Blomabdi5788
Meningitis in neonates and young infants leads to significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aims to investigate pathogens, antibiotics resistance and secular change of incidence in Hong Kong.
We performed a retrospective search on meningitis in neonates and infants <3 months old in three Hong Kong public hospitals from 2004 to 2019. Medical charts were reviewed, focusing on the identification and antibiotics resistance of the pathogens.
200 cases of meningitis were identified (67% were bacterial). Group B Streptococcus (GBS) and Escherichia coli (E. coli) were the commonest bacterial pathogens. The annual rates of early-onset GBS meningitis decreased since the implementation of the universal GBS screening and intrapartum antibiotics prophylaxis (IAP) in 2012, while that of late-onset GBS meningitis remained similar. A significant portion of E. coli isolates were resistant to ampicillin and/or gentamicin.
GBS and E. coli remained the commonest bacteria for meningitis in this age group. The annual rate of bacterial meningitis in Hong Kong declined in recent years, which was attributed by the decline in that of early-onset GBS meningitis due to the universal GBS screening and IAP. Antimicrobial-resistant bacterial strains that caused meningitis require further clinical and public health attention.
GBS and E. coli remained the commonest bacteria for meningitis in this age group. The annual rate of bacterial meningitis in Hong Kong declined in recent years, which was attributed by the decline in that of early-onset GBS meningitis due to the universal GBS screening and IAP. Antimicrobial-resistant bacterial strains that caused meningitis require further clinical and public health attention.
To explore whether all individuals with diabetes are at an increased risk of tuberculosis or whether there are high-risk groups of diabetes patients.
A population-based census was conducted in China, including 27807 individuals. Risk factors for incident tuberculosis were investigated and participants included in the study were linked to the Tuberculosis Management Information System. Cox proportional hazards models adjusting for several variables were constructed in two steps. GDC-0199 First, the incident rate of tuberculosis in individuals with/without diabetes was compared without any stratification by high body mass index (BMI). Second, two groups stratified by BMI were compared.
Over 7years of follow-up, 108 individuals progressed to tuberculosis. In the multivariable Cox regression analysis, participants with diabetes had a 2.26 higher hazard (P=0.017) of tuberculosis when compared to participants without diabetes. However, participants with a BMI >24kg/m
and diagnosed with diabetes had a similar risk as overweight participants without diabetes (P=0.953), while diabetes with a BMI <24kg/m
(adjusted hazard ratio 2.68; P=0.006) was a risk factor for developing active tuberculosis (compared with non-diabetes with a BMI <24kg/m
). Among individuals with a low BMI, participants with a Bacille Calmette-Guérin scar showed a decreased tuberculosis risk (adjusted hazard ratio 0.48; P=0.028).
Individuals with diabetes were found to have a higher risk of developing tuberculosis, but only when they were not overweight, suggesting targeted screening should be considered.
Individuals with diabetes were found to have a higher risk of developing tuberculosis, but only when they were not overweight, suggesting targeted screening should be considered.Concerns over widespread use of insecticides and heightened insect pest virulence under climate change continue to fuel the need for environmentally safe and sustainable control strategies. However, to develop such strategies a better understanding of the molecular basis of plant-pest interactions is still needed. Despite decades of research investigating plant-insect interactions few examples exist where underlying molecular mechanisms are well-characterized and even rarer are cases where this knowledge has been successfully applied to manage harmful agricultural pests. Consequently, the field appears to be static, urgently needing shifts in approaches to identify novel mechanisms by which insects colonize plants and plants avoid insect pressure. In this perspective, we outline necessary steps for advancing holistic methodologies that capture complex plant-insect molecular interactions. We highlight novel and underexploited approaches in plant-insect interaction research as essential routes to translate knowledge of underlying molecular mechanisms into durable pest control strategies, including embracing microbial partnerships, identifying what makes a plant an unsuitable host, capitalizing on tolerance of insect damage, and learning from cases where crop domestication and agronomic practices enhance pest virulence.
A macular hole (MH) is a defect that occurs in the retina and involves all layers. In this study, we aimed to investigate the preoperative and postoperative choriocapillaris blood flow (CBF) changes in patients with MH and the role of CBF in the pathogenesis of the disease using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
This is a retrospective study examining eyes with MH. The study included 25 operated eyes of 25 patients and contralateral eyes of 18 patients. CBF and subfoveal choroidal thickness were examined using the OCTA images of the patients before surgery and at the first, third and sixth months after surgery.
The mean CBF value of the patients was 1.57±0.20 mm² preoperatively, 1.94±0.13 mm² at the postoperative first month, 1.98±0.12 mm² at the third month, and 2.00±0.10 mm² at the sixth month. The increases in the CBF values between the preoperative period and the postoperative measurements were statistically significant (p<0.0001 for all). In the preoperative period, the CBF value value of the contralateral eyes. We consider that the eyes with MH achieve similar CBF values to the contralateral eyes in an average of six months after successful surgery.
Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a reliable tool for the identification and differentiation of two different human pathological conditions sharing the same symptomology, typhoid and tuberculosis (TB).
To explore the potential of surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy for differentiation of two different diseases showing the same symptoms and analysis by principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square discriminate analysis (PLS-DA).
Serum samples of clinically diagnosed typhoid and tuberculosis infected individuals were analyzed and differentiated by SERS using silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) as a SERS substrate. For this purpose, the collected serum samples were analyzed under the SERS instrument and unique SERS spectra of typhoid and tuberculosis were compared showing notable spectral differences in protein, lipid and carbohydrates features. Different stages of the diseased class of typhoid (Early acute and late acute stage) and tuberculosis (Pulmonary and extra-pulmonary stage) were compared with each other and with healthy human serum samples, which were significantly separated.
