Clostridium difficile in Crete, Greece: epidemiology, microbiology and clinical disease.

We studied the epidemiology and microbiology of Clostridium difficile and the characteristics of patients with C. difficile infection (CDI) in Crete in three groups of hospitalized patients with diarrhoea: group 1 [positive culture and positive toxin by enzyme immunoassay (EIA)]; group 2 (positive culture, negative toxin); group 3 (negative culture, negative toxin). Patients in group 1 were designated as those with definitive CDI (20 patients for whom data was available) and matched with cases in group 2 (40 patients) and group 3 (40 patients). C. difficile grew from 6% (263/4379) of stool specimens; 14·4% of these had positive EIA, of which 3% were resistant to metronidazole. Three isolates had decreased vancomycin susceptibility. Patients in groups 1 and 2 received more antibiotics (P = 0·03) and had more infectious episodes (P = 0·03) than patients in group 3 prior to diarrhoea. Antibiotic administration for C. difficile did not differ between groups 1 and 2. Mortality was similar in all three groups (10%, 12·5% and 5%, P = 0·49). CDI frequency was low in the University Hospital of Crete and isolates were susceptible to metronidazole and vancomycin.

Reduced susceptibility to quinupristin/dalfopristin in Enterococcus faecium in Greece without prior exposure to the agent.

During 2005-2006, a total of 865 Enterococcus faecium isolated from patients from eight Greek hospitals were tested for susceptibility to quinupristin/dalfopristin (Q/D). Among them, 250 genetically unrelated strains (28.9%) were found to be intermediate-resistant to Q/D (minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) 1.5-4 mg/L); all were resistant to dalfopristin (MIC=16-64 mg/L), whilst 69% were resistant to quinupristin, carrying the ermB gene. No strain was found to carry any of the known genes, such as vatE and vatD, involved in Q/D resistance, indicating that a non-transferable undetermined mechanism is responsible for the expression of low-level Q/D resistance. The high percentage of Q/D-intermediate-resistant E. faecium in Greece was not associated with prior consumption of the agent or with the veterinary use of virginiamycin.

Work design and management in the manufacturing sector: development and validation of the Work Organisation Assessment Questionnaire.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the factor structure, reliability, and validity of a new context-specific questionnaire for the assessment of work and organisational factors. The Work Organisation Assessment Questionnaire (WOAQ) was developed as part of a risk assessment and risk reduction methodology for hazards inherent in the design and management of work in the manufacturing sector. METHOD: Two studies were conducted. Data were collected from 524 white- and blue-collar employees from a range of manufacturing companies. Exploratory factor analysis was carried out on 28 items that described the most commonly reported failures of work design and management in companies in the manufacturing sector. Concurrent validity data were also collected. A reliability study was conducted with a further 156 employees. RESULTS: Principal component analysis, with varimax rotation, revealed a strong 28-item, five factor structure. The factors were named: quality of relationships with management, reward and recognition, workload, quality of relationships with colleagues, and quality of physical environment. Analyses also revealed a more general summative factor. Results indicated that the questionnaire has good internal consistency and test-retest reliability and validity. Being associated with poor employee health and changes in health related behaviour, the WOAQ factors are possible hazards. It is argued that the strength of those associations offers some estimation of risk. Feedback from the organisations involved indicated that the WOAQ was easy to use and meaningful for them as part of their risk assessment procedures. CONCLUSIONS: The studies reported here describe a model of the hazards to employee health and health related behaviour inherent in the design and management of work in the manufacturing sector. It offers an instrument for their assessment. The scales derived which form the WOAQ were shown to be reliable, valid, and meaningful to the user population.

Effect of aqueous extracts of some plants of Lamiaceae family on the growth of Yarrowia lipolytica.

Aqueous extracts of some plants belonging to the Lamiaceae family (Sideritis montana, Origanum dictamnus, Mentha piperita, Rosmarinus officinallis and Origanum marjorana) caused an important increase of the lag time of Yarrowia lipolytica. Especially, Origanum dictamnus and Rosmarinus officinallis extracts enhanced the lag time considerably and influenced negatively the specific growth rate of this yeast. In culture media having low C/N ratio, all plant extracts caused an increase of the biomass produced in relation to glucose and nitrogen consumed, while, in high C/N ratio media the effect of the extracts on biomass production was negative. In the presence of aqueous plant extracts, in low C/N ratio culture media, the ratio sigma unsaturated/sigma saturated fatty acids in the cellular lipids increased, whereas in high C/N ratio media it decreased.