A pan-European epidemiological study reveals honey bee colony survival depends on beekeeper education and disease control

Reports of honey bee population decline has spurred many national efforts to understand the extent of the problem and to identify causative or associated factors. However, our collective understanding of the factors has been hampered by a lack of joined up trans-national effort. Moreover, the impacts of beekeeper knowledge and beekeeping management practices have often been overlooked, despite honey bees being a managed pollinator. Here, we established a standardised active monitoring network for 5 798 apiaries over two consecutive years to quantify honey bee colony mortality across 17 European countries. Our data demonstrate that overwinter losses ranged between 2% and 32%, and that high summer losses were likely to follow high winter losses. Multivariate Poisson regression models revealed that hobbyist beekeepers with small apiaries and little experience in beekeeping had double the winter mortality rate when compared to professional beekeepers. Furthermore, honey bees kept by professional beekeepers never showed signs of disease, unlike apiaries from hobbyist beekeepers that had symptoms of bacterial infection and heavy Varroa infestation. Our data highlight beekeeper background and apicultural practices as major drivers of honey bee colony losses. The benefits of conducting trans-national monitoring schemes and improving beekeeper training are discussed

Pre-Emptive Antimicrobial Locks Decrease Long-Term Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in Hemodialysis Patients

This study aimed to prove that pre-emptive antimicrobial locks in patients at risk of bacteremia decrease infection. We performed a non-randomized prospective pilot study of hemodialysis patients with tunneled central venous catheters. We drew quantitative blood cultures monthly to detect colonization. Patients with a critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci (defined as counts of 100–999 CFU/mL) were at high risk of developing a catheter-related bloodstream infection. We recommended antimicrobial lock for this set of patients. The nephrologist in charge of the patient decided whether to follow the recommendation or not (i.e., standard of care). We compared bloodstream infection rates between patients treated with antimicrobial lock therapy versus patients treated with the standard of care (i.e., heparin). We enrolled 149 patients and diagnosed 86 episodes of critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci. Patients treated with antimicrobial lock had a relative risk of bloodstream infection of 0.19 when compared with heparin lock (CI 95%, 0.11–0.33, p < 0.001) within three months of treatment. We avoided one catheter-related bloodstream infection for every ten catheter-critical colonizations treated with antimicrobial lock [number needed to treat 10, 95% CI, 5.26–100, p = 0.046]. In conclusion, pre-emptive antimicrobial locks decrease bloodstream infection rates in hemodialysis patients with critical catheter colonization

Pre-emptive antimicrobial locks decrease long-term catheter-related bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients

This study aimed to prove that pre-emptive antimicrobial locks in patients at risk of bacteremia decrease infection. We performed a non-randomized prospective pilot study of hemodialysis patients with tunneled central venous catheters. We drew quantitative blood cultures monthly to detect colonization. Patients with a critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci (defined as counts of 100-999 CFU/mL) were at high risk of developing a catheter-related bloodstream infection. We recommended antimicrobial lock for this set of patients. The nephrologist in charge of the patient decided whether to follow the recommendation or not (i.e., standard of care). We compared bloodstream infection rates between patients treated with antimicrobial lock therapy versus patients treated with the standard of care (i.e., heparin). We enrolled 149 patients and diagnosed 86 episodes of critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci. Patients treated with antimicrobial lock had a relative risk of bloodstream infection of 0.19 when compared with heparin lock (CI 95%, 0.11-0.33, p < 0.001) within three months of treatment. We avoided one catheter-related bloodstream infection for every ten catheter-critical colonizations treated with antimicrobial lock [number needed to treat 10, 95% CI, 5.26-100, p = 0.046]. In conclusion, pre-emptive antimicrobial locks decrease bloodstream infection rates in hemodialysis patients with critical catheter colonization

In vivo effectiveness of several antimicrobial locks to eradicate intravascular catheter coagulase-negative staphylococci biofilms

Tunneled central venous catheter (TCVC) related infection remains a challenge in the care of hemodialysis patients. We aimed to determine the best antimicrobial lock therapy (ALT) to eradicate coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) biofilms. We studied the colonization status of the catheter every 30 days by quantitative blood cultures (QBC) drawn through all catheter lumens. Those patients with a significant culture (i.e.,100 to 1,000 CFU/mL) of a CoNS were classified as patients with a high risk of developing catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI). They were assigned to receive daptomycin, vancomycin, teicoplanin lock solution, or the standard of care (SoC) (i.e., heparin lock). The primary endpoint was to compare eradication ability (i.e., negative QBC for 30 days after ending ALT) rates between different locks and the SoC. A second objective was to analyze the correlation between ALT exposure and isolation of CoNS with antimicrobial resistance. Daptomycin lock was associated with a significant higher eradication success than with the SoC: 85% versus 30% (relative risk [RR] = 14, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.4 – 82.7); followed by teicoplanin locks with a 83.3% success (RR = 11.7; 95% CI = 2 – 70.2). We observed CoNs isolates with a higher teicoplanin MIC in patients with repeated teicoplanin locks exposure (coefficient = 0.3; 95% CI = 0.11 – 0.47). However, teicoplanin MICs decreased in patients treated with vancomycin locks (coefficient = 20.56; 95% CI = 20.85 – 20.02). Methicillin-resistance decreased with accumulative ALT (RR = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.69 – 0.98). In this study, daptomycin locks achieve the highest eradication rate of CoNS from hemodialysis catheters in viv

Pre-emptive antimicrobial locks decrease long-term catheter-related bloodstream infections in hemodialysis patients

This study aimed to prove that pre-emptive antimicrobial locks in patients at risk of bacteremia decrease infection. We performed a non-randomized prospective pilot study of hemodialysis patients with tunneled central venous catheters. We drew quantitative blood cultures monthly to detect colonization. Patients with a critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci (defined as counts of 100-999 CFU/mL) were at high risk of developing a catheter-related bloodstream infection. We recommended antimicrobial lock for this set of patients. The nephrologist in charge of the patient decided whether to follow the recommendation or not (i.e., standard of care). We compared bloodstream infection rates between patients treated with antimicrobial lock therapy versus patients treated with the standard of care (i.e., heparin). We enrolled 149 patients and diagnosed 86 episodes of critical catheter colonization by coagulase-negative staphylococci. Patients treated with antimicrobial lock had a relative risk of bloodstream infection of 0.19 when compared with heparin lock (CI 95%, 0.11-0.33, p < 0.001) within three months of treatment. We avoided one catheter-related bloodstream infection for every ten catheter-critical colonizations treated with antimicrobial lock [number needed to treat 10, 95% CI, 5.26-100, p = 0.046]. In conclusion, pre-emptive antimicrobial locks decrease bloodstream infection rates in hemodialysis patients with critical catheter colonization

Glycopolymers Obtained by Chemical Modification of Well-Defined Block Copolymers

Well-defined di and triblock copolymers based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, HEMA, and n-butyl acrylate, BA, have been synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization, ATRP. Two copolymers have been selected to prepare glycopolymers containing D-(+)-glucosamine or N-(4-aminobutyl)-D- gluconamide, NABG, by chemical modification of HEMA units. The chemical modification occurs by activation of the hydroxyl groups of the HEMA units with highly reactive p-nitrophenyl carbonate groups. The block copolymers structure and self-assembly have been comprehensively studied in solid state and in solution by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The resulting glycopolymers obtained upon chemical modification turned out to be water soluble. Therefore, their carbohydrate-lectin interactions of have been analyzed by turbidimetry measurements. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.The authors acknowledge the financial support of MICINN (MAT2010-17016). The synchrotron work, performed at DESY, received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement no. 226716. They are grateful for collaboration of the Hasylab personnel, especially S. S. Funari. Additionally, O. Leon and A. Muñoz-Bonilla thank Universidad de Zulia (Venezuela) and CSIC for their predoctoral fellowship and JAE-doc postdoctoral contract, respectively.Peer Reviewe