Problematic Internet Use in High School Students in Guangdong Province, China

BACKGROUND: Problematic Internet Use (PIU) is a growing problem in Chinese adolescents. There are many risk factors for PIU, which are found at school and at home. This study was designed to investigate the prevalence of PIU and to investigate the potential risk factors for PIU among high school students in China. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: A cross-sectional study was conducted. A total of 14,296 high school students were surveyed in four cities in Guangdong province. Problematic Internet Use was assessed by the 20-item Young Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). Information was also collected on demographics, family and school-related factors and Internet usage patterns. Of the 14,296 students, 12,446 were Internet users. Of those, 12.2% (1,515) were identified as problematic Internet users (PIUs). Generalized mixed-model regression revealed that there was no gender difference between PIUs and non-PIUs. High study-related stress, having social friends, poor relations with teachers and students and conflictive family relationships were risk factors for PIU. Students who spent more time on-line were more likely to develop PIU. The habits of and purposes for Internet usage were diverse, influencing the susceptibility to PIU. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: PIU is common among high school students, and risk factors are found at home and at school. Teachers and parents should pay close attention to these risk factors. Effective measures are needed to prevent the spread of this problem

Susceptibility rates of clinically important bacteria collected from intensive care units against colistin, carbapenems, and other comparative agents: results from the Surveillance of Multicenter Antimicrobial Resistance in Taiwan (SMART)

Chih-Cheng Lai,1 Ying-Sheng Chen,2 Nan-Yao Lee,3 Hung-Jen Tang,4,5 Susan Shin-Jung Lee,6,7 Chin-Fu Lin,8 Po-Liang Lu,9–11 Jiunn-Jong Wu,12 Wen-Chien Ko,13 Wen-Sen Lee,14 Po-Ren Hsueh15,16 1Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Liuying, Taiwan; 2Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Cardinal Tien Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan; 3Department of Internal Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Medical College and Hospital, Tainan, Taiwan; 4Department of Internal Medicine, Chi Mei Medical Center, Tainan, Taiwan; 5Department of Health and Nutrition, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan; 6Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 7Faculty of Medicine, School of Medicine, National Yang Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 8Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 9Department of Internal Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 10Department of Laboratory Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 11Graduate Institute of Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; 12Department of Biotechnology and Laboratory Science in Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan; 13Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan; 14Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Medical Center, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; 15Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; 16Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan Objectives: This study aimed to determine the in vitro susceptibility of commonly encountered Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) recovered from patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) in Taiwan against colistin, carbapenems, and other comparative agents. Methods: In total, 758 nonduplicate GNB isolates were obtained from clinical specimens of ICU patients at seven medical centers in 2016. Minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined using the Vitek 2 susceptibility system. The reference broth-microdilution method was performed to determine MICs of colistin. Five main carbapenemase genes among carbapenem-non-susceptible GNB and mcr-1–mcr5 genes among colistin non-wild-type or -resistant isolates were determined. Results: After exclusion 38 Proteus mirabilis and 13 Morganella morganii spp. among 361 Enterobacteriaceae isolates, 34 (9.4%) isolates were carbapenem-insusceptible, 91.1% (n=31) were colistin wild type, and three and one Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates carried blaKPC and blaOXA48-like, respectively. Carbapenem-insusceptible isolates were found in 23.4% (30 of 128) and 63.0% (87 of 138) of isolates of the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii complex, respectively. mcr-1 was detected in two (1.8%) Enterobacter cloacae isolates. Very major errors between two methods of susceptibility to colistin were found in 1.5% of K. pneumoniae, 27.5% of E. cloacae, 4.7% of P. aeruginosa, and 10.1% of A. baumannii complex isolates. Conclusion: In this study, 8.7% of Enterobacteriaceae isolates from ICUs were not susceptible to carbapenem, and blaKPC and blaOXA48-like were found among three and one carbapenem-insusceptible K. pneumoniae isolates, respectively. Colistin MICs determined by Vitek 2 were not reliable, especially for E. cloacae and A. baumannii complex isolates. Keywords: colistin, carbapenems, susceptibility, carbapenemase, mcr-1, intensive care units, SMART, P. aeruginosa, A. baumanni