Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common diseases by which humans seek medical help and are caused mainly by uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC). Studying the virulence and ...antibiotic resistance of UPEC with respect to various phylogenetic groups is of utmost importance in developing new therapeutic agents. Thus, in this study, we analysed the virulence factors, antibiotic resistance and phylogenetic groups among various UPEC isolates from children with UTIs. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that majority of the strains responsible for UTIs belonged to the phylogenetic groups B2 and D. Of the 58 E. coli isolates, 79·31% belonged to group B2, 15·51% to group D, 3·44% to group A and 1·72% to B1. Simultaneously, the number of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance exhibited were also significantly high in groups B2 and D compared to other groups. Among the isolates, 44·8% were multidrug resistant and of that 73% belonged to the phylogenetic group B2, indicating the compatibility of antibiotic resistance and certain strains carrying virulence factor genes. The antibiotic resistance profiling of UPEC strains elucidates that the antimicrobial agents such as chloramphenicol, cefoxitin, cefepime, ceftazidime might still be used in the therapy for treating UTIs. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: As the antibiotic resistance pattern of uropathogenic Escherichia coli varies depending on different geographical regions, the antibiotic resistance pattern from this study will help the physicians to effectively administer antibiotic therapy for urinary tract infections. In addition, the frequency of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes among various phylogenic groups could be effectively used to draw new targets for uropathogenic Escherichia coli antibiotic‐independent therapies. The study emphasizes need of public awareness on multidrug resistance and for more prudent use of antimicrobials.
Nano‐embossed hollow spherical (NeHS) TiO2 that features both good light scattering and charge generation shows a very promising performance in high‐efficiency dye‐sensitized solar cells. A bilayered ...film structure having the bifunctional NeHS TiO2 particulate film as an overlayer exhibits conversion efficiencies as high as 10.34 % under AM‐1.5G one sun light intensity.
Background
Few studies have investigated the incidence of anaphylaxis induced by individual or structurally similar cephalosporins. The aims of the study were to assess the incidence of ...cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis and evaluate the clinical efficacy of screening skin tests.
Methods
In this retrospective cohort study, we obtained information on total cephalosporin use and cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis in intravenous cephalosporin recipients in 12 general hospitals between 2013 and 2015. Cephalosporins were divided into 4 groups according to similar side‐chain structures. The incidence of cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis was assessed for each cephalosporin, cephalosporin generation, and side‐chain group. To verify the efficacy of screening intradermal tests (IDT) with cephalosporin, the 12 hospitals were assigned to the intervention or control group depending on whether they performed screening IDT before the administration of cephalosporins.
Results
We identified 76 cases of cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis with 1 123 345 exposures to intravenous cephalosporins (6.8 per 100 000 exposures), and the incidence of fatal anaphylaxis by cephalosporin was 0.1 cases per 100 000 exposures. The highest incidences of anaphylaxis occurred in the ceftizoxime (13.0 cases per 100 000 exposures) and side‐chain group 1 (cefepime, cefotaxime, ceftizoxime, ceftriaxone, and cefuroxime; 9.3 per 100 000). There was no case of anaphylaxis induced by cefoxitin, cefmetazole, cefminox, and cefotiam. The clinical effectiveness of routine screening IDT was not significant (P = .06).
Conclusions
The incidence of cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis differed according to individual drugs and side‐chain structure. Screening IDT showed no clinical efficacy at a population level.
Among total 1 140 354 cephalosporin treatment courses from 12 hours hospitals, the incidence of cephalosporin induced anaphylaxis was 6.8 per 100 000 exposures and the related fatality was 1.3%. The incidence of cephalosporin induced anaphylaxis varies with each drug type, and the highest incidences of anaphylaxis occurred in the ceftizoxime (13.0 cases per 100 000 exposures). Screening intradermal tests with cephalosporin failed to show preventive effect on cephalosporin‐induced anaphylaxis.
Subgingival microorganisms are potentially associated with periodontal diseases. However, changes in the subgingival microbiota during the progress of periodontal diseases are poorly understood. In ...this study, we analyzed bacterial communities in the subgingival paper point samples from 32 Korean individuals with no sign of disease, gingivitis, or periodontitis using 454 FLX Titanium pyrosequencing. A total of 256,113 reads representing 26 phyla, 433 genera, and 1,016 species were detected. Bacteroidetes, Fusobacteria, Synergistetes, and Spirochaetes were the abundant phyla in periodontitis subjects, whereas Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were identified as the dominant phyla in the gingivitis and healthy subjects, respectively. Although high levels of Porphyromonas, Fusobacterium, Fretibacterium, Rothia, Filifactor, and Treponema genera were observed in the periodontitis subjects, Streptococcus, Capnocytophaga, Leptotrichia, and Haemophilus genera were found at high frequency in the gingivitis subjects. Species including Porphyromonas gingivalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum, and Fretibacterium fastidiosum were significantly increased in periodontitis subjects. On the other hand, Streptococcus pseudopneumoniae, Haemophilus parainfluenzae, and Leptotrichia hongkongensis were preferentially observed in the gingivitis subjects. Intriguingly, the halophile Halomonas hamiltonii was revealed as a predominant species in the healthy subjects. Based on Fast UniFrac analysis, distinctive bacterial clusters were classified for the healthy, gingivitis, and periodontitis state. The current findings might be useful for understanding the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of periodontal diseases.
As the first magnetic random access memories are finding their way onto the market, an important issue remains to be solved: the current density required to write magnetic bits becomes prohibitively ...high as bit dimensions are reduced. Recently, spin-orbit torques and the spin-Hall effect in particular have attracted significant interest, as they enable magnetization reversal without high current densities running through the tunnel barrier. For perpendicularly magnetized layers, however, the technological implementation of the spin-Hall effect is hampered by the necessity of an in-plane magnetic field for deterministic switching. Here we interface a thin ferromagnetic layer with an anti-ferromagnetic material. An in-plane exchange bias is created and shown to enable field-free S HE-driven magnetization reversal of a perpendicularly magnetized Pt/Co/IrMn structure. Aside from the potential technological implications, our experiment provides additional insight into the local spin structure at the ferromagnetic/anti-ferromagnetic interface.
In recent years, there have been significant advances on materials development for additive manufacturing (AM) applications. However, the use of composites or nanocomposite materials for improved ...performance and multifunctionality are still limited. This review paper attempts to provide a comprehensive review of both commercially available materials as well as research activities related to recent progress on high-performance polymer nanocomposites that are being used in various AM techniques. Four AM techniques including Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), Multi Jet Fusion (MJF), and Stereolithography (SLA) are discussed. The development of printable polymer composites especially polymer nanocomposites is rapidly expanding the AM materials portfolio, which makes the production of multifunctional parts with complex structures possible.
Intraoperative use of a high-dose remifentanil may induce postoperative hyperalgesia. Low-dose naloxone can selectively reverse some adverse effects of opioids without compromising analgesia. We thus ...hypothesized that the intraoperative use of a high-dose remifentanil combined with a low-dose naloxone infusion reduces postoperative hyperalgesia compared with the use of remifentanil alone.
Patients undergoing elective thyroid surgery were randomly assigned into one of three groups, depending on the intraoperative effect-site concentration of remifentanil, with or without a continuous infusion of naloxone: 4 ng ml−1 remifentanil with 0.05 μg kg−1 h−1 naloxone in the high-remifentanil with naloxone group, and 4 or 1 ng ml−1 remifentanil with a placebo in the high- or low-remifentanil groups, respectively. We measured the pain thresholds (primary outcome) to mechanical stimuli using von Frey filaments and incidence of hyperalgesia on the peri-incisional area 24 h after surgery. We also measured pain intensity, analgesic consumptions and adverse events up to 48 h after surgery.
The pain threshold presented as von Frey numbers median (interquartile range) was significantly lower in the high-remifentanil group (n=31) than in the high-remifentanil with naloxone (n=30) and the low-remifentanil (n=30) groups 3.63 (3.22–3.84) vs 3.84 (3.76–4.00) vs 3.80 (3.69–4.08), P=0.011. The incidence of hyperalgesia was also higher in the high-remifentanil group than in the other groups 21/31 vs 10/30 vs 9/30, P=0.005. Postoperative pain intensity, analgesic consumptions and adverse events were similar between groups.
The intraoperative use of low-dose naloxone combined with high-dose remifentanil reduced postoperative hyperalgesia but not pain.
NCT02856087.
Aim
To investigate the effects of LY2405319, an analogue of fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), on glucose homeostasis in streptozotocin (STZ)‐induced insulin‐deficient mice (STZ mice).
Methods
...Nine‐week‐old male C57BL/6J mice were administered a single intraperitoneal injection of STZ (150 mg/kg). One week later, after confirmation of hyperglycaemia, saline or LY2405319 (5 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously daily for 4 weeks. Changes in glucose homeostasis, energy metabolism and brown adipose tissue (BAT) function were assessed.
Results
The STZ mice had elevated blood glucose and reduced plasma FGF21 levels, impaired glucose uptake in the BAT, and BAT mitochondria with absent or swollen cristae and fewer lipid vacuoles. LY2405319 significantly reduced blood glucose levels and this was associated with increased BAT glucose uptake and changes in gene expression and morphology, indicating improved mitochondrial lipid metabolism in the BAT. Importantly, the ability of LY2405319 to lower blood glucose in STZ mice was compromised after removing interscapular BAT.
Conclusions
Our results show that LY2405319 reduces blood glucose levels in insulin‐deficient diabetes by improving BAT metabolism. Additional studies investigating the therapeutic potential of FGF21 for the treatment of type 1 diabetes are warranted.
Causes of benign positional vertigo (BPV) are mostly unknown. The aim of this study was to elucidate an association of osteoporosis with idiopathic BPV.
Two hundred nine consecutive patients with a ...confirmed diagnosis of idiopathic BPV underwent bone mineral densitometry of anterior-posterior lumbar spine and femur. The T scores were compared with those of 202 controls without a history of dizziness. Recurrence was defined when the patients reported two or more previous episodes of positional vertigo similar to those experienced at the time of diagnosis.
In both women and men, the lowest T scores were decreased in patients with BPV compared with those in controls. Furthermore, the prevalences of osteopenia (-2.5 < T score < -1.0) and osteoporosis (T score < or =-2.5) were higher in both women and men with BPV than in controls. Multiple logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex, alcohol, smoking, and hyperphosphatemia showed that only the existence of osteopenia/osteoporosis was associated with an increased risk of BPV (adjusted odds ratio of osteopenia = 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.2-3.4, p = 0.011; adjusted odds ratio of osteoporosis = 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.4-7.2, p = 0.007). In women aged > or =45 years, the lowest T scores were also decreased in the recurrent group, compared with those in the de novo group.
Osteopenia/osteoporosis may be associated with idiopathic benign positional vertigo (BPV). The effectiveness of measuring bone mineral densitometry and restoring normal calcium metabolism for preventing recurrences of BPV requires further validation.
Obesity contributes to systemic inflammation, which is associated with the varied pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Growing evidence has demonstrated that endurance exercise (EE) mitigates ...obesity‐induced brain inflammation. However, exercise‐mediated anti‐inflammatory mechanisms remain largely unknown. We investigated how treadmill exercise (TE) reverses obesity‐induced brain inflammation, mainly focusing on toll‐like receptor‐4 (TLR‐4)‐dependent neuroinflammation in the obese rat brain after 20 weeks of a high‐fat diet (HFD). TE in HFD‐fed rats resulted in a significant lowering in the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance index, the area under the curve for glucose and abdominal visceral fat, and also improved working memory ability in a passive avoidance task relative to sedentary behaviour in HFD‐fed rats, with the exception of body weight. More importantly, TE revoked the increase in HFD‐induced proinflammatory cytokines (tumour necrosis factor α and interleukin‐1β) and cyclooxygenase‐2, which is in parallel with a reduction in TLR‐4 and its downstream proteins, myeloid differentiation 88 and tumour necrosis factor receptor associated factor 6, and phosphorylation of transforming growth factor β‐activated kinase 1, IkBα and nuclear factor‐κB. Moreover, TE reduced an indicator of microglia activation, ionised calcium‐binding adapter molecule‐1, and also decreased glial fibrillary acidic protein, an indicator of gliosis formed by activated astrocytes in the cerebral cortex and the hippocampal dentate gyrus, compared to HFD‐fed sedentary rats. Finally, EE up‐regulated the expression of anti‐apoptotic protein, Bcl‐2, and suppressed the expression of pro‐apoptotic protein, Bax, in the hippocampus compared to HFD‐fed sedentary rats. Taken together, these data suggest that TE may exert neuroprotective effects as a result of mitigating the production of proinflammatory cytokines by inhibiting the TLR4 signalling pathways. The results of the present study suggest that the unique combination of the beneficial effects of TE on the restoration of the blood profile and the anti‐inflammatory and anti‐apoptotic effects on cognitive function should inspire further investigations into its therapeutic potential for metabolic disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.
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