NUS Pharmacy Team Develops Calculator to Predict Risk of Early Hospital Readmission
March 27th 2017Patients who are discharged after a hospital stay will want to stay away from the hospital for as long as possible. However, in Singapore, approximately 15 percent of patients who have been discharged from hospitals will succumb to a readmission within 30 days, while globally, readmission rates within 30 days can be as high as 20 percent.
IP Stakeholders Series: Patient Safety and Quality
March 27th 2017The concept that infection prevention and patient safety is everyone's responsibility is nothing new, but some healthcare institutions may still be struggling to foster and nurture a culture of safety that permeates every department and every function. Taking the lead are directors and managers in patient safety and quality improvement, but infection preventionists (IPs) must also retain a prominent position as stakeholder in the process.
Product Evaluation & Purchasing: Temperature Management Technology in the OR
March 27th 2017Maintaining normothermia of the surgical patient is part of the prevention of surgical site infections, and a study by Steelman, et al. (2013) found that perioperative hypothermia was among the top patient safety issues identified by perioperative nurses. In this study, AORN members employed in ambulatory and hospital settings (N = 37,022) received an electronic survey; of the 3,137 returned surveys that contained complete information, 966 respondents (30.8 percent) identified prevention of hypothermia as a high priority. However, debate over the safety of forced-air warming systems continues, and clinicians should first and foremost consider all sides of the argument when making product evaluation and purchasing decisions. Alternatives to forced-air warming include direct-conduction fluid warming systems and systems that use conductive fabric technology. Conductive fabric systems do not require the use of a disposable blanket, which can help reduce waste and keep costs down.
Hydrophobic Proteins on Virus Surfaces Can Help Purify Vaccines
March 24th 2017Researchers hope to catch viruses for detection and vaccinations by understanding their sticky outer layers. The complex structures making the surface of a virus are small weaves of proteins that make a big impact on how a virus interacts with cells and its environment. A slight change in protein sequence makes this surface slightly water-repelling, or hydrophobic, causing it to stick to other hydrophobic surfaces. A new paper, published recently in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, details surface hydrophobicity in porcine parovirus (PPV).
Seven Months After Rio Olympics, Zika Continues to Plague Babies in Urban Slums
March 24th 2017Many international travelers to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, openly considered skipping the games to avoid the threat of Zika. Despite the fears, not a single case of Zika or its major neurological complication, microcephaly, was reported by foreign visitors. The near-paranoia -- and the diversion of scarce resources to protect a low-risk population -- could have been avoided by heeding the lessons of previous epidemics, argues a new study from public health researchers at UC Berkeley.
Mosquito Monitoring Has Limited Utility in Dengue Control, Study Finds
March 23rd 2017Cross-sectional surveys of mosquito abundance carried out in the subtropics and tropics are meant to give researchers an indication of the risk of a dengue virus outbreak in any given area. This type of entomological monitoring, however, is not a good proxy for dengue risk, researchers report this week in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Comparison of cross-sectional measures of mosquito density to longitudinal measures demonstrate the limitations of periodic entomological monitoring as households with exposure to Ae. aegypti may be misclassified as unexposed at any single survey visit.
Research Shows Some Viruses Can Infect Even After Major Mutations
March 23rd 2017Portland State University researchers have found that only about half the genes in a specific virus affecting single cell organisms is needed to infect a host. This means the virus can undergo major mutations without losing its ability to survive and infect. The research, headed by PSU biology professor Kenneth Stedman, shows how resilient and stable viruses can be. It also gives new insights into the structure of HIV and other viruses, how they are made and the challenges of fighting them.
Effective One-Shot Vaccination of Newborns Moves Closer to Reality
March 23rd 2017Newborns are highly vulnerable to infections and don't respond optimally to most vaccines because their young immune systems typically mount weak antibody responses. Now, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital report achieving strong vaccine responses in newborn animals, including monkeys -- the final preclinical model before human trials -- by adding compounds known as adjuvants that boost the immune response. In two simultaneous papers, they also describe improved adjuvant formulations that could reduce side effects.
Scientists Use Parasite's Internal Clock to Attack Sleeping Sickness
March 23rd 2017The parasite that causes deadly sleeping sickness has its own biological clock that makes it more vulnerable to medications during the afternoon, according to international research that may help improve treatments for one of Africa's most lethal diseases. The finding from the Peter O'Donnell Jr. Brain Institute could be especially beneficial for patients whose bodies can't handle side effects of toxic treatments used to eradicate the parasite. By knowing the optimal time to administer these medications -- which can be fatal -- doctors hope to reduce the duration and dosage of the treatment and save more lives.
Penn State Develops First of a Kind Model to Research Post-Malaria Epilepsy
March 23rd 2017A first-of-its-kind mouse model could lead to an understanding of how cerebral malaria infection leads to the development of epilepsy in children and to the prevention of seizures. The model - a way for researchers to simulate the effects of malaria in children by using mice - was developed in a collaboration between researchers at Penn State’s colleges of medicine, engineering, science and agriculture.
Biopesticide Could Defeat Insecticide Resistance in Bed Bugs
March 22nd 2017A fungal biopesticide that shows promise for the control of bed bugs is highly effective even against bed-bug populations that are insecticide resistant, according to research conducted by scientists at Penn State and North Carolina State universities. The study suggests that Aprehend, a mycoinsecticide developed at Penn State, likely will provide an important new tool for managing bed-bug infestations, which have surged in recent years.
Antenatal Screening in Europe: How to Avoid Mother-to-Child Transmission of Infections
March 21st 2017Transmission of infections with HIV, hepatitis B, syphilis or rubella from mother to child before and during birth as well as in infancy still occur across Europe, despite existing prevention methods. A new ECDC report outlines the cornerstones for effective antenatal screening programs across the EU/EEA countries.
2017 Operating Room State of the Industry Report
March 21st 2017This year's state of the industry report for the operating room, with data provided through an online survey of ICT readers who work in surgical services, is designed to offer a snapshot of the key issues and challenges relating to budgets, resourcing and workloads, as well as ongoing shortages in time, personnel and educational opportunities.
Novel Technology Could Provide a Faster, Inexpensive Way to Detect and Monitor Dengue and Zika
March 21st 2017Purdue researchers are developing an integrated biosensing platform aimed at detecting and monitoring mosquito-borne diseases faster and cheaper than current methods, to aid in preventing virus outbreaks and their devastating effects.