the increased wound contraction, smaller area of necrotic tissue, good development of granulation tissue, extensive extracellular matrix deposition and epithelial regeneration. This sub-fraction was phytochemically investigated in parallel studies, revealing the presence of sesquiterpene lactones (glaucolides and hirsutinolides) such as diacethylpiptocarphol and related hirsutinolides, flavonoids and cinnamic acid derivatives and also a new polyacetylene, which have been previously published. Results support the effectiveness of V. scorpioides antimicrobial activity in infected wound healing in rats.