Prevalence of gram-negative infections in cervico-facial sepsis

Magister Chirurgiae Dentium (MChD)In cervico-facial sepsis a substantial proportion of organisms are normally gram-negative staining of which the majority are anaerobes (Boyanova 2006 and Sanchez 2010). At Tygerberg Academic Hospital and Tygerberg Oral Health Centre it has been found that patients treated for cervico-facial sepsis seldom have gram-negative organisms on culture, although the staining results reported the presence of gram-negative organisms. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of gram-negative staining in a population of patients with cervico-facial sepsis and to determine the number of gram-negative stains that yield gram-negative organisms on culture. Results indicated that 71 out of a possible 90 pus swabs reported a gram stain. Of those, 48 specimens stained gram-negative and only two of these cultured gram-negative organisms. Although gram-negative organisms are present on gram stain, microbiological diagnosis of gram-negative organisms on culture was very seldom found at the Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery unit at the Tygerberg Academic Hospital and Tygerberg Oral Health Centre

Prevalence of gram-negative infections in cervico-facial sepsis

Magister Chirurgiae Dentium (MChD)In cervico-facial sepsis a substantial proportion of organisms are normally gram-negative staining of which the majority are anaerobes (Boyanova 2006 and Sanchez 2010). At Tygerberg Academic Hospital and Tygerberg Oral Health Centre it has been found that patients treated for cervico-facial sepsis seldom have gram-negative organisms on culture, although the staining results reported the presence of gram-negative organisms. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of gram-negative staining in a population of patients with cervico-facial sepsis and to determine the number of gram-negative stains that yield gram-negative organisms on culture. Results indicated that 71 out of a possible 90 pus swabs reported a gram stain. Of those, 48 specimens stained gram-negative and only two of these cultured gram-negative organisms. Although gram-negative organisms are present on gram stain, microbiological diagnosis of gram-negative organisms on culture was very seldom found at the Maxillofacial and Oral Surgery unit at the Tygerberg Academic Hospital and Tygerberg Oral Health Centre

Expertise and the interpretation of computerized physiological data: implications for the design of computerized monitoring in neonatal intensive care

This paper presents the outcomes from a cognitive engineering project addressing the design problems of computerized monitoring in neonatal intensive care. Cognitive engineering is viewed, in this project, as a symbiosis between cognitive science and design practice. A range of methodologies has been used: interviews with neonatal staff, ward observations and experimental techniques. The results of these investigations are reported, focusing specifically on the differences between junior and senior physicians in their interpretation of monitored physiological data. It was found that the senior doctors made better use of the different knowledge sources available than the junior doctors. The senior doctors were able to identify more relevant physiological patterns and generated more and better inferences than did their junior colleagues. Expertise differences are discussed in the context of previous psychological research in medical expertise. Finally, the paper discusses the potential utility of these outcomes to inform the design of computerized decision support in neonatal intensive care

Health and Politics: Analyzing the Government of Alberta’s COVID-19 Communications

A multi--part paper for the panel on June 1st. We discuss a project to gather discourse on COVID-19 from press briefings, Twitter and other sources. We discuss how we have analyzed a first 6-month span of the gathered discourse and present some preliminary findings

Cell-to-cell transmission of retroviruses: Innate immunity and interferon-induced restriction factors

It has been known for some time that retroviruses can disseminate between immune cells either by conventional cell-free transmission or by directed cell-to-cell spread. Over the past few years there has been increasing interest in how retroviruses may use cell-to-cell spread to promote more rapid infection kinetics and circumvent humoral immunity. Effective humoral immune responses are intimately linked with innate immunity and the interplay between retroviruses and innate immunity is a rapidly expanding area of research that has been advanced considerably by the identification of cellular restriction factors that provide barriers to retroviral infection. The effect of innate immunity and restriction factors on retroviral cell-to-cell spread has been comparatively little studied; however recent work suggests this maybe changing. Here I will review some recent advances in what is a budding area of retroviral research

Cyclic and macrocyclic peptides as chemical tools to recognise protein surfaces and probe protein-protein interactions

Targeting protein surfaces and protein–protein interactions (PPIs) with small molecules is a frontier goal of chemical biology and provides attractive therapeutic opportunities in drug discovery. The molecular properties of protein surfaces, including their shallow features and lack of deep binding pockets, pose significant challenges, and as a result have proved difficult to target. Peptides are ideal candidates for this mission due to their ability to closely mimic many structural features of protein interfaces. However, their inherently low intracellular stability and permeability and high in vivo clearance have thus far limited their biological applications. One way to improve these properties is to constrain the secondary structure of linear peptides by cyclisation. Herein we review various classes of cyclic and macrocyclic peptides as chemical probes of protein surfaces and modulators of PPIs. The growing interest in this area and recent advances provide evidence of the potential of developing peptide‐like molecules that specifically target these interactions

The Prevalence and Drug Sensitivity of Tuberculosis among Patients Dying in Hospital in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A Postmortem Study

A postmortem study by Ted Cohen and colleagues reveals a huge toll of tuberculosis among patients dying in hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa