Community-acquired MRSA and pig-farming

BACKGROUND: Sporadic cases of CA-MRSA in persons without risk-factors for MRSA carriage are increasing. CASE PRESENTATION: We report a MRSA cluster among family members of a pig-farmer, his co-workers and his pigs. Initially a young mother was seen with mastitis due to MRSA. Six months later her baby daughter was admitted to the hospital with pneumococcal otitis. After staying five days in hospital, the baby was found to be MRSA positive. At that point it was decided to look for a possible source, such as other family members and house-hold animals, including pigs on the farm, since those were reported as a possible source of MRSA earlier. Swabs were taken from the throat and nares of family members and co-workers. A veterinarian obtained swabs from the nares, throat and perineum of 10 pigs. Swabs were cultured following a national protocol to detect MRSA that included the use of an enrichment broth. Animal and human strains were characterized by PFGE, spa-typing, MLST analysis, SSCmec, AGR typing, and the detection for PVL, LukM, and TSST toxin genes. Three family members, three co-workers, and 8 of the 10 pigs were MRSA positive. With the exception of the initial case (the mother) all persons were solely colonized, with no signs of clinical infections. After digestion with SmaI, none of the strains showed any bands using PFGE. All isolates belonged to spa type t108 and ST398. CONCLUSION: 1. This report clearly shows clonal spread and transmission between humans and pigs in the Netherlands. 2. MLST sequence type 398 might be of international importance as pig-MRSA, since this type was shown earlier to be present in epidemiologically unrelated French pigs and pig-farmers. 3. Research is needed to evaluate whether this is a local problem or a new source of MRSA, that puts the until now successful Search and Destroy policy of the Netherlands at risk

Complexity-entropy causality plane: a useful approach for distinguishing songs

Nowadays we are often faced with huge databases resulting from the rapid growth of data storage technologies. This is particularly true when dealing with music databases. In this context, it is essential to have techniques and tools able to discriminate properties from these massive sets. In this work, we report on a statistical analysis of more than ten thousand songs aiming to obtain a complexity hierarchy. Our approach is based on the estimation of the permutation entropy combined with an intensive complexity measure, building up the complexity-entropy causality plane. The results obtained indicate that this representation space is very promising to discriminate songs as well as to allow a relative quantitative comparison among songs. Additionally, we believe that the here-reported method may be applied in practical situations since it is simple, robust and has a fast numerical implementation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physica

Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) Lectin as a cytotoxic effector in the lifecycle of Caenorhabditis elegans

The lectin found in the tubers of the Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis) plant is an N-acetyl-D-galactosamine specific Type II Ribosome Inactivating Protein (RIP); Type II RIPs have shown anti-cancer properties, and hence have potential as therapeutic agents. Here we present a modified protocol for the extraction and purification of the E. hyemalis lectin (EHL) using affinity chromatography. De novo amino acid sequencing of EHL confirms its classification as a Type II Ribosome Inactivating Protein. The biocidal properties of EHL have been investigated against the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Arrested first stage larvae treated with EHL have shown some direct mortality, with surviving larvae subsequently showing a range of phenotypes including food avoidance, reduced fecundity, developmental delay and constitutive dauer larvae formation. Both inappropriate dauer larvae development and failure to locate to bacterial food source are consistent with the disruption of chemosensory function and the ablation of amphid neurons. Further investigation indicates that mutations that disrupt normal amphid formation can block the EHL-induced dauer larvae formation. In combination, these phenotypes indicate that EHL is cytotoxic and suggest a cell specific activity against the amphid neurons of C. elegans

Influence of Role Models and Hospital Design on the Hand Hygiene of Health-Care Workers

We assessed the effect of medical staff role models and the number of health-care worker sinks on hand-hygiene compliance before and after construction of a new hospital designed for increased access to handwashing sinks. We observed health-care worker hand hygiene in four nursing units that provided similar patient care in both the old and new hospitals: medical and surgical intensive care, hematology/oncology, and solid organ transplant units. Of 721 hand-hygiene opportunities, 304 (42%) were observed in the old hospital and 417 (58%) in the new hospital. Hand-hygiene compliance was significantly better in the old hospital (161/304; 53%) compared to the new hospital (97/417; 23.3%) (p<0.001). Health-care workers in a room with a senior (e.g., higher ranking) medical staff person or peer who did not wash hands were significantly less likely to wash their own hands (odds ratio 0.2; confidence interval 0.1 to 0.5); p<0.001). Our results suggest that health-care worker hand-hygiene compliance is influenced significantly by the behavior of other health-care workers. An increased number of hand-washing sinks, as a sole measure, did not increase hand-hygiene compliance

Inner belt and slot region electron lifetimes and energization rates based on AKEBONO statistics of whistler waves

International audienceGlobal statistics of the amplitude distributions of hiss, lightning-generated, and other whistlermode waves fromterrestrial VLF transmitters have been obtained from the EXOS-D (Akebono) satellite in theEarth’s plasmasphere and fitted as functions of L and latitude for two geomagnetic activity ranges (Kp 3). In particular, the present study focuses on the inner zone L ∈ [1.4, 2] where reliable in situmeasurements were lacking. Such statistics are critically needed for an accurate assessment of the role andrelative dominance of each type of wave in the dynamics of the inner radiation belt. While VLF waves seemto propagate mainly in a ducted mode at L ∼ 1.5–3 for Kp 3). Hiss waves are generally the most intense in the inner belt, andlightning-generated and hiss wave intensities increase with geomagnetic activity. Lightning-generatedwave amplitudes generally peak within 10◦ of the equator in the region L < 2 where magnetosonic waveamplitudes are weak for Kp < 3. Based on this statistics, simplified models of each wave type are presented.Quasi-linear pitch angle and energy diffusion rates of electrons by the full wave model are then calculated.Corresponding electron lifetimes compare well with decay rates of trapped energetic electrons obtainedfrom Solar Anomalous and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer and other satellites at L ∈ [1.4, 2]

Brain enhancement through cognitive training: A new insight from brain connectome

Owing to the recent advances in neurotechnology and the progress in understanding of brain cognitive functions, improvements of cognitive performance or acceleration of learning process with brain enhancement systems is not out of our reach anymore, on the contrary, it is a tangible target of contemporary research. Although a variety of approaches have been proposed, we will mainly focus on cognitive training interventions, in which learners repeatedly perform cognitive tasks to improve their cognitive abilities. In this review article, we propose that the learning process during the cognitive training can be facilitated by an assistive system monitoring cognitive workloads using electroencephalography (EEG) biomarkers, and the brain connectome approach can provide additional valuable biomarkers for facilitating leaners' learning processes. For the purpose, we will introduce studies on the cognitive training interventions, EEG biomarkers for cognitive workload, and human brain connectome. As cognitive overload and mental fatigue would reduce or even eliminate gains of cognitive training interventions, a real-time monitoring of cognitive workload can facilitate the learning process by flexibly adjusting difficulty levels of the training task. Moreover, cognitive training interventions should have effects on brain sub-networks, not on a single brain region, and graph theoretical network metrics quantifying topological architecture of the brain network can differentiate with respect to individual cognitive states as well as to different individuals' cognitive abilities, suggesting that the connectome is a valuable approach for tracking the learning progress. Although only a few studies have exploited the connectome approach for studying alterations of the brain network induced by cognitive training interventions so far, we believe that it would be a useful technique for capturing improvements of cognitive function

The Second SIMBIOS Radiometric Intercomparison (SIMRIC-2), March-November 2002

The second SIMBIOS (Sensor Intercomparison and Merger for Biological and Interdisciplinary Oceanic Studies) Radiometric Intercomparison (SIMRIC-2) was carried out in 2002. The purpose of the SIMRIC's was to ensure a common radiometric scale among the calibration facilities that are engaged in calibrating in-situ radiometrics used for ocean color-related research and to document the calibration procedures and protocols. The SeaWIFS Transfer Radiometer (SXR-II) measured the calibration radiances at six wavelengths from 411nm to 777nm in the ten laboratories participating in the SIMRIC-2. The measured radiances were compared with the radiances expected by the laboratories. The agreement was within the combined uncertainties for all but two laboratories. Likely error sources were identified in these laboratories and corrective measures were implemented. NIST calibrations in December 2001 and January 2003 showed changes ranging from -0.6% to +0.7% for the six SXR-II channels. Two independent light sources were used to monitor changes in the SXR-II responsivity between the NIST calibrations. A 2% variation of the responsivity of channel 1 of the SXR-II was detected, and the SXR-II responsivity was corrected using the monitoring data. This report also compared directional reflectance calibrations of a Spectralon plaque by different calibration facilitie