Hand Hygiene Knowledge, Hand Contamination and Practice of Italian Nursing and Medical Students

Background: Our objective was to measure hand bacterial contamination in a group of Italian nursing and medical students attending clinical wards for practical training, in order to verify the reliability of the information on hand hygiene (HH) adherence obtained by a self-reporting questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered with the aim of exploring the effectiveness of basic education. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, an anonymous questionnaire designed to investigate HH knowledge and practices was administered to a convenience sample of 100 nursing and 100 medical students. Data collected was combined with hand bacterial contamination measured both at the point of entry and exit from the ward. Results: HH practices and knowledge were significantly higher in nursing compared to medical students. The most effective procedure in reducing bacterial contamination was the alternate use of hand washing and hand rubbing compared to only one practice and the absence of hand hygiene (geom. mean: 180.3, 410.2 and 907.4 CFU/hand respectively, p<0.001). Hand contamination was significantly higher in students who declared to have hardly ever/never implemented HH teaching during clinical practice compared to those who stated to have done it frequently/always (geom. mean: 716 vs 277.1 CFU/hand, p<0.02). ConclusionS: Our investigation adds something new to the topic of HH that is the measure of bacterial hand contamination to verify the reliability of the information obtained by questionnaire. The findings, pointing out some critical aspects in HH teaching among healthcare students, highlight that solid knowledge results in correct behaviour, and consequently in a reduction of hand contamination

Linking ice and gas in the λ Orionis Barnard 35A cloud

Context. Dust grains play an important role in the synthesis of molecules in the interstellar medium, from the simplest species, such as H2, to complex organic molecules. How some of these solid-state molecules are converted into gas-phase species is still a matter of debate. Aims. Our aim is to directly compare ice and gas abundances of methanol (CH3OH) and carbon monoxide (CO) obtained from near-infrared (2.5-5 μm) and millimetre (1.3 mm) observations and to investigate the relationship between ice, dust, and gas in low-mass protostellar envelopes. Methods. We present Submillimeter Array (SMA) and Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX) observations of gas-phase CH3OH (JK = 5K-4K), 13CO, and C18O (J = 2-1) towards the multiple protostellar system IRAS 05417+0907, which is located in the B35A cloud, λ Orionis region. We use archival IRAM 30 m data and AKARI H2O, CO, and CH3OH ice observations towards the same target to compare ice and gas abundances and directly calculate CH3OH and CO gas-to-ice ratios. Results. The CO isotopologue emissions are extended, whereas the CH3OH emission is compact and traces the giant molecular outflow emanating from IRAS 05417+0907. A discrepancy between sub-millimetre dust emission and H2O ice column density is found for B35A-4 and B35A-5, similar to what has previously been reported. B35A-2 and B35A-3 are located where the sub-millimetre dust emission peaks and show H2O column densities lower than that of B35A-4. Conclusions. The difference between the sub-millimetre continuum emission and the infrared H2O ice observations suggests that the distributions of dust and H2O ice differ around the young stellar objects in this dense cloud. The reason for this may be that the four sources are located in different environments resolved by the interferometric observations: B35A-2, B35A-3, and, in particular, B35A-5 are situated in a shocked region that is plausibly affected by sputtering and heating, which in turn impacts the sub-millimetre dust emission pattern, while B35A-4 is situated in a more quiescent part of the cloud. Gas and ice maps are essential for connecting small-scale variations in the ice composition with the large-scale astrophysical phenomena probed by gas observations

Students’ hand contamination before and after a training shift: relationship with self-reported hand hygiene adherence

BACKGROUND: Our objective was to measure hand bacterial contamination in a group of nursing and medical Italian students attending clinical wards for practical training, in order to verify the reliability of the information on hand hygiene (HH) adherence obtained by a self-reporting questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered with the aim to explore the effectiveness of basic education. METHODS: An anonymous questionnaire designed to investigate HH knowledge and practices was administered to a convenience sample of 100 nursing and 100 medical students. Data collected were combined with hand bacterial contamination measured both at the entry and the exit from the ward. RESULTS: HH practices and knowledge were significantly higher in nursing compared to medical students.. The most effective procedure in reducing bacterial contamination was the alternate use of handwashing and handrubbing compared to only one practice and the absence of hand hygiene (geom. mean: 180.3, 410.2 and 907.4 CFU/hand respectively, p&lt;0.001). Hand contamination was significantly higher in students who declared to hardly ever/never implement HH teaching during clinical practice compared to those who stated to have done it frequently/always (geom. mean: 716 vs 277.1 CFU/hand, p&lt;0.02). CONCLUSION: Our investigation adds something new to the topic of HH that is the measure of bacterial hand contamination to verify the reliability of the information obtained by questionnaire. The findings, pointing out some critical aspects in the HH teaching among healthcare students, highlight that solid knowledge results into correct behaviors, and consequently into a reduction of hand contamination

Legionella e Pseudomonas spp, i maggiori determinanti di infezioni di origine idrica in ospedale: differenze nella contaminazione e nella risposta ai sistemi di disinfezione

In this study, long-term surveillance of Legionella and Pseudomonas spp contamination in water systems of a big hospital and effi cacy of disinfection treatments are reported. In the period 2008-2011, 550 hot water samples from technical rooms and showers/taps of hospital wards were collected for Legionella and Pseudomonas spp isolation by cultural methods. In the hospital, several measures to control water contamination, including shock treatments and continuous systems (chlorine dioxide, monochloramine, boiler) have been employed. Legionella spp was detected in 38.9% of the samples, and the more effective methods in reducing contamination were in order boiler, monochloramine and chlorine dioxide. Pseudomonas spp was isolated in 25.4% of the samples, mainly at peripheral sites; the number of positive sites were reduced effi ciently by boiler, while the other methods did not signifi cantly modify the contamination. Different associations between the two studied bacteria and some water parameters, such as total bacterial count, pH and metals, were observed. Our study points out that Legionella and Pseudomonas spp differ for contamination mode and for response to disinfection systems. The prevalent contamination of pseudomonas at point-of-use suggests that, besides disinfection, the constant maintenance and replacement of faucets and showers is mandatory to control this germ

Coping strategies in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis non-depressed patients and their associations with disease activity

Few studies evaluated coping strategies in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) in relation to annualized relapse rate (ARR) and lesion load (LL). Overall, results might have been influenced by the inclusion of depressed patients. To investigate the coping strategies and their association to disease activity, we studied relapsing-remitting pwMS accurately selected to avoid the confounding effect of depression. Sixty-seven relapsing-remitting pwMS and 67 healthy subjects (HS) underwent to Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (I-COPE) and Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation (CISS) and Beck Depression Inventory-II. Cognitive performances, ARR, physical disability and magnetic resonance imaging T2-LL were assessed for correlation with coping and depression scores. pwMS showed lower scores than HSs on social support and turning to religion subscales of I-COPE and on emotion dimension of CISS. In pwMS, higher ARR was related to higher positive attitude and lower score on the turning to religion subscale of I-COPE. The present study revealed a less employment of emotion-based coping strategies in pwMS. A scarce use of faith for support and a frequent adoption of a positive attitude were associated with an increase of MS activity in terms of ARR

Neuroaesthetics of Art Vision: an Experimental Approach to the Sense of Beauty

Objective NEVArt research aims to study the correlation between a set of neurophysiological/emotional reactions and the level of aesthetic appreciation of around 500 experimental subjects during the observation of 18 different paintings from the XVI-XVIII century in a real museum context. Methods Several bio-signals have been recorded to evaluate the participants’ reactions during the observation of paintings. Among them: (a) neurovegetative, motor and emotional biosignals were recorded using wearable tools for EEG (electroencephalogram), ECG (electrocardiogram) and EDA (electrodermal activity); (b) gaze pattern during the observation of art works, while (c) data of the participants (age, gender, education, familiarity with art, etc.) and their explicit judgments about paintings have been obtained. Participants were invited to respond during the observation of paintings, reporting the degree of pleasantness, perceived movement and familiarity with the painted subject. Results Each recorded bio-signal will be correlated with the explicit evaluations obtained by participants during the museum experience. These results may contribute to enlarge the theoretical framework on the physiological, cognitive and emotional responses of people when viewing pictorial artworks. Conclusion The NEVArt research, both in term of technical skills and upgrade in neuroscientific awareness, can be the basis to proceed with a set of further research topics in the near future. Ground-breaking and statistically significant observations can be derived from the present research, mainly at the biological, medical and didactical point of view by paving the way for many other multidisciplinary research developments on art exhibit, architecture, etc

Mutational Spectrum of CYP24A1 Gene in a Cohort of Italian Patients with Idiopathic Infantile Hypercalcemia

Background/Aims: Loss-of-function mutations in the CYP24A1 gene, which encodes the vitamin D-24 hydroxylase, have been recognized as a cause of elevated 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D concentrations, hypercalcemia, hypercalciuria, nephrocalcinosis and nephrolithiasis in infants and adults. As only a case report describing 2 adult patients has been reported in Italian population, we report here the mutation analysis of CYP24A1 gene in an Italian cohort of 12 pediatric and adult patients with idiopathic infantile hypercal-cemia (IIH). Methods: We performed mutational screeningof CYP24A1 gene in a cohort of 12 Italian patients: 8 children ith nephrocalcinosis, hypercalcemia and PTH levels <10 pg/ml and 4 adult patients with nephrolithiasis, mild hypercalcemia and PTH levels <10 pg/ml from 11 unrelated Italian families. Clinical and biochemical data were collected. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood leucocytes using standard methods, and whole coding sequence of CYP24A1 gene was analysed in all patients and family membersby polymerase chain reaction and direct sequencing. The potential pathogenicity of the newly identified missense mutations was evaluated by 3 different in silico approaches(Sorting Intolerant from Tolerant, Polyphen and Mutation Taster) and by comparative analysis in 14 different species using ClustalW software. Results: CYP24A1 bi-allelic muta