Демократия «по-украински»

Сегодня наиболее развитые государства западного мира связывают все успехи в социально-экономическом и политическом развитии именно с демократическими формами управления обществом.Сьогодні найбільш розвинені держави західного світу зв'язують всі успіхи в соціально-економічному і політичному розвитку саме з демократичними формами управління суспільством.Отрывок из книги «Украинская национальная идея и украинский национализм»

Tigecycline in the Treatment of Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Due to Stenotrophomonas maltophilia: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Study

IntroductionTigecycline is a potential alternative to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole in treating Stenotrophomonas maltophilia infections due to its potent in vitro antimicrobial activity. Clinical evidence regarding the use of tigecycline in the treatment of S. maltophilia infections is scarce. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of tigecycline treating ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) due to S. maltophilia in comparison with fluoroquinolones.MethodsThis is a multicenter retrospective cohort study of patients admitted between January 2017 and December 2020 with the diagnosis of VAP caused by S. maltophilia receiving either tigecycline or fluoroquinolones as the definitive therapy ≥ 48 h. Clinical outcomes including 28-day mortality, clinical cure and microbiological cure were analyzed.ResultsOf 82 patients with S. maltophilia VAP included, 46 received tigecycline, and 36 received fluoroquinolones; 70.7% of patients had polymicrobial pneumonia, and the appropriate empiric therapy was applied to only 14.6% of patients. The overall 28-day mortality was 39%. Compared with patients receiving fluoroquinolones, tigecycline therapy resulted in worse clinical cure (32.6% vs. 63.9%, p = 0.009) and microbiological cure (28.6% vs. 59.1%, p = 0.045), while there was no statistical difference between 28-day mortality (47.8% vs. 27.8%, p = 0.105) in the two groups. Similar results were also shown in the inverse probability of treatment weighted univariable regression model and multivariable regression model.ConclusionsThe standard dose of tigecycline therapy was associated with a lower clinical and microbiological cure rate but not associated with an increased 28-day mortality in patients with S. maltophilia VAP compared with fluoroquinolones. Considering the unfavorable clinical outcomes, we therefore recommend against using the standard dose of tigecycline in treating S. maltophilia VAP unless new clinical evidence emerges

Prevalence and factors associated with post-traumatic stress disorder in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant threats to both the physical and psychological health of healthcare workers working in the front-line combating COVID-19. However, studies regarding the medium to long term impact of COVID-19 on mental health among healthcare workers are limited. Therefore, we conducted this cross-sectional survey to investigate the prevalence, factors and impact of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 8 months after the end of the outbreak in Wuhan, China.MethodsA web-based questionnaire was delivered as a link via the communication application WeChat to those healthcare workers who worked at several COVID-19 units during the outbreak (from December 2019 to April 2020) in Wuhan, China. The questionnaire included questions on social-demographic data, the post-traumatic stress disorder checklist-5 (PCL-5), the family care index questionnaire (Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection and Resolve, APGAR), and the quality-of-life scale (QOL). The prevalence, risk and protective factors, and impact of PTSD on healthcare workers were subsequently analyzed.ResultsAmong the 659 participants, 90 healthcare workers were still suffering from PTSD 8 months after the end of the outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, in which avoidance and negative impact were the most affected dimensions. Suffering from chronic disease, experiencing social isolation, and job dissatisfaction came up as independent risk factors for PTSD, while obtaining COVID-19 related information at an appropriate frequency, good family function, and working in well-prepared mobile cabin hospitals served as protective factors. The impact of PTSD on COVID-19 exposed healthcare workers was apparent by shortened sleeping time, feeling of loneliness, poorer quality of life and intention to resign.ConclusionsEight months after the end of the COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan, the level of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to COVID-19 was still high. Apart from the commonly recognized risk factors, comorbid chronic disease was identified as a new independent risk factor for developing PTSD. For countries where the pandemic is still ongoing or in case of future outbreaks of new communicable diseases, this study may contribute to preventing cases of PTSD in healthcare workers exposed to infectious diseases under such circumstances

Chicken lung lectin is a functional C-type lectin and inhibits haemagglutination by influenza A virus

Many proteins of the calcium-dependent (C-type) lectin family have been shown to play an important role in innate immunity. They can bind to a broad range of carbohydrates, which enables them to interact with ligands present on the surface of micro-organisms.We previously reported the finding of a new putative chicken lectin, which was predominantly localized to the respiratory tract, and thus termed chicken lung lectin (cLL). In order to investigate the biochemical and biophysical properties of cLL, the recombinant protein was expressed, affinity purified and characterized. Recombinant cLL was expressed as four differently sized peptides, which is most likely due to post-translational modification. Crosslinking of the protein led to the formation of two high-molecular weight products, indicating that cLL forms trimeric and possibly even multimeric subunits. cLL was shown to have lectin activity, preferentially binding to a-mannose in a calcium-dependent manner. Furthermore, cLL was shown to inhibit the haemagglutination-activity of human isolates of influenza A virus, subtype H3N2 and H1N1. These result show that cLL is a true C-type lectin with a very distinct sugar specificity, and that this chicken lectin could play an important role in innate immunity

Detection of human IgM and IgG antibodies by means of galactofuranose-coated and rhamnose-coated gold nanoparticles

Many infectious diseases lack cheap, fast, and reliable serodiagnostic tools. Recently, glycans coupled to gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have shown potential to fill this void by utilizing them as a coating in ELISA experiments. In this study, we used GNPs functionalized either with galactofuranose (Galf), rhamnose (Rhap) or a mixture of these monosaccharides to detect the presence of IgM and IgG antibodies against these non-human carbohydrates in sera obtained from tuberculosis patients and control groups. Our findings confirm the wide abundance of anti-Rhap antibodies in humans and show for the first time the presence of anti-Galf antibodies in human sera. This study supports further investigation of using GNP-ELISA with microbe-specific carbohydrates for serodiagnosis of infectious diseases