International nosocomial infection control consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

The results of a surveillance study conducted by the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) from January 2004 through December 2009 in 422 intensive care units (ICUs) of 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe are reported. During the 6-year study period, using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN; formerly the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance system [NNIS]) definitions for device-associated health care-associated infections, we gathered prospective data from 313,008 patients hospitalized in the consortium's ICUs for an aggregate of 2,194,897 ICU bed-days. Despite the fact that the use of devices in the developing countries' ICUs was remarkably similar to that reported in US ICUs in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were significantly higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals; the pooled rate of central line-associated bloodstream infection in the INICC ICUs of 6.8 per 1,000 central line-days was more than 3-fold higher than the 2.0 per 1,000 central line-days reported in comparable US ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia also was far higher (15.8 vs 3.3 per 1,000 ventilator-days), as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (6.3 vs. 3.3 per 1,000 catheter-days). Notably, the frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to imipenem (47.2% vs 23.0%), Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (76.3% vs 27.1%), Escherichia coli isolates to ceftazidime (66.7% vs 8.1%), Staphylococcus aureus isolates to methicillin (84.4% vs 56.8%), were also higher in the consortium's ICUs, and the crude unadjusted excess mortalities of device-related infections ranged from 7.3% (for catheter-associated urinary tract infection) to 15.2% (for ventilator-associated pneumonia). Copyright © 2012 by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

A morphometric method of sexing white layer eggs

The present study was carried out to determine the sex of the fertilized white layer eggs with using morphological measurements. A total of 300 Super Nick White Layer (54 wks of age) eggs were incubated and sexed in the end of incubation period. Before incubation egg length, width and weight were measured. The egg volume and shape index were estimated with using these measurements for each egg. The effect of egg weight and replicate number was not significant on the sex of the hatching chick (p &gt; 0.05). The effects of egg shape index (p = 0.001), egg length (p = 0.0018), egg width (p < 0.01) and volume (p = 0.004) of the egg had significant effect on the sex of hatching chick. According to the results of the current study, morphological measurements of the pre-incubated egg might be an indicator of sex of the hatching chick. The shape index and egg volume were more informative for the likelihood of the sex of hatching chick. According to the positive results of the current study, it is possible to incubate more female chicks with using the morphological measurements of egg. This may increase the incubation capacity and decrease the number male chicks that are killed at layer hatcheries

Effect of oxygen supplementation in a hatchery at high altitude and growth performance of broilers reared at low altitude

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of oxygen supplementation on broiler eggs in a hatchery at high altitude on the growth performance and ascites syndrome of broilers reared at low altitude. The treatment groups were low altitude with no oxygen supplemented in the hatchery (LA-NOX); high altitude with oxygen supplementation in the hatchery (HA-OX); and high altitude with no oxygen supplemented in the hatchery (HA-NOX) group. Growth performance, heart weight, the concentrations of the hormones, T3, T4, T3/T4, and and plasma concentrations of haematocrit, haemoglobin, glucose and parameters of ascites syndrome during the growing period were investigated. A total of 243 one-day-old broilers were used for this study. During the growing period, excluding days 7, 28 and 35, oxygen supplementation at high altitude did not affect the live weight of broilers compared with the HA-OX and HA-NOX groups. The cumulative feed consumption was determined to be lower in the LA-NOX group and the same in the HA-OX and HA-NOX groups on the 42nd day. Between 21 and 42 days old, the LA-NOX group had a better feed conversion ratio (FCR) than the HA-OX and HA-NOX groups. Chick weight (CW), yolk sac weight (YSW) and chick heart weight (CHW) were higher in the LA-NOX group than in the HA-OX and HA-NOX groups. At 42 days old, there were no differences between the groups in heart weight, right ventricle weight (RV), left ventricle and septum (LV+Sept.), total ventricle (TV) weight and the RV : TV ratio. The plasma T3 level was lower in the LA-NOX group than in the HA-OX and HA-NOX groups and T4 levels were higher in the HA-OX than in the others at 42 days old. The hypoxic conditions that occurred during the embryonic stage . which altered endogenous functions of prenatal chicks and affected several blood parameters, and oxygen supplementation at high altitude . improved chick quality. However, it did not improve subsequent FCR and feed consumption performance of chickens when they were reared at low altitude.Keywords: Breeder eggs, growth, high altitude, oxygen supplementatio

Palliative radiotherapy for the skin metastasis of ovarian cancer: a case report and review of the literature

WOS: 000281522400009PubMed ID: 19536657Ovarian cancer which is the most common cause of death among all gynecological malignancies tends to metastasize through peritoneal cavity. Skin metastasis, however, is a very rare clinical entity and related with poor prognosis. We report a 43-year-old patient with recurrent ovarian cancer presented with extensive abdominal skin metastasis approximately 6 years after the initial diagnosis. Patient was treated with radiotherapy with electrons to a total dose of 37.5 Gy given in 2.5 Gy per fraction per day. Skin metastasis showed good response to radiotherapy, and the patient has been alive for 7 months after radiotherapy with no recurrences on abdominal skin. Radiotherapy might be considered as an efficient palliative treatment option for the skin metastasis of ovarian cancer

Active immunotherapy for cancer patients using tumor lysate pulsed dendritic cell vaccine: a safety study

WOS: 000247694700010PubMed ID: 17725100Cancer vaccine therapy represents a promising therapeutical option. Consistently, with these new treatment strategies, the use of dendritic cell vaccines is becoming increasingly widespread and currently in the forefront for cancer treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell (DC) vaccine in patients with advanced cancers. For this purpose, eighteen patients with relapsed or refractory cancer were vaccinated with peripheral monocyte-derived DCs generated with GM-CSF and IL-4, and pulsed consequently with 100 mu g/ml of tumor lysate before maturation in culture in the presence of IL-1 beta, PGE(2) and TNF alpha for two days. The first two vaccinations were given intradermally every two weeks while further injections were given monthly. Tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell injections were well-tolerated in all patients with no more than grade I injection-related toxicity. Local inflammatory response was mainly erythematous which subsided in 48 hrs time. No end organ toxicity or autoimmune toxicity was identified. Clinical responses observed in our study were satisfactory for a phase I clinical study. We observed 4 (22%) objective clinical responses. These responses are significantly correlated with delayed type hypersensitivity testing (DTH) (p < 0.01). The results showed that this active immunotherapy is feasible, safe, and may be capable of eliciting immune responses against cancer