A comparative analysis of cluster based interventions on healthcare-associated infections in a tertiary care hospital in China

BackgroundHealthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a significant concern in infection prevention. This study analyzes the trend of incidence of HAIs in a tertiary care hospital in China and assesses the effectiveness of cluster based interventions.MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on HAIs reports from 2015 to 2024, focusing on episodes involving the incidence rate of hospital infections, the catheter infection rate related to invasive procedures in the intensive care unit (ICU), healthcare workers’ compliance with hand hygiene, needlestick and sharp injuries (NSIs) among healthcare workers, the prophylactic use rate of antimicrobial agents for Class I surgical incisions, and the antimicrobial usage density (AUD). In 2019, we implemented cluster-based interventions on the incidence of HAIs, strengthening hospital infection control.ResultsThe downward trend in HAIs is notable, with infection rates of 9.34 ± 0.25 and 7.29 ± 0.78 per 1,000 patient-days observed during the periods of 2015–2019 and 2020–2024, respectively (p < 0.001). The decline in ICU infections linked to invasive ventilators and catheters is evident, with significant reductions in ventilator-associated pneumonia rates per 1,000 ventilator days (6.31 ± 1.50 vs. 2.72 ± 1.01, p = 0.002), catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates per 1,000 catheter days (1.66 ± 0.33 vs. 0.99 ± 0.28, p = 0.008), and catheter-related bloodstream infection rates per 1,000 catheter days (1.39 ± 0.35 vs. 0.43 ± 0.14, p < 0.001) during the periods of 2015–2019 and 2020–2024. A significant enhancement in hand hygiene compliance was observed when comparing the periods from 2015–2019 and 2020–2024, with a statistically significant difference (68.13 ± 3.55 vs. 77.39 ± 3.37, p = 0.003). Additionally, a notable decrease in NSIs per 10,000 patient days was observed during the same comparison period, with a statistically significant difference (12.17 ± 1.47 vs. 9.20 ± 1.07, p = 0.006).ConclusionCluster-based interventions are effective in reducing healthcare-associated infections in a tertiary care hospital in China

A CMK-5-encapsulated MoSe₂ composite for rechargeable lithium-ion batteries with improved electrochemical performance

A composite of MoSe2/CMK-5 was fabricated through a nanocasting route, in which ultra-thin two-dimensional MoSe2 nanosheets were encapsulated in the mesopores of CMK-5, exhibiting improved electrochemical performance for lithium-ion batteries.</p

Can Air Pollution Affect Our Sentiments: Social Media Evidence from Japan

We estimate the effect of air pollution on sentiment using social media data from a panel of Japanese cities. To address concerns about potential endogeneity from unobserved simultaneous determinants of air pollution and sentiment, as well as measurement error, we instrument for air pollution using plausibly exogenous variation in atmospheric wind patterns. We find that a one-standard-deviation increase in fine (PM2.5) and small (PM10) particle concentrations reduces overall sentiment by 0.79% and 1.64% standard deviation respectively, which is composed of a more pronounced increase in negative sentiment and a smaller decrease in positive sentiment. Our unique dataset allows us to separately estimate effects on negative sentiment categories including anger, anxiety, and sadness. Our results suggest sentiment as one candidate mechanism, besides physiological and cognitive pathways, to explain the increasingly evident non-health damages from air pollution exposure on work productivity, road safety, sleep and crime

In vivo Pharmacokinetic Drug-Drug Interaction Studies Between Fedratinib and Antifungal Agents Based on a Newly Developed and Validated UPLC/MS-MS Method

In the current research experiment, a sensitive, precise and rapid bioanalytical approach involving the detection of fedratinib concentrations in rat plasma by ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) technique was optimized and established, and it was employed to describe the changes of fedratinib concentrations after oral treatment with various antifungal drugs (isavuconazole, posaconazole, fluconazole and itraconazole). An Acquity UPLC BEH reverse-phase C18 column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) was used for chromatographic separation of fedratinib and bosutinib (as internal standard (IS) in our study) under a linear gradient elution of the mobile phase, which was composed of solution A (acetonitrile) and solution B (water with 0.1% formic acid), along with 0.40 ml/min flow rate. The analyte and internal standard were measured with electrospray ion source in positive ion mode on a XEVO TQS triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer. The newly developed UPLC-MS/MS assay displayed enough linearity within the concentration range of 0.5–500 ng/ml for calibration curve. The intra- and inter-day of precision and accuracy were evaluated and validated to meet the requirements for the guidelines of bioanalytical assay. In addition, the findings of matrix effect, recovery, and stability were all within the acceptable limits. The new UPLC-MS/MS method was also successfully applied to characterize the pharmacokinetic changes of fedratinib in rats in the present of different antifungal drugs (such as isavuconazole, posaconazole, fluconazole and itraconazole). It turned out that fluconazole resulted in a prominent inhibitory effect on fedratinib metabolism in rats, followed by treatment with itraconazole and isavuconazole. Therefore, the toxicity of fedratinib should be avoided when the concurrent use of fedratinib with CYP3A4 inhibitors may occur.</jats:p