Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Employees and Their Families of a Saudi University: An Epidemiological Study

Objectives:To assess the prevalence of non-communicable disease (NCD) risk factors among Saudi university employees and their families; to estimate the cardiovascular risk (CVR) amongst the study population in the following 10years. Methods:The NCD risk factors prevalence was estimated using a cross-sectional approach for a sample of employees and their families aged ≥ 18 years old, in a Saudi university (Riyadh in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; KSA). WHO STEPwise standardized tools were used to estimate NCD risk factors and the Framingham Coronary Heart Risk Score calculator was used to calculate the CVR. Results:Five thousand and two hundred subjects were invited, of whom 4,500 participated in the study, providing a response rate of 87%. The mean age of participants was 39.3±13.4 years. The majority of participants reported low fruit/vegetables consumption (88%), and physically inactive (77%). More than two thirds of the cohort was found to be either overweight or obese (72%), where 36% were obese, and 59% had abdominal obesity. Of the total cohort, 22–37% were found to suffer from dyslipidaemia, 22% either diabetes or hypertension, with rather low reported current tobacco use (12%). One quarter of participants was estimated to have >10% risk to develop cardiovascular disease within the following 10-years. Conclusion:The prevalence of NCD risk factors was found to be substantially high among the university employees and their families in this study

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

Background Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide.Methods A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study-a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital.Findings Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3.85 [95% CI 2.58-5.75]; p<0.0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63.0% vs 82.7%; OR 0.35 [0.23-0.53]; p<0.0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer.Interpretation Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised

Cellulose-Enriched Microbial Communities from Leaf-Cutter Ant (Atta colombica) Refuse Dumps Vary in Taxonomic Composition and Degradation Ability

Deconstruction of the cellulose in plant cell walls is critical for carbon flow through ecosystems and for the production of sustainable cellulosic biofuels. Our understanding of cellulose deconstruction is largely limited to the study of microbes in isolation, but in nature, this process is driven by microbes within complex communities. In Neotropical forests, microbes in leaf-cutter ant refuse dumps are important for carbon turnover. These dumps consist of decaying plant material and a diverse bacterial community, as shown here by electron microscopy. To study the portion of the community capable of cellulose degradation, we performed enrichments on cellulose using material from five Atta colombica refuse dumps. The ability of enriched communities to degrade cellulose varied significantly across refuse dumps. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing of enriched samples identified that the community structure correlated with refuse dump and with degradation ability. Overall, samples were dominated by Bacteroidetes, Gammaproteobacteria, and Betaproteobacteria. Half of abundant operational taxonomic units (OTUs) across samples were classified within genera containing known cellulose degraders, including Acidovorax, the most abundant OTU detected across samples, which was positively correlated with cellulolytic ability. A representative Acidovorax strain was isolated, but did not grow on cellulose alone. Phenotypic and compositional analyses of enrichment cultures, such as those presented here, help link community composition with cellulolytic ability and provide insight into the complexity of community-based cellulose degradation.Biological and Environmental Research/[DE-FC02-07ER64494]/BER/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DGE-1256259]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[DEB-0747002]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Science Foundation/[MCB-0702025]/NSF/Estados UnidosNational Institutes of Health/[T32 GM07215]/NIH/Estados UnidosUniversidad de Costa Rica/[]/UCR/Costa RicaMinisterio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones/[]/MICITT/Costa RicaUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison's Hilldale Undergraduate Faculty Research Fellowship/[]//Estados UnidosUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Básicas::Centro de Investigación en Biología Celular y Molecular (CIBCM

Microbiological studies on bacterial isolates from penicillins filling cleanroom

Aseptic processing is a critical method for the preparation of thermolabile sterile parenteral drug products. Sterile β-lactam antibiotics are extremely deactivated by heat, so the method of choice for their processing is through aseptic filling. The consequences of contamination on aseptically-filled products are harmful to the patient and having financial risk to the manufacturer. The aim of this work is isolation of bacterial contaminants from Classes A and B of aseptic penicillins filling area in Pharco Pharmaceuticals Egypt, studying the ability of these contaminants to produce penicillinase and studying the sensitivity of these contaminants to biocides. In addition, possible interaction between the commonly used biocides was checked. Thirty-one bacterial isolates were collected from cleanroom class A and seventy isolates from class B. Isolates were identified using macroscopic, microscopic examination, and the identity was confirmed by biochemical methods. Staphylococcus sp. were the predominant microorganism isolated, which include S. epidermidis (50%) and S. aureus (5%), followed by Micrococcus sp. (27%) then Corynebacterium sp. (10%). Bacillus sp. and P. aeroginosa were in the same proportion (4%). Isolates showed a heterogeneous susceptibility toward β-lactams when applying Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion technique. Accordingly, isolates were introduced into the aseptic area through different sources. Fifty-two isolates were found to be penicillinase producers. The effectiveness of biocides was tested according to modified suspension method and surface contact method. Isolates had different sensitivity toward the tested biocides. Based on the suspension method, at five minutes contact time, 1% Minncare was effective against 23 isolates out of 27 tested. While 1% Kleencare DS607 was effective against 21 isolates out of 27 tested and 70% isopropyl alcohol was effective against 23 isolates out of 27 tested. Two hard surfaces were selected for surface contact test, aluminum foil and powder free sterile surgical gloves. Results were similar to a great extent when biocides were applied to either aluminum surface or rubber surface, except an intangible difference in few cases. The concomitant use of at least two biocides within the cleanroom is necessary. Interactions between the selected biocides were also examined using macrodilution checkerboard method. No interaction between hydrogen peroxide and DS 607 was observed. The effectiveness of isopropyl alcohol was enhanced when DS607 present as 6.25 ppm in isopropyl alcohol. The activity of hydrogen peroxide and isopropyl alcohol was reduced when mixed to each other

Isolation, identification and evaluation of antimicrobial activity of streptomyces flavogriseus, strain actk2 from soil sample of Kodagu, Karnataka state (India)

Background: The search for novel antibiotics continues to be of immense importance in research programs around the world for pharmaceutical, industrial and agricultural applications. Filamentous soil bacteria, belonging to the Streptomyces genus, are widely used as an important biological tool for their ability to produce a wide range of novel secondary metabolites, such as ``antibiotics''. Objectives: The aim of the present study was to isolate and identify a strain of Streptomyces with high antibiotic production capability. Materials and Methods: The soil sample was collected randomly from the agricultural land of Kushalnagar Taluk of Kodagu district, Karnataka, India. The ACTK2 strain was isolated by serial dilution method and identified based on cultural, morphological, microscopic, biochemical and sequence analysis of 16S rRNA gene parameters. The isolated ACTK2 was analyzed for antimicrobial activities by perpendicular streak and disc diffusion methods, against the Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96), Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 121), Gram-negative Escherichia. coli (MTCC 729), Enterococcus aerogenes (MTCC 2829) and filamentous fungi (Trichoderma harizianum (MTCC6046), Fusarium proliferatum (MTCC 9375). Further, an antimicrobial metabolite from the ACTK2 strain was extracted by solvent extraction method, using n-butanol. The production of the antimicrobial compound by the ACTK2 strain was optimized by using different nutritional media and cultural conditions. Results: The strain Streptomyces flavogriseus designated as ACTK2 (Accession number KC990785) isolated from the soil sample of Kushalnagar Taluk, Kodagu, Karnataka, India, exhibited a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against test microorganisms. The optimum growth and antimicrobial compound production by strain ACTK2 was found to be a maximal pH 8, in the shaker incubator at 28 degrees C, for a period of 10 days. Conclusions: The crude n-butanol extract of the ACTK2 strain of S. flavogriseus showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activities against the test organisms and this opened further research investigations on purification and structural characterization of the active compounds from the crude extract