Molecular Characterization of Beta-lactams Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolated from Clinical Sources at the Nairobi Hospital

The increase of Beta-lactamases producing organisms can cause major therapeutic failure and poses a significant clinical challenge in healthcare settings.  A total of 185 clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains were collected from in-and out-patients at The Nairobi Hospital, 74.1 % were inpatients and 25.9% were outpatients with the high prevalence of this bacterium among the male gender (61.1%) than female(38.9%); and preponderantly comprising the patients above 45 years old (64.3%). The highest numbers of P. aeruginosa were isolated from pus swab (39.5%), respiratory secretions (25.9%), and urine (18.9%). The resistance rate of P. aeruginosa against carbapenem was 31.5% among the isolates. The prevalence of MBL producing P. aeruginosa was 22.7% as compared to non-MBL isolates (77.3%). The MBL isolates were resistant to the examined antibiotics. There were two predominant genes VIM-2 (28.57%) and NDM-1 (66.67%) types among MBL P. aeruginosa, and more prevalent genes were isolated from Critical care nursing ward; Intensive Care Unit (45.2%) and High Dependency Unite (28.6%) at The Nairobi Hospital. These findings suggest that the early detection of   Metallo-Beta-Lactamases-producing isolates and the cooperation between medical professionals and infection control team may help in appropriate antimicrobial therapy and avoid further spread of these multidrug resistance strains. Keywords: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Metallo-Beta-Lactamases, Resistance, Beta-lactams

Development and Evaluation of a Low-Cost Probe-Type Instrument to Measure the Equilibrium Moisture Content of Grain

Storage of grain in bags is common in Africa, Asia, and many other less developed countries making a bag probing method well-suited for moisture content (MC) measurement. A low-cost meter was developed under a USAID project to reduce post-harvest loss (PHL). The meter, referred to as the PHL meter, measures the MC of maize and other grains based on relative humidity (RH) and temperature (T) measurements obtained by a small digital sensor located in the tip of a tubular probe that can be inserted into bags of grain or other grain bulks. Measurements are used by equilibrium moisture content (EMC) equations programmed into the meter to predict MC. A handheld reader connected to the probe provides a user interface. The PHL moisture meter was evaluated based on laboratory studies in the United States and field studies in Ghana. Meter readings from field studies were compared to two commercial meters, a John Deere Chek-Plus-SW08120 grain moisture tester and a DICKEY-john GAC® 2100 Agri meter. The John Deere portable moisture meter is a low-cost meter by developed country standards (~US$250, 2016 price); the GAC 2100 bench-top moisture meter is an approved moisturetester by the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) and has been a highly regarded and used electronic meter. Laboratory studies indicated that the PHL meter may require up to 6 min to take a measurement because of the time required by the probe tip and sensor to equilibrate to grain conditions. Methods to reduce the measurement time by measuring temporal equilibration rates were developed. These can be programmed into the reader to shorten measurement time for many conditions. The accuracy of the PHL moisture meter was comparable to the GAC 2100 moisture meter for maize below 15% MCwb. Average differences showed a positive offset of 0.45% for the PHL meter relative to the GAC 2100. The PHL meter provided an effective tool to probe bulk grain and bags

790-2 Baseline Electrocardiogram Predicts 30-day Mortality Among 32,812 Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction Treated with Thrombolysis

To determine the initial electrocardiographic variables predictive of survival among patients with acute myocardial infarction, we analyzed the baseline 12-lead ECGs in 32,812 patients enrolled into the GUSTO trial. All patients had≥0.1mV of ST segment elevation in at least one lead and received thrombolytic therapy. Those with LBBB or ventricular rhythm were excluded from analysis. Clinical follow-up was > 99.5% complete. 2218 (6.8%) patients died within 30 days of the initial ECG. Death within 30 days was more common in patients with RBBB (17%), LAFB (14%), and LPFB (17%), than in those with a normal conduction pattern (6%). Patients with ECG evidence of previous MI in a location distinct from the acute MI had a higher risk of death (9.8% vs. 5.9%) than those without prior infarction (p<0.0001). The variable having the greatest univariate predictive power for 30-day survival was the sum of the absolute ST-segment deviation in each lead (x2=341), as shown in the following mortality curve.Other ST segment variables that predicted 30-day survival were the sum of ST-segment elevation in each lead (x2=287). the maximum ST elevation in anyone lead (X2=257), and the number of leads with ST elevation (x2=250). When multivariate modeling was performed the sum of the absolute ST deviations, number of leads with ST elevation, prior ECG MI, RBBB, and LAFB each added independent prognostic information.We conclude that an ECG at the time of presentation contains substantial prognostic information which can be used to help stratify risk among thrombelytic-treated patients with acute myocardial infarction

Quality of life three years after diagnosis of localised prostate cancer: population based cohort study

Objective To quantify the risk and severity of negative effects of treatment for localised prostate cancer on long term quality of life

Hospital admission with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with increased all-cause mortality independent of cardiovascular risk factors

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is common and strongly associated with the metabolic syndrome. Though NAFLD may progress to end-stage liver disease, the top cause of mortality in NAFLD is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Most of the data on liver-related mortality in NAFLD derives from specialist liver centres. It is not clear if the higher reported mortality rates in individuals with non-cirrhotic NAFLD are entirely accounted for by complications of atherosclerosis and diabetes. Therefore, we aimed to describe the CVD burden and mortality in NAFLD when adjusting for metabolic risk factors using a ‘real world’ cohort. We performed a retrospective study of patients followed-up after an admission to non-specialist hospitals with a NAFLD-spectrum diagnosis. Non-cirrhotic NAFLD and NAFLD-cirrhosis patients were defined by ICD-10 codes. Cases were age-/sex-matched with non-NAFLD hospitalised patients. All-cause mortality over 14-years follow-up after discharge was compared between groups using Cox proportional hazard models adjusted for demographics, CVD, and metabolic syndrome components. We identified 1,802 patients with NAFLD-diagnoses: 1,091 with non-cirrhotic NAFLD and 711 with NAFLD-cirrhosis, matched to 24,737 controls. There was an increasing burden of CVD with progression of NAFLD: for congestive heart failure 3.5% control, 4.2% non-cirrhotic NAFLD, 6.6% NAFLD-cirrhosis; and for atrial fibrillation 4.7% control, 5.9% non-cirrhotic NAFLD, 12.1% NAFLD-cirrhosis. Over 14-years follow-up, crude mortality rates were 14.7% control, 13.7% non-cirrhotic NAFLD, and 40.5% NAFLD-cirrhosis. However, after adjusting for demographics, non-cirrhotic NAFLD (HR 1.3 (95% CI 1.1–1.5)) as well as NAFLD-cirrhosis (HR 3.7 (95% CI 3.0–4.5)) patients had higher mortality compared to controls. These differences remained after adjusting for CVD and metabolic syndrome components: non-cirrhotic NAFLD (HR 1.2 (95% CI 1.0–1.4)) and NAFLD-cirrhosis (HR 3.4 (95% CI 2.8–4.2)). In conclusion, from a large non-specialist registry of hospitalised patients, those with non-cirrhotic NAFLD had increased overall mortality compared to controls even after adjusting for CVD

The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) Version 3.0

[1] The International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean (IBCAO) released its first gridded bathymetric compilation in 1999. The IBCAO bathymetric portrayals have since supported a wide range of Arctic science activities, for example, by providing constraint for ocean circulation models and the means to define and formulate hypotheses about the geologic origin of Arctic undersea features. IBCAO Version 3.0 represents the largest improvement since 1999 taking advantage of new data sets collected by the circum-Arctic nations, opportunistic data collected from fishing vessels, data acquired from US Navy submarines and from research ships of various nations. Built using an improved gridding algorithm, this new grid is on a 500 meter spacing, revealing much greater details of the Arctic seafloor than IBCAO Version 1.0 (2.5 km) and Version 2.0 (2.0 km). The area covered by multibeam surveys has increased from ∼6% in Version 2.0 to ∼11% in Version 3.0

The preparation of large surface area lanthanum based perovskite supports for AuPt nanoparticles: tuning the glycerol oxidation reaction pathway by switching the perovskite B site

Gold and gold alloys, in the form of supported nanoparticles, have been shown over the last three decades to be highly effective oxidation catalysts. Mixed metal oxide perovskites, with their high structural tolerance, are ideal for investigating how changes in the chemical composition of supports affect the catalysts' properties, while retaining similar surface areas, morphologies and metal co-ordinations. However, a significant disadvantage of using perovskites as supports is their high crystallinity and small surface area. We report the use of a supercritical carbon dioxide anti-solvent precipitation methodology to prepare large surface area lanthanum based perovskites, making the deposition of 1 wt% AuPt nanoparticles feasible. These catalysts were used for the selective oxidation of glycerol. By changing the elemental composition of the perovskite B site, we dramatically altered the reaction pathway between a sequential oxidation route to glyceric or tartronic acid and a dehydration reaction pathway to lactic acid. Selectivity profiles were correlated to reported oxygen adsorption capacities of the perovskite supports and also to changes in the AuPt nanoparticle morphologies. Extended time on line analysis using the best oxidation catalyst (AuPt/LaMnO3) produced an exceptionally high tartronic acid yield. LaMnO3 produced from alternative preparation methods was found to have lower activities, but gave comparable selectivity profiles to that produced using the supercritical carbon dioxide anti-solvent precipitation methodology

The Hyper Suprime-Cam Software Pipeline

In this paper, we describe the optical imaging data processing pipeline developed for the Subaru Telescope's Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) instrument. The HSC Pipeline builds on the prototype pipeline being developed by the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope's Data Management system, adding customizations for HSC, large-scale processing capabilities, and novel algorithms that have since been reincorporated into the LSST codebase. While designed primarily to reduce HSC Subaru Strategic Program (SSP) data, it is also the recommended pipeline for reducing general-observer HSC data. The HSC pipeline includes high level processing steps that generate coadded images and science-ready catalogs as well as low-level detrending and image characterizations.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa