Impact of collaborative physician-pharmacist stewardship strategies on prophylactic antibiotic practices: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: An effective use of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) appears essential to prevent the development of infections linked to surgery while inappropriate and excessive prescriptions of prophylactic antibiotics increase the risk of adverse effects, bacterial resistance and Clostridium difficile infections. In this study, we aimed to analyze SAP practices in an acute secondary hospital in Belgium during the years 2016-2021 in order to evaluate the impacts of combined stewardship interventions, implemented thanks to a physician-pharmacist collaboration.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study on SAP practices was conducted during 5 years (2016-2021) in a Belgian University Hospital.

Antibiotic use in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): outcomes and associated factors.

Objectives: To characterise the factors, outcomes and infections associated with antibiotic use in COVID-19 patients.

Methods: Records of patients with RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19, hospitalized at the CHU Charleroi (Belgium) between 11 March and 3 May 3 2020, were retrospectively reviewed. Factors associated with antibiotic treatment, outcomes and bacterial infections were analysed.

Synthesis of Quercetin-imprinted Polymer Spherical Particles with Improved Ability to Capture Quercetin Analogues.

Introduction: Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are composed of specific cavities able to selectively recognise a template molecule. Used as chromatographic sorbents, MIPs may not trap related structures due to the high rigidity of their cross-linking.

Objective: To improve the capture of quercetin analogues by modulating the synthesis strategy for a quercetin-imprinted polymer (Qu MIP).

Quercetin-imprinted chromatographic sorbents revisited: optimization of synthesis and rebinding protocols for application to natural resources.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) based on quercetin and synthesized by either bulk, precipitation or suspension polymerization were characterized in terms of size and shape by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). After a study of rebinding protocols, the optimal materials were evaluated as sorbents for solid-phase extraction (SPE) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to confirm the presence of imprinted cavities and to assess their selectivity. Besides quercetin, other structurally related natural compounds, naringenin, daidzein and curcumin, were employed for selectivity tests of MIPs.

Molecularly imprinted polymers: compromise between flexibility and rigidity for improving capture of template analogues.

New synthetic strategies for molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were developed to mimic the flexibility and mobility exhibited by receptor/enzyme binding pockets. The MIPs were prepared by bulk polymerization with quercetin as template molecule, acrylamide as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, and THF as porogen. The innovative grafting of specific oligoethylene glycol units onto the imprinted cavities allowed MIPs to be obtained that exhibit extended selectivity towards template analogues.