High frequency of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with SCCmec type III and spa type t030 in Karaj’s teaching hospitals, Iran

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been one of the most important antibiotic-resistant pathogen in many parts of the world over the past decades. This cross-sectional study was conducted to investigate MRSA isolated between July 2013 and July 2014 in Karaj, Iran. All tested isolates were collected in teaching hospitals from personnel, patients, and surfaces and each MRSA was analyzed by SCCmec and spa typing. Antibiotic susceptibility testing was accomplished by disk diffusion method. Out of 49 MRSA isolates from the Karaj’s teaching hospitals, 82%, 10%, and 6% of the isolates were SCCmec types III, II, and I, respectively. The main spa type in this study was spa t030 with frequency as high as 75.5% from intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospitals and high rate of resistance to rifampicin (53%) was found in MRSA isolates. In conclusion, high frequency of spa t030 with SCCmec type III and MRSA phenotype illustrated circulating of one of the antibiotic-resistant strains in ICU of Karaj’s teaching hospitals and emphasizes the need for ongoing molecular surveillance, antibiotic susceptibility monitoring, and infection control

Frequency and Clinical Manifestations of Pediatric Brucellosis in Iran: A Systematic Review

Background Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease that is widely distributed throughout the developing countries. Children are considered as at risk groups for infection. The aim of this study was to assess the frequency and clinical manifestations of Brucellosis in Iranian children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: We systematically searched international databases; ISI, Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, and national databases Irandoc, Barakat knowledge network system, Magiran, and Scientific Information Database (SID). The search strategy was developed based on main terms of "Brucellosis," "Brucella fever", "Gibraltar", "Rock Fever", "Undulant Fever", "Cyprus Fever", "Malta Fever", and "Bang Disease". Results: A total of 885 studies were identified, from them a total of 12 studies that were conducted between 2001 and 2016 were included. Following the relevancy assessments and quality control, data from the 1,429 participants were presented in our review. The age of the patients ranged from 2 to 18 years. Only one out of twelve studies provided the prevalence of 4.30% and 3.4 incidence. Studies varied greatly in reporting high risk behavior of animal contact (8.4 to76.0%) and unpasteurized dairy (22.4 to 91.6%). Conclusion Our finding reveals the disparity of reported prevalence and clinical manifestations of Brucellosis in Iranian children. Fever and joint pain were the most frequent reported signs. Differences in study design, measurement tools and methods, and sub population sampling, does not provide the possibility of aggregation of data for more comprehensive inference

Patient Experiences of Hospital Stay in Alborz Governmental Hospitals

Background and Aims: Attaining the patients' viewpoints and evaluating their experiences are reliable and important resources for determining the problems and appraising healthcare improvement. This study aimed to investigate the experiences of patients who hospitalized in hospitals of Alborz province. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study 955 patients discharged from nine governmental hospitals were selected by stratified random sampling method and participated in this study. The questionnaire that its validity and reliability had been confirmed was used to assess patients' experiences of hospital stay. Results: More than half of the participants (56.4%) were female. The most frequent age group (34.3%) was the age group of 20 to 30 years. 45.4% of patients experienced a perfect organization in reception sector in emergency ward, and 42.5% of patients experienced a perfect organization in reception sector of non-emergency wards. In sum, 79.4% of patients assessed the hospital healthcare services in good level (or higher) and 35.9% stated that they would recommend the hospital to others. Conclusion: The results indicates the need for designing and implementing the programs to improve patients' experiences in the areas of reception and discharge sectors organization, physical environment and facilities, communication with doctors and nurses, respectfulness, through training and empowerment of staff of hospitals and improving the existing infrastructure in the hospital

Nucleotide Supplementation to Whole Milk Has Beneficial Effects on Post-Weaning Holstein Calf Performance

The positive effects of nucleotide (NU) supplementation in milk replacer have been elucidated in infants and in dairy calves; however, NU addition to whole milk has not been evaluated previously. This study aimed to assess NU supplementation in the whole milk on calf growth and health. Thirty Holstein calves (body weight: 39.1 ± 1.0 kg; 3 d after birth) were randomly assigned to the following treatments: whole milk without any supplementation (NU0), whole milk + 0.5 g/d added a NU-containing supplement to whole milk (NUCS0.5), and whole milk + 1 g/d added a NU-containing supplement to whole milk (NUCS1). Calves were weaned at d 55 and stayed on study until d 75. Calves had free access to feed and water throughout the study. Dry matter intakes (DMI) were similar among treatments (p > 0.05) during the pre-weaning period; however, increasing NU resulted in a linear (p < 0.05) increase in DMI during the post weaning period (2158, 2432, and 2518 g/d for NU0, NUCS0.5, and NUCS1, respectively). Treatments did not affect body weight (BW) at the first and second month of study, but final BW linearly increased as NU was added (87.1, 90.6, and 95.4 kg for NU0, NUCS0.5, and NUCS1, respectively). Neither pre-weaning average daily gain nor post-weaning average daily gain was affected by treatments; accordingly, feed efficiency was similar among treatment groups. Days with loose fecal score were linearly decreased as NU was added to whole milk during the first month of life, while the fecal score did not differ among treatments until the end of the study. No difference was observed in the skeletal growth of calves in the current study. Therefore, it can be concluded that NU supplementation in the whole milk has some beneficial effects on calf performance in terms of final BW, post-weaning DMI, and less days with loose feces