News

New chip-based optical sensing technologies developed by researchers at UC Santa Cruz and Brigham Young University enable the rapid detection and identification of multiple biomarkers. In a paper published October 5 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers describe a novel method to perform diagnostic assays for multiple strains of flu virus on a small, dedicated chip.

Johns Hopkins University and DuPont have signed license and collaboration agreements allowing DuPont to commercialize a garment with innovative features from Johns Hopkins to help protect people on the front lines of the Ebola crisis and future deadly infectious disease outbreaks. DuPont intends to have the first of these garments available in the marketplace during the first half of 2016.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global public health threat causing an estimated 23,000 deaths in America alone each year. One historically overlooked avenue by which antibiotic resistance can spread is through contact or consumption of contaminated water. For example, recent news articles have raised fears about human sewage tainted water at some of the venues for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and the potential spread of resistant super-bugs. Unfortunately, the Brazilian Olympics is just one example of the growing scale of this problem. The situation is “a global health challenge,” says Peter Vikesland, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech.

One weapon in the armament against surgical site infections (SSIs) is the American College of Surgeons' National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), an essential tool to helping hospitals reduce the rate of SSIs and other complications that arise during and after patient procedures, says Clifford Ko, MD, MS, MSHS, FACS, director of the Division of Research and Optimal Patient Care at the American College of Surgeons (ACS). Ko will deliver the keynote address, “Achieving Quality Improvement in Patient Care,” at the OR Manager conference to be held Oct. 7-9, 2015 in Nashville, Tenn.

Recently a survey purported to demonstrate a causal association between reusable sharps containers and hospital acquired Clostridum difficile (C. diff) infections. It was published in the July 30 edition of Becker’s Hospital Review.