Health Promoting Lifestyle among Nurses of a Tertiary Level Hospital - A Descriptive Cross sectional study

Background: Lifestyle-related diseases are increasing worldwide representing 63% of all deaths globally. Health-promoting behaviors among nurses may affect the quality of patient care and education. This study aims to identify the health-promoting lifestyle among nurses. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study design was used among 111 nurses working in Manipal Teaching Hospital, Pokhara from November 2016 to March 2017. A simple random sampling technique (lottery method) was applied using a self-administered structured standard tool, Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II. The analysis was done using an independent t-test. Results: The total Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II mean score was 137.66±19.18. The highest mean score was in spiritual growth (27.43±4.63) and lowest in physical activity (17.03±4.88). A good health-promoting lifestyle was among 60.4% of the nurses. The significant difference in the mean score of total Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II was found in marital status (p=0.031) and educational qualification (p=0.009). Likewise, the significant mean difference in interpersonal relations, nutrition, and stress management was found with educational qualification (p < 0.05). The significant mean difference in nutrition was also found with marital status (p=0.02). There was a significant mean difference in physical activity and spiritual growth with work experience (p<0.05). Conclusion: The spiritual aspect of health has been more focused on nurses. Along with this, nurses need to put greater emphasis on physical activity and stress management for better health. 

Bacteriological Assessment of the Indoor Air of Different Hospitals of Kathmandu District

Nosocomial infection is the infection that has been caught in a hospital and is potentially caused by organisms that are not susceptible to antibiotics. Nosocomial infections are transmitted directly or indirectly through air and may cause different types of infections. This study was undertaken with an objective to determine the prevalence of nosocomial bacteria present in hospital indoor environment. A total of 16 air samples were taken from general wards and emergency wards of 8 different hospitals using an impactor air sampler in nutrient agar, mannitol salt agar, blood agar, cetrimide agar, and MacConkey agar. The bacteriological agents were isolated and identified by cultural characteristics, Gram staining, and biochemical tests, and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern was determined using CLSI Guideline, 2015. According to the European Union Guidelines to Good Manufacturing Practices, the hospitals were under C- and D-grade air quality. According to the European Commission, most of the hospitals were intermediately polluted. Out of 16 indoor air samples, 47.18% of Staphylococcus aureus and 1.82% Pseudomonas spp. were isolated. CoNS, Streptococcus spp., Micrococcus spp., and Bacillus spp. and Gram-negative bacteria E.coli and Proteus spp. were identified. The bacterial load was found to be high in the emergency ward (55.8%) in comparison to that in the general ward (44.2%). There is statistically no significant difference between bacterial load and 2 wards (general and emergency) of different hospitals and among different hospitals. The most effective antibiotic against S. aureus was gentamicin (81.81%) and ofloxacin (81.81%). Among the antibiotics used for Pseudomonas spp., ceftriaxone (83.3%) and ofloxacin (83.3%) were effective. High prevalence of S. aureus and Gram-negative bacteria was found in this study; it is therefore important to monitor air quality regularly at different hospitals to prevent HAI

Targeted lipopolysaccharide biosynthetic intermediate analysis with normal-phase liquid chromatography mass spectrometry

In this study, we established a method for monitoring the lipopolysacharride (LPS) biosynthetic intermediates of the Raetz pathway (lpxA-lpxK) in Gram-negative bacteria. LPS forms the outer leaflet of the outer membrane in Gram-negative bacteria and contributes to the permeability barrier and immune response. Metabolites from compound treated cells and genetically perturbed cells were extracted from whole cells and concentrated by mixed-mode weak anion exchange (WAX) solid-phase extraction (SPE) prior to analysis by normal phase (NP) LCMS/MS. Data was normalized to cell density and an internal standard prior to comparison against untreated cells in order to determine fold accumulation and depletion for affected metabolites. Using this method, we were able to reliably monitor changes to levels of intermediates in this pathway in response to compound-treatment and genetic modification. This capability allows for probing a key essential pathway in Gram-negative bacteria in an effort to better understand its role as a permeability barrier to antibiotics

Impact of ionic liquid pretreated plant biomass on Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth and biofuel production

Inhibitory compounds generated by the pretreament of lignocellulose processes can have negative impacts on downstream microbial growth and biofuel production. As such they present a significant barrier to the commercialization of biofuels produced using renewable carbon sources. Inhibitors are derived from the transformation of monosaccharides into toxic compounds and can also be an intrinsic component of the pretreatment reagents or biomass. Ionic liquid (IL) pretreatment has recently received attention as a potential alternative to established pretreatment techniques, but there are no published studies on its impact on downstream processes. In this study, sugars produced through the enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass pretreated with the IL 1-ethyl-3- methylimidazolium acetate ([C mim][OAc]) were used to assess the impact of IL pretreatment on cell growth and production of ethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Residual 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium ion ([C mim] ) in hydrolysates was found to be the primary source of inhibition on downstream microbial growth and ethanol production

The monobactam LYS228: mode of action and mechanisms decreasing in vitro susceptibility of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae

The monobactam chemical scaffold is attractive for the development of new agents to treat infections caused by drug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria since it is stable to metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs). However, the clinically used monobactam aztreonam lacks stability to serine β-lactamases (SBLs) that are often co-expressed with MBLs. The novel monobactam LYS228 is stable to MBLs and most SBLs. LYS228 bound purified Escherichia coli penicillin binding protein 3 (PBP3) similarly to ATM (k2/Kd = 367504 s-1M-1 and 409229 s-1M-1, respectively) according to stopped-flow fluorimetry. A gel-based PBP binding assay showed that LYS228 bound mainly to E. coli PBP3, with weaker binding to PBP1a and PBP1b. Exposing E. coli cells to LYS228 caused filamentation, consistent with cell division defects resulting from inhibition of PBP3. No single-step mutants were selected from twelve Enterobacteriaceae strains expressing different classes of β-lactamases at 8X the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of LYS228 (frequency <2.5x10-9). At 4X the MIC, mutants were selected from two of twelve strains at frequencies of 1.8x10-7 and 4.2x10-9. LYS228 MICs were ≤ 2 μg/mL against all mutants. These frequencies compared favorably to those obtained with meropenem and tigecycline. Mutations decreasing LYS228 susceptibility occurred in ramR and cpxA (Klebsiella pneumoniae) and baeS (E. coli and K. pneumoniae). Susceptibility of E. coli ATCC 25922 to LYS228 decreased 256-fold (MIC 0.125 to 32 µg/mL) after 20 serial passages. Mutants had accumulated mutations in ftsI (encoding the target, PBP3), baeR, acrD, envZ, sucB and rfaI. These results support the continued development of LYS228, which is currently undergoing Phase II clinical trials for complicated intraabdominal infection and complicated urinary tract infection (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03354754)