Toxic megacolon associated with clostridium difficile infection - A case study

© 2017, Serbian Medical Society. All rights reserved. Hyper virulent bacterial strain and irrational antibiotics use are among main causes of incidence increase in Clostridium difficile infection. The most difficult complication of clostridia infection is toxic megacolon with the incidence of 0.4 - 3 % of cases. The study shows a female 56-year-old patient hospitalized at Infectious Disease Clinic in Kragujevac, on the fourth day of the disease, with stomach ache, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. The patient was previously hospitalized at Pulmonary Clinic for twenty-two days where she had been treated for pneumonia with combined antibiotic therapy. Laboratory analyses showed increased levels of leucocytes (WBC 50.4×109/L), nitrates (urea: 15.4 mmol/l, creatinine: 328 mmol/L) and C-reactive proteins (CRP: 221.2 mg/L), while albumin levels were decreased (16 g/L). Stool was positive on Clostridium difficilyэ. Computerized tomography (CT) was used to visualize diffuse thickening of colon’s wall, especially ascendant, with peritoneum density increase and the presence of free liquid. Despite eradication antibiotic (amp. Vankomycin 125mg/6h per os, amp. Orvagyl 500mg/8h iv), substitution and symptomatic therapy, as well as multidisciplinary approach, the patient passed away on the third day of hospitalization. Recognizing risk factors for clostridia infection onset, monitoring clinical course of the disease, adequate medicament therapy, and early surgical intervention due to complications can lead to lower morbidity and mortality infection rates

The analysis of risk factors and clinical-demographic characteristics of patients with clostridium dificille infection as well as the outcome of their treatment

© 2016, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science, All rights reserved. Pseudomembranous colitis is a frequent nosocomial infection associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Clostridium difficile infection incidence most frequently increases due to unreasonable antibiotic use and the appearance of new hypervirulent bacterial strains, which leads to prolonged hospitalization and an increase in the total cost of hospital treatment. This is a retrospective design study conducted at Clinical Centre Kragujevac from January to December 2014. The patient data were obtained from the protocol of the Virological Laboratory and from medical documentation. All statistical analyses were performed using the computer program SPSS. The descriptive statistical data are expressed as percentage values. Continuous variables are expressed as the arithmetic mean with the standard deviation. Clostridium difficile infection occurred more frequently with elderly patients (123 patients were over 65 years old). Out of 154 patients on antibiotic treatment, 110 patients were treated with a combination of two or more antibiotics from different pharmacological groups. The most represented antibiotics were from the cephalosporin (71.4%) and quinolone (46.3%) groups. A total of 85.8% of the patients used proton pump inhibitors and H2 blockers. Our results describe the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients with diagnosed Clostridium difficile infection. The most prevalent characteristics (age, antibiotic therapy, PPI and H2 blocker use), which other researchers have also mentioned as risk factors, were present in our study as well

Synthesis and characterization of zinc(II)-complexes with S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid

© 2018, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. New zinc(II)-complexes with S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid (alkyl = benzyl-(L1), methyl-(L2), ethyl-(L3), propyl-(L4), butyl-(L5)) have been synthesized and characterized by elemental microanalysis, IR spectroscopy, and 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopy. Th e S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid were prepared by alkylation of thiosalicylic acid by adding alkyl halides to an alkaline water-ethanol solution, while the corresponding zinc(II)-complexes were obtained via the direct reaction of ZnCl2 with S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid in water. Based on the microanalysis results and the IR and NMR spectra of the S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid and the corresponding zinc(II)-complexes, we concluded that the ligands are bidentately coordinated to the zinc(II)-ion

Translation to Serbian, cultural adaptation, reliability testing and validation of the questionnaire estimating the fear of injections

© 2019, Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved. Background/Aim. The two-part questionnaire called Injection Phobia Scale (IPS)-Anxiety and IPS-Avoidance represents one of the most commonly used questionnaires for assessing the fear of injections. The aim of the present study was to translate and culturally adapt this questionnaire from English into Serbian as well as to assess reliability and validity of the translation. Methods. The translation and cultural adaptation of the IPS-Anxiety and IPS-Avoidance was performed in accordance with the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) guidelines. Reliability testing, factor analysis and validation of Serbian translation of IPS-Anxiety and IPS-Avoidance were carried out on a sample of 485 students of pharmacy, or medicine at the University of Kragujevac, Serbia. Results. Serbian translation of IPS-Anxiety and IPSAvoidance demonstrated high internal consistency with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.934 for IPS-Anxiety and 0.911 for IPS-Avoidance. Factor analysis of IPS-Anxiety showed that there are two domains, which we have called as Direct Experience (9 items) and Indirect Experience (9 items); factor analysis of IPS-Avoidance also pointed out on two domains referring to direct and indirect fear of injections. Female students scored higher on the scale showing more extensive injection phobia than male students. It is also interesting that students of pharmacy have higher level of injection phobia than students of medicine, and those students of the fifth year of study feel more fear of injections than students from the first four years. Conclusion. Serbian translation of IPS-Anxiety and IPS-Avoidance showed good psychometric properties on population consisted of students medicine and pharmacy

Synthesis and characterization of platinum(IV)-complexes with S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid and the crystal structure of the S-butyl derivative of thiosalicylic acid

© 2017, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. New platinum(IV)-complexes with S-alkyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid (alkyl = benzyl-(L1), methyl-(L2), ethyl-(L3), propyl-(L4), butyl-(L5)) have been synthesized and characterized by microanalysis, infrared spectroscopy, and1H and13C NMR spectroscopy. The bidentate S,O ligand precursor, the S-butyl derivative of thiosalicylic acid (S-bu-thiosal), was prepared, and its crystal structure was determined. Single crystals suitable for X-ray measurements were obtained by slow crystallization from a DMSO-water system. S-bu-thiosal crystallized in a P21/c space group of a monoclinic crystal system with a = 8.0732 (3) Å, b = 19.6769 (4) Å, c = 8.2291 (3) Å and Z = 4. S-bu-thiosal also has a coplanar geometry

Synthesis, characterization, and cytotoxicity of binuclear copper(Ii)-complexes with some s-alkenyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid

© 2017, University of Kragujevac, Faculty of Science. All rights reserved. New complexes of copper(II) with S-alkenyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid (alkenyl = propenyl-(L1), isobutenyl-(L2)) have been synthesized and characterized by microanalysis, infrared spectra, magnetic measurements, and by NMR spectra. The cytotoxic activity of two newly synthesized precursor S-alkenyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid were tested using an MTT colorimetric technique on HCT-116 human colon carcinoma cells. The cytotoxic effect of the copper(II)- complexes were higher compared to the cytotoxicity of the corresponding ligand (for concentrations from 31.25 to 250 μM). Copper(II)-complexes showed a slightly lower cytotoxicity compared to cisplatin. Complexes of copper(II) with S-alkenyl derivatives of thiosalicylic acid (at concentrations from 250 to 1000 μM) had a cytotoxic effect on HCT-116 cells compared to cisplatin