Interview with Marjorie Harkins Buchanan Kiewit

In this interview with Julia Stringfellow, Marjorie Harkins Buchanan Kiewit, LU class of 1943, discusses her time as a student as well as her time on the Board of Trustees.https://lux.lawrence.edu/oralhistories/1036/thumbnail.jp

Unusual central nervous system involvement of rheumatoid arthritis: successful treatment with steroid and azathioprine

Central nervous system involvement of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) frequently develops in patients who had a long-term history of RA, irrespective of the disease activity of systemic arthritis, and it has a high mortality rate despite treatment. Since clinical symptoms and radiologic signs are rather nonspecific, in short of doing biopsy, the diagnosis of rheumatoid meningitis is one of exclusion. However, the strongly positive rheumatoid factor in the cerebrospinal fluid is quite specific. We here report a 70-year-old man who had not been diagnosed as RA before he was admitted with neurological findings, who was diagnosed as RA later and successfully treated with prednisolone and azathioprine

Incidence, etiology, and antibiotic resistance patterns of Gram-negative microorganisms isolated from patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia in a medical-surgical hospital in Istanbul, intensive care unit of a teaching Turkey (2004-2006)

The identification of microorganisms causing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is important for formulating appropriate therapies. In this study, we report the incidence, etiology, and antibiotic resistance patterns of Gram-negative microorganisms isolated from patients diagnosed with VAP in our medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) during the years 2004-2006. VAP was diagnosed by using the clinical criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Antibiotic resistance patterns of isolated microorganisms were defined by standard methods. The VAP incidence rate was 22.6/1,000 ventilator days. The most frequently isolated pathogens were Acinetobacter spp., methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Ninety percent of Acinetobacter spp. isolates were resistant to ceftazidime, 64% to imipenem, and 80% to ciprofloxacin. Fifty-nine percent of P. aeruginosa isolates were resistant to ceftazidime, 32% to imipenem, and 62% to ciprofloxacin. Cefoperazone-sulbactam was the most active agent against Acinetobacter spp. In conclusion, the incidence of VAP and the prevalence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms are quite high in our ICU. Comparison of the resistance rates of isolates demonstrates that certain antibiotic agents are more effective than others

Bloodstream infections in a medical-surgical intensive care unit: incidence, aetiology, antimicrobial resistance patterns of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria

P>In the present study, the incidence and antimicrobial resistance patterns of the microorganisms that caused bloodstream infections (BSIs) in a medical-surgical intensive care unit during the years 2005-2007 were determined. The mean BSI incidence density was 6.56 per 1000 patient-days. The incidence density increased linearly during the study period (from 3.57 to 9.60 per 1000 patient-days). Staphylococcus aureus was most frequently isolated (47.3%), followed by Enterococcus spp. (10.8%) and Candida spp. (10.1%). There was a high rate of resistance to several of the prescribed antimicrobials among the bacteria isolated from patients with BSIs

Alterations in bacterial spectrum and increasing resistance rates in isolated microorganisms from device-associated infections in an intensive care unit of a teaching hospital in Istanbul (2004-2010)

The aim of the present study was to determine the rate of device-associated infection (DAI) and the change in profiles and antimicrobial resistance patterns of the causative microorganisms in a medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU), as well as to evaluate the effect of a new nationwide hospital infection control program (NHICP), which has been implemented in Turkey. In this study, 5,772 patients that were hospitalized for a total of 43,658 days acquired 1,321 DAIs, with an overall rate of 30.2% per 1,000 ICU days. Between 2004 (before the NHICP) and 2010, the incidence densities of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) decreased from 10.2 to 5.7 per 1,000 device-days (P < 0.0001), and central venous catheter-associated bloodstream infection (CVC-BSI) decreased from 5.3 to 2.1 per 1,000 device-days (P < 0.0001). However, ventilator-associated pneumonia increased from 27.0 to 31.5 per 1,000 device-days. Multidrug-resistant species rates increased from 5.8% to 76.6% (P < 0.0001) for Acinetobacter spp. and from 6.8% to 53.1% (P < 0.0001) for Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae rate increased from 23.1% to 54.2% (P = 0.01); the vancomycin-resistance rate among Enterococcus spp. increased from 0% in 2004 to 12.5% in 2010 (P = 0.0003). In conclusion, while a significant decrease was achieved in the incidences of CAUTI and CVC-BSI, the NHICP was not completely effective in our ICU. The high incidence of DAI and the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms indicate that further interventions are urgently needed