Microbial handflora of nursing services workers in a Nigerian University Teaching Hospital

A study of the bacterial flora on the hands of 100 randomly selected nursing services workers comprising 56 nurses and 44 ward-maids working in Medical, Surgical, Ophthalmology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and Paediatric wards in addition to Intensive Care Units and Special Care Baby units of Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria were carried out. The samples were inoculated onto dried Blood agar, MacConkey agar, Mannitol salt agar and Muellar-Hinton agar plates and incubated aerobically at 37°C for 18-24 hours. Overall, 38% of the cultures yielded growth, while 52% of the nurses yielded growth as against 75% of the ward-maids. The bacterial isolates are Staphylococcus aureus (27%), Coagulase negative Staphylococci (20%), Bacillus alvei (17%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4%). Out of the S. aureus isolates, 92.6% of them were methicillin-resistant (MRSA), and the highest prevalence (100%) was recorded in the Obstetrics and Gynaecology wards. The Ophthalmology ward, Intensive care unit and Special Care Baby Unit had no MRSA. The bacterial density ranged from 2 to 20105 CFU. This study has demonstrated that more stringent measures should be taken towards proper hand-washing so as to at least reduce the incidence of nosocomial infections, with the attendant consequences in our hospital. Nigerian Medical Practitioner Vol. 50(1) 2006: 12-1

Low-intensity exercise enhances expression of markers of alternative activation in circulating leukocytes: roles of PPARγ and Th2 cytokines

Objective Pharmacological activation of the nuclear receptor PPARγ is linked to numerous beneficial effects in the contexts of inflammation, lipid homeostasis, Type-2 Diabetes (T2D) and atherosclerosis. These beneficial effects include priming of circulating monocytes for differentiation towards an ‘alternative’ anti-inflammatory M2 macrophage phenotype. As we have recently shown that participation in low-intensity exercise increases PPARγ expression and activity in leukocytes from previously sedentary individuals, we aimed to elucidate whether low-intensity exercise elicited a pattern of gene expression similar to that reported for M2 monocyte-macrophage differentiation. Methods 17 sedentary individuals undertook an 8-week low-intensity exercise programme (walking 10,000 steps/day, three times/week). Changes in expression of PPARs and the PPARγ co-activators PGC-1α and PGC-1β; Th2 (IL-4; IL-10) and Th1 (IL-6) cytokines; and markers for the M2 (AMAC1, CD14, MR, IL-4) and the ‘classical’ pro-inflammatory M1 (MCP-1, TNFα, IL-6) phenotypes, were determined using RT-PCR (to assess leukocyte mRNA expression) and ELISA (to assess plasma cytokine levels). Results Exercise was associated with upregulation of M2 markers, PGC-1α and PGC-1β, and with downregulation of M1 markers. Moreover, plasma levels of Th2 cytokines increased after exercise, while those of Th1 cytokines decreased. However, other PPARs (PPARα; PPARβ/δ) did not undergo marked exercise-induced activation or upregulation. Thus, participation in low-intensity exercise may prime monocytes for differentiation towards an M2 macrophage phenotype via PPARγ/PGC-1α/β. Conclusion Given the similarities between these effects and pharmacologically induced M2 polarisation, we propose that exercise-induced PPARγ/PGC-1α/β-mediated M2 polarisation may constitute a novel anti-inflammatory benefit of low-intensity exercise