Prevalence of alcohol-tolerant and antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens on public hand sanitizer dispensers.

BACKGROUND: Since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers (HSDs) have been installed in most public and clinical settings for hygiene purposes and convenient application. AIM: To determine whether sanitizer-tolerant bacterial pathogens can colonize HSDs, spreading diseases and antibiotic resistance. METHODS: Sampling was conducted from operational automatic HSDs, specifically the dispensing nozzle in direct contact with sanitizer. Culture-dependent cultivation of bacteria and MALDI-TOF were employed to assess microbiological contamination. Bacterial isolates were selected for rapid killing and biofilm eradication assays with alcohol treatment. Antibiotic minimum inhibitory concentration assays were performed according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute guidelines. Virulence potential of bacterial isolates was evaluated in the Caenorhadbitis elegans infection model. FINDINGS: Nearly 50% of HSDs from 52 locations, including clinical settings, food industry, and public spaces, contain microbial contamination at 103-106 bacteria/mL. Bacterial identification revealed Bacillus cereus as the most frequent pathogen (29%), while Enterobacter cloacae was the only Gram-negative bacterial pathogen (2%). Selecting B. cereus and E. cloacae isolates for further evaluation, these isolates and associated biofilms were found to be tolerant to alcohol with survival up to 70%. They possessed resistance to various antibiotic classes, with higher virulence than laboratory strains in the C. elegans infection model. CONCLUSION: HSDs serve as potential breeding grounds for dissemination of pathogens and antibiotic resistance across unaware users. Proper HSD maintenance will ensure protection of public health and sustainable use of sanitizing alcohols, to prevent emergence of alcohol-resistant pathogens.

[A survey on prevalence of hypertension in Macao area].

OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of hypertension and population blood pressure levels in Macao area. METHODS: According to requirements set in "Manual for National Sampling Survey on Hypertension in 1991", 5,171 permanent residents aged more than 15 years in Macao area were investigated and their blood pressure measured with standardized methods and under strict quality control. RESULTS: The survey showed that crude prevalence rate of hypertension was 29.46 percent in Macao, 20.45 percent after standardization, and it should be categorized into a hypertension prevalent area based on the domestic criteria for hypertension categorization. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure averaged 17.18 kPa (128.82 mmHg) and 10.86 kPa (81.47 mmHg), respectively, for males and 16.32 kPa (122.38 mmHg) and 10.15 kPa (76.15 mmHg), respectively, for females, higher than those in Guangdong Province and Beijing. Prevalence in males was higher than that in females and it increased more quickly in those more than 35 years old, similar to that in the other areas at home. Prevalence in new immigrants was lower than that in the original residents. CONCLUSION: Hypertension was severely prevalent in Macao area and an important issue in public health not to be ignorant. Health education and health promotion should be strengthened to reach the primary and secondary prevention for it.

Adaptive image restoration using a generalized Gaussian model for unknown noise.

A model adaptive method is proposed for restoring blurred and noise corrupted images. The generalized p-Gaussian family of probability density functions is used as the approximating parametric noise model. Distribution shape parameters are estimated from the image, and the resulting maximum likelihood optimization problem is solved. An iterative algorithm for data-directed restoration is presented and analyzed.