Highlights • PET and PC-based microplastics were detected in indoor dust from 12 countries. • High concentrations (38–120,000 µg/g) of PET-based MPs were found. • Positive correlations were found between monomers and corresponding MPs in dust. • The daily intake of MPs via indoor dust ingestion in infants was on the order [...]
In one of the most satisfying graphs I’ve ever made, this plot of weekly measles cases – both suspected and confirmed (the minority) – shows that the epidemic of measles that swept across Samoa after arriving in an infected traveller from New Zealand killing over 70 Samoans, has peaked. CDC / Cynthia S. Goldsmith & [...]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) recorded 10 new Ebola cases today, as reflected on the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Ebola dashboard. The double-digit jump is a disheartening return to numbers last seen in mid-September. The 10 new cases raise the outbreak total to 3,340, including 2,207 deaths. A total of 441 suspected cases [...]
Abstract Background Klebsiella pneumoniae resistant to both carbapenems and colistin imposes severe challenges for management. Here we report a cluster of five carbapenem-resistant K. pneumoniae clinical strains belonging to ST1 and K57 types, four of which were also resistant to colistin, from two hospitals. Methods The five strains were subjected to whole genome sequencing (WGS) using the short-read [...]
NEW YORK (December 11, 2019) — Nearly 1-in-10 patients admitted to a New York hospital with no symptoms of diarrhea were found to be carriers of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), suggesting infections originate outside the hospital setting more often than thought, according to a study published today in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the journal of the [...]
Abstract General anesthesia has been unequivocally linked to abnormal development of the central nervous system, leading to neurocognitive impairments in laboratory models. In vitro and in vivo studies have consistently shown that exposure to GABA agonists (eg, volatile anesthetics, midazolam, and propofol) or NMDA antagonists (eg, ketamine, isoflurane, and nitrous oxide) produces dose dependent and [...]
New data released yesterday by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows that the amount of medically important antibiotics sold and distributed for use in food-producing animals rose by 9% between 2017 and 2018, after a 3-year decline. Overall, the FDA says, 2018 is the still the second-lowest sales year on record, and sales [...]
Diagnosis Your doctor will examine your nails. He or she may also take some nail clippings or scrape debris from under your nail and send the sample to a lab to identify the type of fungus causing the infection. Other conditions, such as psoriasis, can mimic a fungal infection of the nail. Microorganisms such as [...]
Abstract Intermittent fasting is a form of time restricted eating (typically 16 h fasting and 8 h eating), which has gained popularity in recent years and shows promise as a possible new paradigm in the approach to weight loss and the reduction of inflammation, and has many potential long term health benefits. In this review, [...]
Abstract Background Multi-Resistant Organisms (MRO) healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are closely associated with contamination of surfaces. Outsourced companies are usually in charge of both hospital hygiene and environmental hygiene personnel (EHP) supervision, which can result in bias. Methods A quasi-experimental study. The intervention was to add the “Hospital Environment Hygiene Nurse” (HEHN). MRO acquired infection rate [...]
