Unnecessary use of fluoroquinolone antibiotics in hospitalized patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fluoroquinolones are among the most commonly prescribed antimicrobials and are an important risk factor for colonization and infection with fluoroquinolone-resistant gram-negative bacilli and for <it>Clostridium difficile </it>infection (CDI). In this study, our aim was to determine current patterns of inappropriate fluoroquinolone prescribing among hospitalized patients, and to test the hypothesis that longer than necessary treatment durations account for a significant proportion of unnecessary fluoroquinolone use.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We conducted a 6-week prospective, observational study to determine the frequency of, reasons for, and adverse effects associated with unnecessary fluoroquinolone use in a tertiary-care academic medical center. For randomly-selected adult inpatients receiving fluoroquinolones, therapy was determined to be necessary or unnecessary based on published guidelines or standard principles of infectious diseases. Adverse effects were determined based on chart review 6 weeks after completion of therapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 1,773 days of fluoroquinolone therapy, 690 (39%) were deemed unnecessary. The most common reasons for unnecessary therapy included administration of antimicrobials for non-infectious or non-bacterial syndromes (292 days-of-therapy) and administration of antimicrobials for longer than necessary durations (234 days-of-therapy). The most common syndrome associated with unnecessary therapy was urinary tract infection or asymptomatic bacteriuria (30% of all unnecessary days-of-therapy). Twenty-seven percent (60/227) of regimens were associated with adverse effects possibly attributable to therapy, including gastrointestinal adverse effects (14% of regimens), colonization by resistant pathogens (8% of regimens), and CDI (4% of regimens).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In our institution, 39% of all days of fluoroquinolone therapy were unnecessary. Interventions that focus on improving adherence with current guidelines for duration of antimicrobial therapy and for management of urinary syndromes could significantly reduce overuse of fluoroquinolones.</p

Thermal and rheological properties of PET-G regranulate after recycling of printed post-consumer foils

W pracy przedstawiono proces recyklingu materiałowego odpadowej folii z poli(tereftalanu etylenu) modyfikowanej glikolem (PET-G) do postaci regranulatu. Po zmyciu nadruku i wysuszeniu, folia została poddana procesowi wytłaczania w warunkach laboratoryjnych, co pozwoliło na uzyskanie jednorodnego regranulatu. Zbadano stabilność termiczną przy zastosowaniu analizy termograwimetrycznej TGA, a także temperaturę zeszklenia metodą skaningowej kalorymetrii różnicowej DSC. Zaobserwowano, iż niezmycie nadruku obniża stabilność termiczną folii, która to jest również niższa dla regranulatów, w odniesieniu do bazowego granulatu PET-G. Lepkosprężyste właściwości materiałów zostały zbadane przy użyciu reometru oscylacyjnego. Lepkość folii odpadowej była nieznacznie niższa niż dla regranulatów z kolei zależność ich modułu zachowawczego i stratności była identyczna jak dla wyjściowego PET-G.In this paper, a recycling process of post-consumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) modified with ethylene glycol (PET-G) towards regranulate pellets was described. After prints washing and drying, foil was extruded in a lab conditions what allows to obtain uniform regranulate pellets. The thermal stability and glass transition temperature were examined using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), respectively. It was found that thermal stability is decreased in the presence of prints and also lower for PET-G regranulates than for starting PET-G. Viscoelastic properties were analyzed by an oscillatory rheometer. The viscosity of post-consumer foil was slightly lower than for regranulates while their dependence between storage and loss modulus was the same as for starting PET-G