Interview with Rita Rupp

An interview with Rita Rupp regarding her experiences in a one-room school house.https://scholars.fhsu.edu/ors/1026/thumbnail.jp

Collecting Plants on Public Lands for Utah Landscaping

This fact sheet provides information of collecting, transplanting, and establishing native plants in a landscape. It includes the rules and regulations for collecting plants from Utah wildlands

Exploring root rot pathogens in wheat-pea rotations in Kansas

In 2018, over 277,000 bushels of wheat were produced on 7.7 million acres of land in Kansas alone. Based on the price of wheat by the end of 2018, this accounted for $1.44 million. This wheat is normally rotated with soybeans or fallow, but recent interest has arisen regarding the growth of peas in northern Kansas. As of 2019, there are both research and commercial growing operations underway. Many plant diseases have been especially prevalent during the summer because of the high rainfall and heat. In order to assess the severity of pea disease in Kansas, as well as explore potential interconnectivity between wheat and pea pathogens, a survey was conducted, and efforts were made to isolate and culture fungal pathogens of both wheat and pea

Treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia with linezolid or vancomycin: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: Hospital-acquired pneumonia remains the most lethal and expensive nosocomial infection worldwide. Optimal therapy remains controversial. We aimed to compare mortality and clinical response outcomes in patients treated with either linezolid or vancomycin. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data sources PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, American College of Physicians Journal Club, Evidence-based Medicine BMJ and abstracts from infectious diseases and critical care meetings were searched through April 2013. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies All randomised clinical trials comparing linezolid to vancomycin for hospital-acquired pneumonia. Data extraction Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses guidelines were followed. One author extracted the data and two authors rechecked and verified all data. Results: Nine randomised trials with a total of 4026 patients were included. The adjusted absolute mortality risk difference (RD) between linezolid and vancomycin was 0.01% (95% CI −2.1% to 2.1%; p=0.992; I2=13.5%. The adjusted absolute clinical response difference was 0.9% (95% CI −1.2% to 3.1%; p=0.409; I2=0%. The risk of both microbiological (RD=5.6%, 95% CI −2.2% to 13.3%; p=0.159; I2=0%) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (RD=6.4%, 95% CI −4.1% to 16.9%; p=0.230; I2=0%) eradication were not different between linezolid and vancomycin. Gastrointestinal side effects were more frequent with linezolid (RD=0.8% (95% CI 0% to 1.5%; p=0.05), but no differences were found with renal failure, thrombocytopenia and drug discontinuation due to adverse events. Our sample size provided 99.9% statistical power to detect differences between drugs regarding clinical response and mortality. Conclusions: Linezolid and vancomycin have similar efficacy and safety profiles. The high statistical power and the near-zero efficacy difference between both antibiotics demonstrates that no drug is superior for the treatment of hospital-acquired pneumonia

Improving Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs in Small Community Hospitals Through an Assessment and Feedback Model

Small community hospitals often lack expertise and resources for antimicrobial stewardship program implementation. Using an assessment-and-feedback model, Nebraska ASAP performed onsite assessment of antimicrobial stewardship efforts in 5 small community hospitals and provided facility specific feedback on implementation/augmentation of antimicrobial stewardship program. As a result of this model, participating small community hospitals were able to increase the number of antimicrobial stewardship core elements implemented while reducing antibiotic use and incidence of CDI.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/asap_pres/1001/thumbnail.jp

Utility of Repeat Testing for COVID-19: Laboratory Stewardship When the Stakes are High

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to circulate, testing strategies are of the utmost importance. Given national shortages of testing supplies, personal protective equipment, and other hospital resources, diagnostic stewardship is necessary to aid in resource management. We report the low utility of serial testing in a low-prevalence setting

Laboratory monitoring and antiviral treatment for chronic hepatitis B among routine care patients in the United States

We investigated factors associated with rates of recommended monitoring of chronic hepatitis B (HBV) patients for viral DNA and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and initiation of antiviral treatment among eligible patients, in a US cohort of patients under routine care. Patients were categorised by treatment indication: definite, equivocal or ineligible. Baseline covariates included demographics, clinical characteristics and specialist care status. \u27Recommended monitoring\u27 was defined ≥1 ALT or HBV DNA test per year. Logit models, univariate then multivariable, were used to evaluate factors associated with monitoring and treatment. Among 3,830 patients, treatment was received by 67.5% (788/1168 patients) in the \u27definite\u27 category, and 34.1% (208/610 patients) in the \u27equivocal\u27 category, of whom 109 moved up to \u27definite\u27 status at some point during follow-up. Sex, age and specialist care were independently associated with receipt of treatment in \u27definite\u27 patients. Routine monitoring rates were high prior to treatment in \u27definite/ treated\u27 patients (ALT: 77%; DNA: 85%) but declined afterwards (ALT 63%; DNA 36%). Rates of monitoring were lower in \u27definite/ untreated\u27 patients (ALT: 48%; DNA: 32%). Among \u27equivocal/ treated\u27 patients, lower age and comorbidity scores were associated with receipt of treatment; ALT monitoring rates were similar before and after treatment initiation (41% and 46%, respectively), while rates of DNA monitoring declined (55% and 29%). Monitoring among \u27treatment ineligible\u27 patients was similar to those in the \u27equivocal\u27 and untreated \u27definite\u27 groups. A large proportion of US HBV patients under routine care did not receive recommended annual laboratory monitoring, especially after initiation of antiviral treatment, and nearly one-third of patients with \u27definite\u27 indications for antiviral therapy remained untreated