The EC-COMPASS: Long-term, multi-centre surveillance of Enterobacter cloacae complex - a clinical perspective.

BACKGROUND: Enterobacter cloacae complex (ECCO) comprises closely related Enterobacterales, causing a variety of infections ranging from mild urinary tract infections to severe bloodstream infections. ECCO has emerged as a significant cause of healthcare-associated infections, particularly in neonatal and adult intensive care. AIM: The Enterobacter Cloacae COMplex PASsive Surveillance (EC-COMPASS) aims to provide a detailed multi-centre overview of ECCO epidemiology and resistance patterns detected in routine microbiological diagnostics in four German tertiary-care hospitals. METHODS: In a sentinel cluster of four German tertiary-care hospitals, all culture-positive ECCO results between 1st January 2020 and 31st December 2022, were analysed based on Hybase® laboratory data. FINDINGS: Analysis of 31,193 ECCO datasets from 14,311 patients revealed a higher incidence in male patients (P<0.05), although no significant differences were observed in ECCO infection phenotypes. The most common sources of ECCO were swabs (42.7%), urine (17.5%), respiratory secretions (16.1%), blood cultures (8.9%) and tissue samples (5.6%). The annual bacteraemia rate remained steady at approximately 33 cases per hospital. Invasive ECCO infections were predominantly found in oncology and intensive care units. Incidences of nosocomial outbreaks were infrequent and limited in scope. Notably, resistance to carbapenems was consistently low. CONCLUSION: EC-COMPASS offers a profound clinical perspective on ECCO infections in German tertiary-healthcare settings, highlighting elderly men in oncology and intensive care units as especially vulnerable to ECCO infections. Early detection strategies targeting at-risk patients could improve ECCO infection management.

Assessment of Melatonin-Cultured Collagen/Chitosan Scaffolds Cross-Linked by a Glyoxal Solution as Biomaterials for Wound Healing.

Chitosan (CTS) and collagen (Coll) are natural biomaterials that have been extensively used in tissue engineering or wound healing applications, either separately or as composite materials. Most methods to fabricate CTS/Coll matrices employ chemical crosslinking to obtain solid and stable scaffolds with the necessary porosity and mechanical properties to facilitate regeneration. In this study, we comparatively assessed the physicochemical properties of 3D scaffolds loaded with a cross-linker, glyoxal. Using a scanning electron microscope, we evaluated the microstructure of resultant matrices and their mechanistic testing by the determination of the compressive modulus (Emod), the maximum force (Fmax), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR), and proliferation rate in vitro using human epidermal keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts cultured in presence of melatonin solution (10-5 M). We observed that enhanced content of collagen (50CTS/50Coll or 20CTS/80Coll compared to 80CTS/20Coll) significantly elevated the physicochemical capacities of resultant materials. Besides, presence of 5% glyoxal increased porosity, Emod and Fmax, compared to scaffolds without glyoxal. Finally, keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts cultured on subjected matrices in presence of melatonin revealed a prominently enhanced growth rate. This indicates that the combination of glyoxal and melatonin make it imperative to consider these materials as a promising approach for targeting skin tissue engineering or regenerative dermatology.

Plant community composition alters moisture and temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in semi-arid shrubland.

Soil respiration (Rs) is the second largest carbon (C) flux to the atmosphere and our understanding of how Rs and its components shift with plant-community composition remains an important question. We used high-frequency soil respiration measurements and root exclusion to evaluate how Rs, autotrophic respiration (Ra) and heterotrophic respiration (Rh) vary between a semi-arid perennial shrub community and annual invasive community. Over two growing seasons, total Rs was 40% higher under annual vegetation compared to shrubs. Partitioning revealed consistently higher Ra under annual vegetation which accounted for most of the difference in Rs. Under annual vegetation, Ra increased soon after the first rain events and remained high despite cooling temperatures while shrub Ra increased only when soil temperature began to warm up. The Rh rates were similar between vegetation types when daily soil temperatures were lower than 20 °C. As soil temperatures increased and soil moisture dropped below 10%, Rh was consistently higher under annual vegetation than shrubs. Seasonal dynamics of Rs and Rh were best modeled with an interaction term between soil moisture and temperature with significantly different model parameters for each vegetation type. Differences in the timing and magnitude of Rs and Ra between vegetation types are consistent with phenological differences between shrubs and annuals. Under annuals, larger Rh at high temperatures suggests that expansion of annual vegetation and future hotter and drier conditions could lead to greater C losses from this semi-arid shrub system.

New anti-seizure medication for elderly epilepsy patients - a critical narrative review.

Introduction: The number of elderly patients with epilepsy is growing in resource rich countries due to demographic changes and increased longevity. Management in these patients is challenging as underlying etiology, co-morbidities, polypharmacy, age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes need to be considered.Areas covered: Lacosamide, eslicarbazepine acetate, brivaracetam, and perampanel have been approved in the USA and Europe for monotherapy and/or adjunctive treatment of seizures in the last few years. The authors review the pharmacological properties and safety profile of these drugs and provide recommendations for their use in in the elderly.Expert opinion: There are only limited data available on more recent antiseizure medications (ASMs). Drugs with a low risk of interaction (lacosamide, brivaracetam) are preferred choices. Once daily formulations (perampanel and eslicarbazepine acetate) have the advantage of increased compliance. Intravenous formulations (brivaracetam and lacosamide) are useful in emergency situations and in patients who have difficulties to swallow. Dose adjustments are necessary for all ASMs used in the elderly with slow titration and lower target doses than in the regulatory trials. The adverse event profile does not significantly differ from that found in the general adult population.

Epidural Against Systemic Analgesia: An International Registry Analysis on Postoperative Pain and Related Perceptions After Abdominal Surgery.

BACKGROUND: The PAIN OUT registry collected data from >30,000 patients on pain on the first postoperative day in hospitals worldwide. Utilizing the database, we compared systemic and epidural analgesia (EA) on postoperative pain and related side-effects in patients after abdominal surgeries (ASs). METHODS: ASs were identified through the ICD9-Code and subgrouped into laparoscopic surgery and open surgery. After identifying patients in this subset with and without EA, propensity-score matching was performed on the basis of demographics and comorbidities. Primary outcomes were different qualities of pain, and secondary outcomes were pain-related sensations and treatment-related side effects measured with the numeric rating scale. They were calculated as the risk ratio (RR) using the median as the divisor. RESULTS: The database contained 29,108 cases, with 5365 AS, and 646 cases remained after matching. A risk analysis revealed that for the AS group, EA posed a significantly lower risk for the perception of worst pain (RR, 0.75; confidence interval [CI], 0.64-0.87), least pain (RR, 0.61; CI, 0.5-0.75), time in severe pain (RR, 0.61; CI, 0.5-0.75), in-bed activity interference of pain (RR, 0.71; CI, 0.59-0.85), pain interference with coughing (RR, 0.68; CI, 0.57-0.82) or sleeping (RR, 0.73; CI, 0.61-0.87), and a higher chance of pain relief (RR, 1.5; CI, 1.23-1.83). The risk for itchiness (RR, 2.23; CI, 1.62-3.07) appeared to be higher, as did the probability of satisfaction (RR, 1.25; CI, 1.03-1.51). The risk for feeling helpless (RR, 0.83; CI, 0.7-0.99) and drowsiness (RR, 0.74; CI, 0.63-0.88) was reduced. Both subgroups showed similar tendencies. DISCUSSION: Regarding the pain intensity, satisfaction, and relatable side-effects, EA seems to be superior compared with systemic analgesia after AS.