Emerging Carbapenem-Resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates Carrying bla_IMP Among Burn Patients in Isfahan, Iran

Background: Metallo-β-lactamase (MBL)-producing Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a significant pathogen in burn patients. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of carbapenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates, including those resistant to imipenemase (IMP), in a burn unit in Isfahan, Iran. Patients and Methods: One hundred and fifty P. aeruginosa isolates from burn patients were tested for antibiotic susceptibility by the disc diffusion method in accordance with CLSI guidelines. Production of MBL was identified with the EDTA disk method. DNA was purified from the MBL-positive isolates, and detection of the blaIMP gene was performed with PCR. Results: Fifty-seven out of 150 (38%) isolates were multi-drug resistant (MDR), and 93 (62%) were extensively-drug resistant (XDR). Among all isolates, the resistance rate to ciprofloxacin, tobramycin, imipenem, meropenem, amikacin, ceftazidime, and cefepime was higher than 90%, while the resistance rates to piperacillin/tazobactam and aztreonam were 70.7% and 86%, respectively. Colistin and polymyxin B remained the most effective studied antibiotics. All of the imipenem-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates were MBL-positive, and 107 out of 144 (74.3%) of the MBL isolates were positive for the blaIMP gene. Conclusions: The results of this study show that the rate of P. aeruginosa-caused burn wound infections was very high, and many of the isolates were resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobials. Such extensive resistance to antimicrobial classes is important because few treatment options remain for patients with burn wound infections. blaIMP-producing P. aeruginosa isolates are a rising threat in burn-care units, and should be controlled by conducting infection-control assessments

Pediatric Gastrointestinal Endoscopy: European Society of Pediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) and European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) Guidelines

ABSTRACT: This Guideline refers to infants, children and adolescents aged 0–18 years. The areas covered include: indications for diagnostic and therapeutic esophagogastroduodenoscopy and ileo-colonoscopy; endoscopy for foreign body ingestion; corrosive ingestion and stricture/stenosis endoscopic management; upper and lower gastrointestinal bleeding; endoscopic retrograde cholangio-pancreatography and endoscopic ultrasonography. Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy and endoscopy specific to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been dealt with in other Guidelines [1–3] and are therefore not mentioned in this Guideline. Training and ongoing skill maintenance are to be dealt with in an imminent sister publication to this

Metabolomic-Based Noninvasive Serum Test to Diagnose Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: Results From Discovery and Validation Cohorts

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common type of chronic liver disease worldwide and includes a broad spectrum of histologic phenotypes, ranging from simple hepatic steatosis or nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). While liver biopsy is the reference gold standard for NAFLD diagnosis and staging, it has limitations due to its sampling variability, invasive nature, and high cost. Thus, there is a need for noninvasive biomarkers that are robust, reliable, and cost effective. In this study, we measured 540 lipids and amino acids in serum samples from biopsy-proven subjects with normal liver (NL), NAFL, and NASH. Using logistic regression analysis, we identified two panels of triglycerides that could first discriminate between NAFLD and NL and second between NASH and NAFL. These noninvasive tests were compared to blinded histology as a reference standard. We performed these tests in an original cohort of 467 patients with NAFLD (90 NL, 246 NAFL, and 131 NASH) that was subsequently validated in a separate cohort of 192 patients (7 NL, 109 NAFL, 76 NASH). The diagnostic performances of the validated tests showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, and specificity of 0.88 +/- 0.05, 0.94, and 0.57, respectively, for the discrimination between NAFLD and NL and 0.79 +/- 0.04, 0.70, and 0.81, respectively, for the discrimination between NASH and NAFL. When the analysis was performed excluding patients with glucose levels >136 mg/dL, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the discrimination between NASH and NAFL increased to 0.81 +/- 0.04 with sensitivity and specificity of 0.73 and 0.80, respectively. Conclusion: The assessed noninvasive lipidomic serum tests distinguish between NAFLD and NL and between NASH and NAFL with high accuracy.Supported by the National Institutes of Health Blueprint for Neuroscience Research (R01AT001576 to S.C.L., J.M.M.), Agencia Estatal de Investigacion of the Ministerio de Economia, Industria y Competitividad (SAF2014-52097R to J.M.M.), CIBER Hepatic and Digestive Diseases and Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PIE14/0003 to J.M.M.), Etorgai 2015-Gobierno Vasco (ER-2015/00015 to R.M., I.M.A., C.A., A.C.), Plan de Promocion de la Innovacion 2015-Diputacion Foral de Bizkaia (6/12/IN/2015/00131 to A.C., C.A.), National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (RO1DK81410 to A.J.S.), and Czech Ministry of Health (RVO VFN64165 to L.V.)

Evaluation of natural compounds against Listeria innocua: Translating in vitro success to processed meat models

Ensuring food safety is a significant challenge in the processed meat industry. Listeria monocytogenes represents a persistent threat due to its ability to grow in adverse conditions. Nowadays, there's a growing interest in natural preservatives to inhibit its proliferation in foods. Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to preliminarily evaluate the in vitro inhibitory activity of various natural antimicrobial agents against Listeria innocua, used as a surrogate for L. monocytogenes. Thyme essential oil (EO) emerged as the most effective candidate for further in vivo testing in pork minced meat with 40% fat and no additional fat, deliberately contaminated with L. innocua. The samples were stored for 20 days under two different temperature conditions, mimicking common procedures used to produce salami with short ripening periods and high fat content, such as the Italian Ciauscolo PGI salami, either through spontaneous fermentation or with the use of starter cultures. In vivo, the inhibitory effect of thyme EO was minimal or absent, regardless of fat content. Statistically significant decreases in L. innocua counts (<2%) were sporadic and observed solely in samples stored under temperature conditions mimicking the typical procedure for spontaneously fermented salami production. However, this effect was not sustained until the end of the experiment. While thyme EO demonstrated potential as an antilisterial agent in vitro, our findings highlight the complex interaction between antimicrobial agents and food matrices, revealing challenges in practical applications. This underscores the importance of further investigation elucidating the effectiveness of antimicrobial agents in real food systems

Results from the VALUE perfect predictor experiment: process-based evaluation

Comunicación presentada en: EGU General Assembly 2016 celebrada del 17 al 22 de abril de 2016 en Viena, Austria

Distribution of telecom Time-Bin Entangled Photons through a 7.7 km Hollow-Core Fiber

State of the art classical and quantum communication rely on standard optical fibers with solid cores to transmit light over long distances. However, recent advances have led to the emergence of hollow-core optical fibers (HCFs), which due to the novel fiber geometry, show remarkable optical guiding properties, which are not as limited by the material properties as solid-core fibers. In this paper, we explore the transmission of entangled photons through a novel 7.7 km HCF, presenting the first successful demonstration of entanglement distribution via long-distance HCF. Our study highlights the low latency and low chromatic dispersion intrinsic to HCF, which can increase the secure key rate in time-bin based quantum key distribution protocols.Comment: 9 pages (incl. 2 pages appendix), 5 figure

The VALUE perfect predictor experiment: evaluation of temporal variability

Temporal variability is an important feature of climate, comprising systematic vari-ations such as the annual cycle, as well as residual temporal variations such asshort-term variations, spells and variability from interannual to long-term trends.The EU-COST Action VALUE developed a comprehensive framework to evaluatedownscaling methods. Here we present the evaluation of the perfect predictorexperiment for temporal variability. Overall, the behaviour of the differentapproaches turned out to be as expected from their structure and implementation.The chosen regional climate model adds value to reanalysis data for most consid-ered aspects, for all seasons and for both temperature and precipitation. Bias cor-rection methods do not directly modify temporal variability apart from the annualcycle. However, wet day corrections substantially improve transition probabilitiesand spell length distributions, whereas interannual variability is in some cases dete-riorated by quantile mapping. The performance of perfect prognosis (PP) statisticaldownscaling methods varies strongly from aspect to aspect and method to method,and depends strongly on the predictor choice. Unconditional weather generatorstend to perform well for the aspects they have been calibrated for, but underrepre-sent long spells and interannual variability. Long-term temperature trends of thedriving model are essentially unchanged by bias correction methods. If precipita-tion trends are not well simulated by the driving model, bias correction furtherdeteriorates these trends. The performance of PP methods to simulate trendsdepends strongly on the chosen predictors.VALUE has been funded as EU COST Action ES1102

Full Thickness Cartilage Palisade Tympanoplasty with Malleus Interposition; A Study of the Long Term Results

The aim of this retrospective study is to review long term results of full-thickness cartilage palisade tympanoplasty (FTCPT) with malleus head interposition performed on 51 patients (56 ears); 36 women and 15 men (7-73 years, 44 years average). The pathology of ears which encourages this technique of tympanoplasty is presented. On average 12 years after surgery we have elaborated anatomic and functional results. Anatomic results were categorized based on empiric evaluation of the new tympanic membrane status: 40 (71%) tympanic membranes without anatomic irregularities, 14(25%) with irregularities and 2(4%) with secondary perforation. Functional results (tonal audiogram) are based on pure tone average air-bone gap (PTA-ABG) at 4 frequencies. Main functional results of 51 ears (51 audiograms performed): pre- and post-operative average PTA-ABGs were 27.07±9.98 and 10.77±7.85 dB (t=10.36; p<0.001). In the group of ears with a tympanic membrane with no anatomic irregularities, pre- and post-operative average PTA-ABGs were 27.30±10.56 and 10.82±8.33 dB (t=8.09; p<0.001). In the group of ears with cartilage resorption, pre- and post-operative PTA-ABGs were 24.92±8.19 and 9.33±6.58 dB (t=6.21; p<0.001). The differences between the two groups are irrelevant. Postoperative PTA-ABG values of ears after first surgery (n=34) and revision surgery (n=17) was significantly different (8.75±5.75 and 15.16±9.62 dB) (t=2.60; p=0.016). In spite of the thickness of the new tympanal membrane, FTCPT is a successful technique for solving advanced ear pathology