scholarly journals Molecular Methods for the Diagnosis of Invasive Candidiasis

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iris Camp ◽  
Kathrin Spettel ◽  
Birgit Willinger

Invasive infections caused by members of the genus Candida are on the rise. Especially patients in intensive care units, immunocompromised patients, and those recovering from abdominal surgery are at risk for the development of candidemia or deep-seated candidiasis. Rapid initiation of appropriate antifungal therapy can increase survival rates significantly. In the past, most of these infections were caused by C. albicans, a species that typically is very susceptible to antifungals. However, in recent years a shift towards infections caused by non-albicans species displaying various susceptibly patterns has been observed and the prompt diagnosis of the underlying species has become an essential factor determining the therapeutic outcome. The gold standard for diagnosing invasive candidiasis is blood culture, even though its sensitivity is low and the time required for species identification usually exceeds 48 h. To overcome these issues, blood culture can be combined with other methods, and a large number of tests have been developed for this purpose. The aim of this review was to give an overview on strengths and limitations of currently available molecular methods for the diagnosis of invasive candidiasis.

Author(s):  
J. Devin Roberts

Since the first human procedure in 1963, lung transplantation has become the gold standard treatment of a variety of end-stage lung diseases. With over 4000 lung transplants performed in 2015 and steadily improving survival rates over the past three decades, anesthetic management of patients undergoing lung transplant can significantly contribute to patient outcomes. Anesthesia care for lung transplantation can be both complex and clinically challenging. Anesthesiologists taking part in these procedures need to have specific skills regarding thoracic and cardiac anesthesia. There are both technical and physiological challenges, such as achieving adequate lung isolation and oxygenation, interpretation and use of transesophageal echocardiography, and the management of respiratory and myocardial impairments. This chapter provides an overview of these perioperative anesthetic management considerations utilizing a problem-based format.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Besserer-Offroy ◽  
P. Sarret

In the past few years, several biased ligands acting at the mu-opioid receptor were reported in the literature. These agonists are aimed at reducing pain while having fewer side effects than morphine, the gold standard of opioid analgesics. In this mini-review, we describe and discuss the recent advances in mu-biased ligands actually in preclinical and clinical development stages, including the latest U.S. Food and Drug Administration review of oliceridine, a biased mu-agonist for moderate to severe acute pain treatment developed by the company Trevena.


1970 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
José Henrique Gomes Torres ◽  
Rosyane Rena De Freitas

Objetivo: Avaliar diferentes métodos paliativos quanto a sua resolução, complicações e sobrevida em pacientes com tumor periampular irressecável. Materiais e métodos: Estudo retrospectivo com análise dos prontuários de pacientes com tumor periampular irressecável e que foram submetidos a procedimento paliativo no Hospital Municipal Dr José de Carvalho Florence nos últimos cinco anos. Resultados: O principal tumor periampular foi o de cabeça de pâncreas, com incidência de 94%, acometendo pacientes com média de 66 anos, sem preferência por sexo. Os procedimentos mais realizados foram derivação biliar e colocação de endoprótese através de colangiopancreatografia endoscópica retrógrada, apresentando sobrevidas de 586 e 56 dias, respectivamente. Conclusão: A coledocojejunostomia foi o procedimento mais realizado e apresentou menor tempo de internação e maiores sobrevida e tempo de permanência anictérico. Pneumonia foi a complicação mais frequente.  Palavras chave: Câncer pancreático, Colangiocarcinoma, Cuidados paliativos.  Objective: To evaluate different palliative methods concerning its resolution, complications and survival in patients with unresectable periampular tumor. Materials and methods: Retrospective study analysing records of patients with unresectable periampullary tumor and who underwent palliative procedure in the Hospital Municipal Dr José de Carvalho Florence in the past five years. Results: The main periampullary tumor was the head of the pancreas, with an incidence of 94%, affecting patients with an average of 66 years old, regardless of gender. The most common procedures were bypass and biliary stent, with survival rates of 586 and 56 days, respectively. Conclusion: Coledocojejunostomy was the procedure which was the most often performed and showed a shorter hospital stay and longer survival time and time without jaundice. Pneumonia was the main complication.  Keywords: Pancreatic cancer, Cholangiocarcinoma, Palliative care  


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Brenton-Rule ◽  
Daniel Harvey ◽  
Kevin Moran ◽  
Daniel O’Brien ◽  
Jonathon Webber

Abstract Background Podiatrists in New Zealand have a duty of care to assist patients in an emergency, and current cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) certification is a requirement for registration. However, it is unknown how competent and confident podiatrists are in administering CPR and how they would respond in an emergency. Having a health professional who has a competent knowledge of CPR and skills in basic life support, can improve survival rates from sudden cardiac arrest. Therefore, the aim of this study was to survey New Zealand podiatrists to determine their CPR knowledge and qualifications; beliefs about the application of CPR; and perceptions of their competency in CPR. Methods This cross-sectional study used a web-based survey. Participants were New Zealand registered podiatrists with a current annual practising certificate. The 31-item survey included questions to elicit demographic information, CPR practice and attitudes, and CPR knowledge. Responses were collected between March and August 2020. Results 171 podiatrists responded to the survey. 16 % of the podiatrists (n = 28) had performed CPR in an emergency, with a 50 % success rate. Participants were predominantly female (n = 127, 74 %) and working in private practice (n = 140,82 %). Nearly half of respondents were younger than 40 years (n = 75,44 %) and had less than 10 years of clinical experience (n = 73, 43 %). Nearly all (n = 169,97 %) participants had received formal CPR training in the past two years, with 60 % (n = 105) receiving training in the past 12 months. Most respondents (n = 167,98 %) self-estimated their CPR ability as being effective, very effective, or extremely effective. Participants’ knowledge of CPR was variable, with the percentage of correct answers for CPR protocol statements ranging between 20 and 90 %. Conclusions This study provides the first insight into New Zealand podiatrists’ CPR knowledge and perceptions. Podiatrists were found to have high levels of CPR confidence but demonstrated gaps in CPR knowledge. Currently, New Zealand registered podiatrists require biennial CPR re-certification. However, resuscitation authorities in New Zealand and overseas recommend an annual update of CPR skills. Based on this study’s findings, and in line with Australia and the United Kingdom, the authors recommend a change from biennial to annual CPR re-certification for podiatrists in New Zealand. Trial registration The study was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12620001144909).


2021 ◽  
pp. 039156032110359
Author(s):  
Hossein Dialameh ◽  
Farshad Namdari ◽  
Mehrdad Mahalleh ◽  
Mohammad Lotfi ◽  
Zoha Ali

Introduction: Renal colic is a colicky-type of flank pain that can commonly be presented in patients undergoing dialysis especially if they are anuric considering the fact that there are multiple controversies and little published experience on this topic, we found it very important to report this case. We also aimed to increase awareness and emphasize the importance of renal colic in anuric patients on dialysis. Case description: We herein report a case of a 42-year old man with a chief complaint of bilateral colic flank pain, He had developed end stage renal disease due to ADPKD and was on hemodialysis since the past 5 years. Previously, he went through a series of workup but was left undiagnosed. Abdomen-pelvic and chest CT scan without contrast was performed showing bilateral renal pelvic stones and some nephrocalcinosis in both kidneys. bilateral ureteroscopy was performed and bilateral DJ was installed for a total of 6 weeks and extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy was done. With prompt diagnosis, the patient was pain free and stone free before discharge. The patient is also reported to be stone free 6 months after the procedure. Conclusion: Patients on dialysis are still capable of forming symptomatic renal tract stones even if they are anuric.


2021 ◽  
pp. 002203452110053
Author(s):  
H. Wang ◽  
J. Minnema ◽  
K.J. Batenburg ◽  
T. Forouzanfar ◽  
F.J. Hu ◽  
...  

Accurate segmentation of the jaw (i.e., mandible and maxilla) and the teeth in cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans is essential for orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning. Although various (semi)automated methods have been proposed to segment the jaw or the teeth, there is still a lack of fully automated segmentation methods that can simultaneously segment both anatomic structures in CBCT scans (i.e., multiclass segmentation). In this study, we aimed to train and validate a mixed-scale dense (MS-D) convolutional neural network for multiclass segmentation of the jaw, the teeth, and the background in CBCT scans. Thirty CBCT scans were obtained from patients who had undergone orthodontic treatment. Gold standard segmentation labels were manually created by 4 dentists. As a benchmark, we also evaluated MS-D networks that segmented the jaw or the teeth (i.e., binary segmentation). All segmented CBCT scans were converted to virtual 3-dimensional (3D) models. The segmentation performance of all trained MS-D networks was assessed by the Dice similarity coefficient and surface deviation. The CBCT scans segmented by the MS-D network demonstrated a large overlap with the gold standard segmentations (Dice similarity coefficient: 0.934 ± 0.019, jaw; 0.945 ± 0.021, teeth). The MS-D network–based 3D models of the jaw and the teeth showed minor surface deviations when compared with the corresponding gold standard 3D models (0.390 ± 0.093 mm, jaw; 0.204 ± 0.061 mm, teeth). The MS-D network took approximately 25 s to segment 1 CBCT scan, whereas manual segmentation took about 5 h. This study showed that multiclass segmentation of jaw and teeth was accurate and its performance was comparable to binary segmentation. The MS-D network trained for multiclass segmentation would therefore make patient-specific orthodontic treatment more feasible by strongly reducing the time required to segment multiple anatomic structures in CBCT scans.


1976 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 503-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Craig West

Students of the origins and accomplishments of government regulation of economic activity have open suspected that the laws on which regulation is based were addressed to problems and conditions of the past that no longer prevailed, or — what is worse — assumptions about the “real world” that are highly unrealistic. This is Professor West's main conclusion about the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, especially as regards its discount rate and international exchange policies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 5-9
Author(s):  
Bynagari Chandra Shekar ◽  
Veerendra Uppin ◽  
Madhu Pujar

The aim of a root end lling is to prevent irritants from the root canal from leaking into the periapical region and to improve the apical seal created by nonsurgical endodontic care. Various restorative materials that have been used for coronal restorations have been tried and tested as root end lling materials, as well as the creation of restorative materials designed specically for root end lling. In the past, amalgam was the preferred material for root end lling. MTA, a recently established material that meets almost all of the criteria for an ideal root end lling material, has become the gold standard against which newer materials are measured. This article examines traditional endodontic root end materials and provides an overview of recent advancements in root end lling


1963 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
Keichi Kasahara

Abstract In its earthquake mechanism studies the Dominion Observatory has been producing solutions graphically, but a program based on a probability function defined by Knopoff has been written for the IBM 1620 which permits the best solution to be obtained by a series of successive approximations from a given first approximation. The program prints out the strike and dip of the two nodal planes, their standard errors, the azimuth and plunge of their line of intersection, and a list of the stations producing inconsistent data. Weights can be assigned to each station; in practice these weights would depend on the past reliablity of the station. The machine time required depends on the number of stations used, the accuracy of the first approximation and other factors; in general 20 to 30 minutes is required for a solution involving 30-40 stations.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephenie Y. N. Wong ◽  
K. F. Wong

Penicillium marneffei is a dimorphic fungus which is endemic in Southeast Asia. It is an opportunistic pathogen which has emerged to become an AIDS-defining illness in the endemic areas. Early diagnosis with prompt initiation of treatment is crucial for its management. Prompt diagnosis can often be established through careful cytological and histological examination of clinical specimens although microbiological culture remains the gold standard for its diagnosis. Standard antifungal treatment for AIDS patients with penicilliosis is well established. Highly active antiretroviral therapy should be started early together with the antifungal treatment. Special attention should be paid to potential drug interaction between antiretroviral and antifungal treatments. Secondary prophylaxis may be discontinued with a low risk of relapse of the infection once the immune dysfunction has improved.


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