Measuring the efficacy of standard and novel disinfection methods on frequently used physical therapy equipment: a 2-phase prospective randomized controlled trial.

Background: Frequently used physical therapy (PT) equipment is difficult to disinfect due to equipment material and shape. The efficacy of standard disinfection of PT equipment is poorly understood.

Methods: We completed a 2-phase prospective microbiological analysis of fomites used in PT at our hospital from September 2022 to October 2023.

Comparative analysis of sampling and detection methods for fungal contamination on common healthcare environment surface materials.

We evaluated sampling and detection methods for fungal contamination on healthcare surface materials, comparing the efficacy of foam sponges, flocked swabs, and Replicate Organism Detection And Counting (RODAC) plates alongside culture-based quantification and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Findings indicate that sponge sampling and qPCR detection performed best, suggesting a foundation for future studies aiming to surveillance practices for fungi.

acquisition from hospital tap water: a genomic and epidemiologic analysis.

We identified 23 cases of respiratory acquisition linked to a colonized plumbing system at a new hospital addition. We conducted a genomic and epidemiologic investigation to assess for clonal acquisition of from hospital water sources and improve understanding of genetic distances between isolates. We performed whole-genome sequencing on 28 .

Healthcare Provider N95 Respirator Contamination Worn Behind Face Shields With SARS-CoV-2 During Routine Clinical Care of Patients With COVID-19.

N95 respirator contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during clinical care of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 is poorly understood. We performed a prospective observational study on healthcare provider's (HCP's) N95 respirators' and face shields' SARS-CoV-2 contamination during aerosol-generating procedures on SARS-CoV-2-positive patients housed in a COVID-19-specific unit. Medical masks worn on top of HCP's N95 respirators, and under face shields, during study aerosol-generating procedures were used as surrogates to detect contamination to avoid waste.

Identification of carbapenem-resistant organism (CRO) contamination of in-room sinks in intensive care units in a new hospital bed tower.

Background: The origins and timing of inpatient room sink contamination with carbapenem-resistant organisms (CROs) are poorly understood.

Methods: We performed a prospective observational study to describe the timing, rate, and frequency of CRO contamination of in-room handwashing sinks in 2 intensive care units (ICU) in a newly constructed hospital bed tower. Study units, A and B, were opened to patient care in succession.

A cluster of three extrapulmonary infections linked to well-maintained water-based heater-cooler devices.

Background: Various water-based heater-cooler devices (HCDs) have been implicated in nontuberculous mycobacteria outbreaks. Ongoing rigorous surveillance for healthcare-associated (HA-Mab) put in place following a prior institutional outbreak of alerted investigators to a cluster of 3 extrapulmonary infections among patients who had undergone cardiothoracic surgery.

Methods: Investigators convened a multidisciplinary team and launched a comprehensive investigation to identify potential sources of in the healthcare setting.

Racial disparities in testing in three southeastern US hospitals.

Objective: To analyze testing in 3 hospitals in central North Carolina to validate previous racial health-disparity findings.

Methods: We completed a retrospective analysis of inpatient tests from 2015 to 2021 at 3 university-affiliated hospitals in North Carolina. We calculated the number of tests per 1,000 patient days stratified by race: White, Black, and non-White, non-Black (NWNB).

Disinfection efficacy of Oxivir TB wipe residue on severe acute respiratory coronavirus virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

We assessed Oxivir Tb wipe disinfectant residue in a controlled laboratory setting to evaluate low environmental contamination of SARS-CoV-2. Frequency of viral RNA detection was not statistically different between intervention and control arms on day 3 (P=0.14).

Second-sphere tuning of analogues for the ferric-hydroperoxoheme form of Mycobacterium tuberculosis MhuD.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis MhuD catalyzes the oxygenation of heme to mycobilin; experimental data presented here elucidates the novel hydroxylation reaction catalyzed by this enzyme. Analogues for the critical ferric-hydroperoxoheme (MhuD-heme-OOH) intermediate of this enzyme were characterized using UV/Vis absorption (Abs), circular dichroism (CD), and magnetic CD (MCD) spectroscopies. In order to extract electronic transition energies from these spectroscopic data, a novel global fitting model was developed for analysis of UV/Vis Abs, CD, and MCD data.

An Enhanced Strategy for Daily Disinfection in Acute Care Hospital Rooms: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Environmental contamination is a source of transmission between patients, health care practitioners, and other stakeholders in the acute care setting.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of an enhanced daily disinfection strategy vs standard disinfection in acute care hospital rooms.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This randomized clinical trial (RCT) was conducted in acute care hospital rooms at Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, from November 2021 to March 2022.

The Impact of Infection Versus Colonization on Environmental Contamination in Hospitalized Patients With Diarrhea.

Background: Patients with infections (CDIs) contaminate the healthcare environment; however, the relative contribution of contamination by colonized individuals is unknown. Current guidelines do not recommend the use of contact precautions for asymptomatic carriers. We evaluated environmental contamination in rooms housing adult inpatients with diarrhea based on status.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 environmental contamination in hospital rooms is uncommon using viral culture techniques.

We assessed environmental contamination of inpatient rooms housing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients in a dedicated COVID-19 unit. Contamination with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 was found on 5.5% (19/347) of surfaces via reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction and 0.

A Dynamic Substrate is Required for MhuD-Catalyzed Degradation of Heme to Mycobilin.

The noncanonical heme oxygenase MhuD from binds a heme substrate that adopts a dynamic equilibrium between planar and out-of-plane ruffled conformations. MhuD degrades this substrate to an unusual mycobilin product via successive monooxygenation and dioxygenation reactions. This article establishes a causal relationship between heme substrate dynamics and MhuD-catalyzed heme degradation, resulting in a refined enzymatic mechanism.

The affinity of MhuD for heme is consistent with a heme degrading function in vivo.

MhuD is a protein found in mycobacteria that can bind up to two heme molecules per protein monomer and catalyze the degradation of heme to mycobilin in vitro. Here the Kd1 for heme dissociation from heme-bound MhuD was determined to be 7.6 ± 0.

Selective Small Molecule Recognition of RNA Base Pairs.

Many types of RNAs exist in the human transcriptome, yet only the bacterial ribosome has been exploited as a small molecule drug target. Aside from rRNA, other cellular RNAs such as noncoding RNAs have primarily secondary structure and limited tertiary structure. Within these secondary structures of noncanonically paired and unpaired regions, more than 50% are base paired, with most efforts to target these structures focused on looped regions.

Correction: Dynamic ruffling distortion of the heme substrate in non-canonical heme oxygenase enzymes.

Correction for 'Dynamic ruffling distortion of the heme substrate in non-canonical heme oxygenase enzymes' by Amanda B. Graves et al., Dalton Trans.

Dynamic ruffling distortion of the heme substrate in non-canonical heme oxygenase enzymes.

Recent work by several groups has established that MhuD, IsdG, and IsdI are non-canonical heme oxygenases that induce significant out-of-plane ruffling distortions of their heme substrates enroute to mycobilin or staphylobilin formation. However, clear explanations for the observations of "nested" S = ½ VTVH MCD saturation magnetization curves at cryogenic temperatures, and exchange broadened (1)H NMR resonances at physiologically-relevant temperatures have remained elusive. Here, MCD and NMR data have been acquired for F23A and F23W MhuD-heme-CN, in addition to MCD data for IsdI-heme-CN, in order to complete assembly of a library of spectroscopic data for cyanide-inhibited ferric heme with a wide range of ruffling deformations.

Measurement of Heme Ruffling Changes in MhuD Using UV-vis Spectroscopy.

For decades it has been known that an out-of-plane ruffling distortion of heme perturbs its UV-vis absorption (Abs) spectrum, but whether increased ruffling induces a red or blue shift of the Soret band has remained a topic of debate. This debate has been resolved by the spectroscopic and computational characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis MhuD presented here, an enzyme that converts heme, oxygen, and reducing equivalents to nonheme iron and mycobilin. W66F and W66A MhuD have been characterized using (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance, Abs, and magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopies, and the data have been used to develop an experimentally validated theoretical model of ruffled, ferric heme.

Bioactivity of a Rice Bran-Derived Peptide and its Sensory Evaluation and Storage Stability in Orange Juice.

A pentapeptide prepared from rice bran demonstrated growth inhibition on human lung, liver, breast, and colon cancer cell lines. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the human prostate cancer growth inhibition by the pentapeptide and its 6-mo storage stability by incorporating spray-dried orange juice, and determining sensory acceptability. The pentapeptide showed inhibition of human prostate cancer cells by 45% at 460 μg/mL concentration.

Crystallographic and spectroscopic insights into heme degradation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis MhuD.

Mycobacterium heme utilization degrader (MhuD) is a heme-degrading protein from Mycobacterium tuberculosis responsible for extracting the essential nutrient iron from host-derived heme. MhuD has been previously shown to produce unique organic products compared to those of canonical heme oxygenases (HOs) as well as those of the IsdG/I heme-degrading enzymes from Staphylococcus aureus. Here, we report the X-ray crystal structure of cyanide-inhibited MhuD (MhuD-heme-CN) as well as detailed (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), UV/vis absorption, and magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectroscopic characterization of this species.

The Mycobacterium tuberculosis secreted protein Rv0203 transfers heme to membrane proteins MmpL3 and MmpL11.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis, which is becoming an increasingly global public health problem due to the rise of drug-resistant strains. While residing in the human host, M. tuberculosis needs to acquire iron for its survival.

Efficacy of the discreteness of voicing category (DOVC) measure for characterizing voicing errors in children with cochlear implants: a report.

Purpose: This investigation explored the utility of an acoustic measure, called the discreteness of voicing category (DOVC), in identifying voicing errors in stop consonants produced by children with cochlear implants. Another objective was to examine the perceptual relevance of the DOVC measure and 2 commonly used voice onset time (VOT)-based measures, namely, mean VOT and DeltaVOT (e.g.

Effects of auditory feedback deprivation length on the vowel /epsilon/ produced by pediatric cochlear-implant users.

Effects of auditory deprivation on speech production by ten cochlear-implanted children were investigated by turning off the implant for durations ranging from 0.3 to 5.0 s and measuring the formant frequencies (F1 and F2) of the vowel /epsilon/.