In Vitro Activity of Dalbavancin against Drug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from a Global Surveillance Program

In over a decade (2002 to 2012) of Staphylococcus aureus surveillance testing on 62,195 isolates, dalbavancin was demonstrated to be active against isolates that were either susceptible or nonsusceptible to daptomycin, linezolid, or tigecycline. Nearly all (99.8%) multidrug-resistant methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates were inhibited by dalbavancin at ≤0.12 μg/ml (MIC_50/90, 0.06/0.06 μg/ml), the current U.S. Food and Drug Administration (U.S. FDA) breakpoint. Overall, only 0.35% of the monitored S. aureus isolates had a dalbavancin MIC of either 0.25 or 0.5 μg/ml (i.e., were nonsusceptible).     

Sensitivity pattern of gram negative bacilli to three beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations using the automated API system

PURPOSE: To evaluate the spectrum of activity of three beta-lactamase inhibitors such as amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid, ticarcillin/ clavulanic acid and piperacillin/ tazobactam in comparison to cephalosporins against gram negative bacilli. METHODS: Gram-negative bacilli isolated from the clinical specimens received in the laboratory were included in the study. Using the API system (bioMiotarieux) during a one-year period, a total of 1,252 Enterobacteriaceae and 385 non-fermenters were evaluated. RESULTS: The percentage resistance of the Enterobacteriaceae isolates was 82.92% to amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid, 58.22% to ticarcillin/clavulanic acid and 22.44% to piperacillin/tazobactam respectively. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed resistance of 96% to ticarcillin/ clavulanic acid and 61% to piperacillin/ tazobactam and Acinetobacter baumannii showed 49% resistance to ticarcillin/ clavulanic acid and 77% resistance to piperacillin/ tazobactam respectively. The isolates exhibited high resistance to all the generations of cephalosporins and the other groups of antibiotics except carbapenems. CONCLUSIONS: Piperacillin/tazobactam was found to be the most active combination of the three against Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas spp. and ticarcillin/clavulanic acid against Acinetobacter spp. and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia.     

Helicobacter pylori and gastric cardia cancer: What do we know about their relationship?

The incidence of gastric cardia cancer is increasing around the world. Since the discovery of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), numerous studies have proved that it is a causative factor for many kinds of digestive system tumors. Although the literature on gastric cardia cancer and H. pylori is not scarce, there are still many controversies on the relationship between gastric cardia cancer and H. pylori. Many Western research results showed that there was a negative or no correlation between H. pylori infection and gastric cardia cancer, but in several studies in Asian countries, such as China, H. pylori was demonstrated to be a risk factor for gastric cardia cancer. Therefore, we intended to analyze the related studies to find out the relationship between H. pylori and gastric cardia cancer and find out the causes of the above controversies. We also conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between cagA positive expression of H. pylori and gastric cardia cancer, to find out whether there is an effect between those two. The primary purpose of this paper was to explore the relationship between gastric cardia cancer and H. pylori. Through analysis, the study showed the reasons for the controversies mentioned above: (1) Geographical factors could affect the relationship between H. pylori and gastric cardia cancer; (2) The definition of gastric cardia cancer in various studies is inconsistent. The result of a meta-analysis about the relationship between H. pylori virulence factor cagA and gastric cardia cancer showed that there was no relationship between these two.     

Lung Transplantation for Severe Antineutrophilic Cytoplasmic Antibody-Associated Vasculitis

Antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis is a life-threatening disorder for which medical therapy has greatly improved survival. However, there is still significant mortality associated with antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis. Little data exists on the utility of lung transplantation for patients, especially with an acute and severe form of this disease. Herein, we report successful lung transplantation for a patient with life-threatening pulmonary hemorrhage and respiratory failure as a consequence of this pulmonary renal syndrome.     

Bioinspired mineralization and cell adhesion on surface functionalized poly(vinyl alcohol) films

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films, when surface functionalized by phosphorylation, induced biomimetic nucleation and growth of calcium phosphate in a simulated physiological environment. The surface phosphorylation on PVA was ensured by attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy. The morphology of the calcium phosphate phase grown on surface-phosphorylated PVA (PPVA) was analysed using scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector. The primary nucleation of calcium phosphate occurs in 3 days and secondary nucleation occurs after 10 days. The energy-dispersive X-ray analysis shows that the Ca/P ratio of the coating increases with time of exposure to the simulated physiological fluid and reaches 1.67 at 10 days. The PPVA supports in vitro cell adhesion and promotes in vitro biomineralization in the presence of cells, evaluated using human osteosarcoma cells.