Extended Spectrum β-Lactamases among Gram-Negative Bacterial Isolates from Clinical Specimens in Three Major Hospitals in Northern Jordan

Background and Objectives. Extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) production is increasing all over the world, and organisms other than E. coli and K. pneumoniae are acquiring this character. ESBL production is detectable by automation, E-test, double disk diffusion (DDD), and PCR. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of ESBL production among clinical isolates of gram-negative rods, and to evaluate the effectiveness of augmentation of clavunate with Cefotaxime, Ceftazoxime, Aztreonam, Ceftriaxone, and Cefpodoxime in detecting ESBL production. Methods. 472 clinical gram-negative isolates identified by standard methods were tested for ESBL-production by (DDD) method using six cephalosporins and amoxicillin-clavulinate discs. Results. 108/472 (22.9%) of the isolates were ESBL producers, and were prevalent in tertiary care hospitals. 88.2% of E. cloacae, 71.4% of K. pneumoniae, 28.6% of K. oxytoca, 12.5% of C. freundii, 11.1% of A. calcoacceticus, and 10.8% of E. coli were ESBL producers. The DDD test demonstrated some variations in the efficacy of the different cephalosporins in detecting all the ESBL producers. The inclusion of ceftizoxime discs increased the efficacy of the test. It is concluded that ESBL-producing bacteria were prevalent among our hospitalized patients, and involved genera other than Klebsiella and Escherichia, and the inclusion of ceftizoxime increased the efficacy of ESBL detection by the DDD test

Allotment of aircraft spare parts using genetic alorithms

In this paper we attempt to determine the optimal allocation of aircraft parts used as spares for replacement of defective parts on-board of a departing flight. In order to minimize the cost of delay caused by unexpected failure, Genetic algorithms (GAs) are used to allocate the initial quantity of parts among the airports. GAs are a class of adaptive search procedures, that distinguish themselves from other optimization techniques by the use of concepts from population genetics to guide the search. Problem-specific knowledge is incorporated into the problem and efficient parameters are identified and tested for the task of optimizing the allocation of parts. The approach is illustrated by numerical results

Anti-ENA antibody profile in hepatitis C patients undergoing hemodialysis

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is increasing all over the world, especially among hemodialysis patients. HCV is one of the major autoantibody inducing viruses, where anti-nuclear antibodies (ANA), anti-smooth muscle antibodies (ASMA), anti-liver kidney microsome antibodies (LKM-1), and rheumatoid factor (RF) have been related to HCV. Few studies have investigated the presence of anti-extractable nuclear antigens (ENA) antibodies in chronic liver diseases, especially in chronic hepatitis C cases, but none investigated its immunostimulation role in hemodialysis units. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of HCV among chronic kidney disease- Stage 5 (CKD5) patients undergoing hemodialysis and the prevalence of ENA antibodies among them. Sera of 134 patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing hemodialysis, were screened for HCV antibodies and ENA antibodies profile, using ELISA and Immunoblot technique. 41 HCV-positive blood bank donors were used as controls. Sixty-four (47.7%) of 134 patients undergoing hemodialysis were infected with HCV. Thirty-three (51.6%) of 64 patients with HCV infection undergoing hemodialysis had anti-ENA antibodies: 9 (27.3%) showed anti-SSA antibodies and 22 (66.7%) had anti-SSB antibodies. The prevalence of anti-ENA antibodies was significantly higher in the patients with HCV infection, undergoing hemodialysis, compared with both control groups (hepatitis C-positive blood bank donors and hepatitis C-negative patients undergoing hemodialysis). Seventeen of 33 HCV antibodies-positive males undergoing hemodialysis had anti-ENA antibodies, compared with 16 of 31 females, indicating no sex related difference. This study emphasizes the high prevalence of HCV infection in our hemodialysis patients, comparable to that of other Middle Eastern countries, but higher than Western ones. A strong association was observed between anti-HCV positivity and hemodialysis duration, as well as anti-ENA antibody profile. However, these antibodies were gender independent