In vitro and in vivo activities of linezolid alone and combined with vancomycin and imipenem against Staphylococcus aureus with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides

The objective of this study was to evaluate the in vitro and in vivo efficacies of linezolid (35 mg/kg/5 h), vancomycin (60 mg/kg/5 h), imipenem (30 mg/kg/5 h), linezolid+imipenem, linezolid+vancomycin and vancomycin+imipenem against two clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates with reduced susceptibility to glycopeptides using time–kill curves and the murine peritonitis model. Time–kill curves were performed over 24 h. For the murine peritonitis model, peritonitis was induced by the intraperitoneal inoculation of 108 CFU/ml of each bacterial strain. Four hours later (0 h), the mice were randomly assigned to a control group or to therapeutic groups receiving subcutaneous treatment for 25 h. Bacterial counts in peritoneal fluid, bacteraemia and mortality rates were determined. The time–kill curves showed that the addition of linezolid to imipenem yielded synergistic results after 24 h. The addition of linezolid decreased vancomycin activity. In the animal model, vancomycin and linezolid monotherapies produced comparable bacterial decreases in mice infected with each strain but linezolid achieved higher rates of blood sterilisation. Linezolid tested either in monotherapy or in combination showed similar efficacy against both strains in terms of bacterial killing, number of negative blood cultures and survival. Linezolid and vancomycin were moderately bactericidal and similar in efficacy against glycopeptide-intermediate or -resistant S. aureus. Linezolid combinations, as effective as linezolid tested alone, could be considered as alternative options for the treatment of glycopeptide-intermediate S. aureus (GISA) infections

Access to Reliable Information about Long-Term Prognosis Influences Clinical Opinion on Use of Lifesaving Intervention

Background: Decompressive craniectomy has been traditionally used as a lifesaving rescue treatment in severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). This study assessed whether objective information on long-term prognosis would influence healthcare workers ’ opinion about using decompressive craniectomy as a lifesaving procedure for patients with severe TBI. Method: A two-part structured interview was used to assess the participants ’ opinion to perform decompressive craniectomy for three patients who had very severe TBI. Their opinion was assessed before and after knowing the predicted and observed risks of an unfavourable long-term neurological outcome in various scenarios. Results: Five hundred healthcare workers with a wide variety of clinical backgrounds participated. The participants were significantly more likely to recommend decompressive craniectomy for their patients than for themselves (mean difference in visual analogue scale [VAS] 21.5, 95 % confidence interval 21.3 to 21.6), especially when the next of kin of the patients requested intervention. Patients ’ preferences were more similar to patients who had advance directives. The participants’ preferences to perform the procedure for themselves and their patients both significantly reduced after knowing the predicted risks of unfavourable outcomes, and the changes in attitude were consistent across different specialties, amount of experience in caring for similar patients, religious backgrounds, and positions in the specialty of the participants. Conclusions: Access to objective information on risk of an unfavourable long-term outcome influenced healthcare workers

Microwave sensor system for continuous monitoring of adhesive curing processes

A microwave sensor system has been developed for monitoring adhesive curing processes. The system provides continuous, real-time information about the curing progress without interfering with the reaction. An open-coaxial resonator is used as the sensor head, and measurements of its resonance frequency and quality factor are performed during cure to follow the reaction progress. Additionally, the system provides other interesting parameters such as reaction rate or cure time. The adhesive dielectric properties can also be computed off-line, which gives additional information about the process. The results given by the system correlate very well with conventional measurement techniques such as differential scanning calorimetry, combining accuracy and rate with simplicity and an affordable cost. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd.The authors thank Rut Benavente Martinez for her assistance in the DSC experiments. The contract of BG-B is financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, through the 'Torres Quevedo' Sub-programme, which is also co-financed by the European Social Fund (ESF). This work has been financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain through the project MONIDIEL (TEC2008-04109).García Baños, B.; Catalá Civera, JM.; Penaranda-Foix, FL.; Canós Marín, AJ.; Sahuquillo Navarro, O. (2012). Microwave sensor system for continuous monitoring of adhesive curing processes. Measurement Science and Technology. 23(3). https://doi.org/10.1088/0957-0233/23/3/035101S233Jost, M., & Sernek, M. (2008). Shear strength development of the phenol–formaldehyde adhesive bond during cure. Wood Science and Technology, 43(1-2), 153-166. doi:10.1007/s00226-008-0217-2Costa, M. L., Botelho, E. C., Paiva, J. M. F. de, & Rezende, M. C. (2005). Characterization of cure of carbon/epoxy prepreg used in aerospace field. Materials Research, 8(3), 317-322. doi:10.1590/s1516-14392005000300016Chen, J., & Hojjati, M. (2007). Microdielectric analysis and curing kinetics of an epoxy resin system. Polymer Engineering & Science, 47(2), 150-158. doi:10.1002/pen.20687Sernek, M., & Kamke, F. A. (2007). Application of dielectric analysis for monitoring the cure process of phenol formaldehyde adhesive. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, 27(7), 562-567. doi:10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2006.10.004Núñez, L., Gómez-Barreiro, S., Gracia-Fernández, C. A., & Núñez, M. R. (2004). Use of the dielectric analysis to complement previous thermoanalytical studies on the system diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A/1,2 diamine cyclohexane. Polymer, 45(4), 1167-1175. doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2003.12.024Lefebvre, D. R., Han, J., Lipari, J. M., Long, M. A., McSwain, R. L., & Wells, H. C. (2006). Dielectric analysis for in-situ monitoring of gelatin renaturation and crosslinking. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 101(5), 2765-2775. doi:10.1002/app.21631Cordovez, M., Li, Y., & Karbhari, V. M. (2004). Assessment of Dielectrometry for Characterization of Processing and Moisture Absorption in FRP Composites. Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, 23(4), 445-456. doi:10.1177/0731684404031980Das, N. K., Voda, S. M., & Pozar, D. M. (1987). Two Methods for the Measurement of Substrate Dielectric Constant. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 35(7), 636-642. doi:10.1109/tmtt.1987.1133722Fioretto, D., Livi, A., Rolla, P. A., Socino, G., & Verdini, L. (1994). The dynamics of poly(n-butyl acrylate) above the glass transition. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, 6(28), 5295-5302. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/6/28/007Givot, B. L., Krupka, J., & Belete, D. Y. (s. f.). Split post dielectric resonator technique for dielectric cure monitoring of structural adhesives. 13th International Conference on Microwaves, Radar and Wireless Communications. MIKON - 2000. Conference Proceedings (IEEE Cat. No.00EX428). doi:10.1109/mikon.2000.913931Canos, A. J., Catala-Civera, J. M., Penaranda-Foix, F. L., & Reyes-Davo, E. (2006). A novel technique for deembedding the unloaded resonance frequency from measurements of microwave cavities. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, 54(8), 3407-3416. doi:10.1109/tmtt.2006.877833Marks, R. B., & Williams, D. F. (1992). A general waveguide circuit theory. Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, 97(5), 533. doi:10.6028/jres.097.024Harrington, R. F. (1967). Matrix methods for field problems. Proceedings of the IEEE, 55(2), 136-149. doi:10.1109/proc.1967.5433Baker-Jarvis, J., Janezic, M. D., Domich, P. D., & Geyer, R. G. (1994). Analysis of an open-ended coaxial probe with lift-off for nondestructive testing. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 43(5), 711-718. doi:10.1109/19.328897Taylor, B. N. (1994). Guidelines for evaluating and expressing the uncertainty of NIST measurement results. doi:10.6028/nist.tn.1297Casalini, R., Corezzi, S., Livi, A., Levita, G., & Rolla, P. A. (1997). Dielectric parameters to monitor the crosslink of epoxy resins. Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 65(1), 17-25. doi:10.1002/(sici)1097-4628(19970705)65:13.0.co;2-tPreu, H., & Mengel, M. (2007). Experimental and theoretical study of a fast curing adhesive. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, 27(4), 330-337. doi:10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2006.06.004Harper, D. P., Wolcott, M. P., & Rials, T. G. (2001). Evaluation of the cure kinetics of the wood/pMDI bondline. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, 21(2), 137-144. doi:10.1016/s0143-7496(00)00045-2Garcia-Banos, B., Canos, A. J., Penaranda-Foix, F. L., & Catala-Civera, J. M. (2011). Noninvasive Monitoring of Polymer Curing Reactions by Dielectrometry. IEEE Sensors Journal, 11(1), 62-70. doi:10.1109/jsen.2010.2050475He, Y. (2001). DSC and DEA studies of underfill curing kinetics. Thermochimica Acta, 367-368, 101-106. doi:10.1016/s0040-6031(00)00654-7Núñez-Regueira, L., Gracia-Fernández, C. A., & Gómez-Barreiro, S. (2005). Use of rheology, dielectric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry for gel time determination of a thermoset. Polymer, 46(16), 5979-5985. doi:10.1016/j.polymer.2005.05.06

Rate and duration of hospitalisation for acute pulmonary embolism in the real-world clinical practice of different countries : Analysis from the RIETE registry

publishersversionPeer reviewe

Defining the importance of landscape metrics for large branchiopod biodiversity and conservation: the case of the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands

The deficiency in the distributional data of invertebrate taxa is one of the major impediments acting on the bias towards the low awareness of its conservation status. The present study sets a basic framework to understand the large branchiopods distribution in the Iberian Peninsula and Balearic Islands. Since the extensive surveys performed in the late 1980s, no more studies existed updating the information for the whole studied area. The present study fills the gap, gathering together all available information on large branchiopods distribution since 1995, and analysing the effect of human population density and several landscape characteristics on their distribution, taking into consideration different spatial scales (100 m, 1 km and 10 km). In overall, 28 large branchiopod taxa (17 anostracans, 7 notostracans and 4 spinicaudatans) are known to occur in the area. Approximately 30% of the sites hosted multiple species, with a maximum of 6 species. Significant positive co-occurring species pairs were found clustered together, forming 4 different associations of large branchiopod species. In general, species clustered in the same group showed similar responses to analysed landscape characteristics, usually showing a better fit at higher spatial scales.Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico-CNPq [401045/2014-5]Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport [FPU014/06783]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Source Evaluation and Trace Metal Contamination in Benthic Sediments from Equatorial Ecosystems Using Multivariate Statistical Techniques

race metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb) concentrations in benthic sediments were analyzed through multi-step fractionation scheme to assess the levels and sources of contamination in estuarine, riverine and freshwater ecosystems in Niger Delta (Nigeria). The degree of contamination was assessed using the individual contamination factors (ICF) and global contamination factor (GCF). Multivariate statistical approaches including principal component analysis (PCA), cluster analysis and correlation test were employed to evaluate the interrelationships and associated sources of contamination. The spatial distribution of metal concentrations followed the pattern Pb>Cu>Cr>Cd>Ni. Ecological risk index by ICF showed significant potential mobility and bioavailability for Cu, Cu and Ni. The ICF contamination trend in the benthic sediments at all studied sites was Cu>Cr>Ni>Cd>Pb. The principal component and agglomerative clustering analyses indicate that trace metals contamination in the ecosystems was influenced by multiple pollution sources

Brain death and postmortem organ donation: Report of a questionnaire from the CENTER-TBI study

Background: We aimed to investigate the extent of the agreement on practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation. Methods: Investigators from 67 Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study centers completed several questionnaires (response rate: 99%). Results: Regarding practices around brain death, we found agreement on the clinical evaluation (prerequisites and neurological assessment) for brain death determination (BDD) in 100% of the centers. However, ancillary tests were required for BDD in 64% of the centers. BDD for nondonor patients was deemed mandatory in 18% of the centers before withdrawing life-sustaining measures (LSM). Also, practices around postmortem organ donation varied. Organ donation after circulatory arrest was forbidden in 45% of the centers. When withdrawal of LSM was contemplated, in 67% of centers the patients with a ventricular drain in situ had this removed, either sometimes or all of the time. Conclusions: This study showed both agreement and some regional differences regarding practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation. We hope our results help quantify and understand potential differences, and provide impetus for current dialogs toward further harmonization of practices around brain death and postmortem organ donation