Investigation of a cluster of Clostridium difficile infections in a pediatric oncology setting.

Background: We investigated an increase in Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) among pediatric oncology patients.

Methods: CDI cases were defined as first C difficile positive stool tests between December 1, 2010, and September 6, 2012, in pediatric oncology patients receiving inpatient or outpatient care at a single hospital. A case-control study was performed to identify CDI risk factors, infection prevention and antimicrobial prescribing practices were assessed, and environmental sampling was conducted.

Mesenchymal Extratesticular Tumors and Tumorlike Conditions: From the Radiologic Pathology Archives.

Both benign and malignant tumors and tumorlike conditions can arise from the nonepididymal extratesticular tissues. Benign tumors are far more common than malignant tumors, with lipoma being the most common lesion found at this site. Several imaging features can help narrow the differential diagnosis of these lesions, including the presence of fat and imaging features suggestive of fibrous tissue.

Synthesis and crystal structure of a new hexagonal perovskite 7H-Ba7Li1.75Mn3.5O15.75 with Mn(4+)/Mn(5+) charge distribution.

Ba7Li1.75Mn3.5O15.

Targeted Assessment for Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections: A New Prioritization Metric.

Objective: To develop a method for calculating the number of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) that must be prevented to reach a HAI reduction goal and identifying and prioritizing healthcare facilities where the largest reductions can be achieved.

Setting: Acute care hospitals that report HAI data to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network. METHODS :The cumulative attributable difference (CAD) is calculated by subtracting a numerical prevention target from an observed number of HAIs.

High-yield lithiation of azobenzenes by tin-lithium exchange.

The lithiation of halogenated azobenzenes by halogen-lithium exchange commonly leads to substantial degradation of the azo group to give hydrazine derivatives besides the desired aryl lithium species. Yields of quenching reactions with electrophiles are therefore low. This work shows that a transmetalation reaction of easily accessible stannylated azobenzenes with methyllithium leads to a near-quantitative lithiation of azobenzenes in para, meta, and ortho positions.

State-of-the-art imaging of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. Modern medical imaging is intimately involved in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer. Ultrasound is primarily used to guide prostate biopsy to establish the diagnosis of prostate carcinoma.

Perceived anxiety control is associated with sleep disturbance in young and older adults.

Objective: This study examined the extent to which perceived anxiety control was related to subjective sleep disturbance in young and older adults.

Method: Fifty-one young adults (18 to 30 years old) and 48 older adults (aged 65 years and older) completed questionnaires including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep disturbance, Anxiety Control Questionnaire to assess perceived control over anxiety, a perceived health rating, and demographic questionnaire. Correlation and multivariable adjusted hierarchical regression analyses examined the extent to which anxiety control was associated with sleep disturbance.

Magneto-optics of massive dirac fermions in bulk Bi2Se3.

We report on magneto-optical studies of Bi2Se3, a representative member of the 3D topological insulator family. Its electronic states in bulk are shown to be well described by a simple Dirac-type Hamiltonian for massive particles with only two parameters: the fundamental band gap and the band velocity. In a magnetic field, this model implies a unique property-spin splitting equal to twice the cyclotron energy: Es=2Ec.

Causes, Burden, and Prevention of Infection.

infection (CDI) is a potentially deadly cause of diarrhea that is virtually always connected to healthcare system exposures, both inpatient and outpatient. Once a disease mainly of hospitals, 75% of CDI cases are now diagnosed outside of hospitals. However, the diagnosis location may not reflect where spores were acquired or antibiotic exposure occurred.

Outbreak of Clostridium difficile Infections at an Outpatient Hemodialysis Facility-Michigan, 2012-2013.

Investigation of an outbreak of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) at a hemodialysis facility revealed evidence that limited intrafacility transmission occurred despite adherence to published infection control standards for dialysis clinics. Outpatient dialysis facilities should consider CDI prevention, including environmental disinfection for C. difficile, when formulating their infection control plans.

Systematic Screening Identifies Dual PI3K and mTOR Inhibition as a Conserved Therapeutic Vulnerability in Osteosarcoma.

Purpose: Osteosarcoma is the most common cancer of bone occurring mostly in teenagers. Despite rapid advances in our knowledge of the genetics and cell biology of osteosarcoma, significant improvements in patient survival have not been observed. The identification of effective therapeutics has been largely empirically based.

Synthetic Lethal Screens Identify Vulnerabilities in GPCR Signaling and Cytoskeletal Organization in E-Cadherin-Deficient Cells.

The CDH1 gene, which encodes the cell-to-cell adhesion protein E-cadherin, is frequently mutated in lobular breast cancer (LBC) and diffuse gastric cancer (DGC). However, because E-cadherin is a tumor suppressor protein and lost from the cancer cell, it is not a conventional drug target. To overcome this, we have taken a synthetic lethal approach to determine whether the loss of E-cadherin creates druggable vulnerabilities.

Nonsinusoidal current-phase relationship in Josephson junctions from the 3D topological insulator HgTe.

We use superconducting quantum interference device microscopy to characterize the current-phase relation (CPR) of Josephson junctions from the three-dimensional topological insulator HgTe (3D HgTe). We find clear skewness in the CPRs of HgTe junctions ranging in length from 200 to 600 nm. The skewness indicates that the Josephson current is predominantly carried by Andreev bound states with high transmittance, and the fact that the skewness persists in junctions that are longer than the mean free path suggests that the effect may be related to the helical nature of the Andreev bound states in the surface of HgTe.

Measuring anxiety in late life: a psychometric examination of the geriatric anxiety inventory and geriatric anxiety scale.

We examined the psychometric properties, internal scale reliability and validity, of two geriatric anxiety measures: the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) and Geriatric Anxiety Scale (GAS). We also determined the extent to which memory ability influenced the psychometric properties of these measures. Older adult participants (N=110; M age=75 years) completed self-report, clinician-rated and diagnostic psychiatric measures and a neuropsychiatric battery.

Whole-genome multiparametric screening to identify modulators of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Metastasis accounts for the poor prognosis of the majority of solid tumors. The phenotypic transition of nonmotile epithelial tumor cells to migratory and invasive "mesenchymal" cells (epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition [EMT]) enables the transit of cancer cells from the primary tumor to distant sites. There is no single marker of EMT; rather, multiple measures are required to define cell state.

Depression and anxiety symptoms in male veterans and non-veterans: the Health and Retirement Study.

Objectives: We examined whether veteran status was associated with elevated depression and anxiety symptoms in men aged 50 and older after adjusting for sociodemographic factors.

Methods: Participants were 6577 men aged 50 years and older who completed the 2006 wave of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). Forty-nine percent of participants were veterans.

An extended case study on the phenomenology of sequence-space synesthesia.

Investigation of synesthesia phenomenology in adults is needed to constrain accounts of developmental trajectories of this trait. We report an extended phenomenological investigation of sequence-space synesthesia in a single case (AB). We used the Elicitation Interview (EI) method to facilitate repeated exploration of AB's synesthetic experience.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Kelch proteins and Bud14 protein form a stable 520-kDa formin regulatory complex that controls actin cable assembly and cell morphogenesis.

Formins perform essential roles in actin assembly and organization in vivo, but they also require tight regulation of their activities to produce properly functioning actin structures. Saccharomyces cerevisiae Bud14 is one member of an emerging class of formin regulators that target the FH2 domain to inhibit actin polymerization, but little is known about how these regulators are themselves controlled in vivo. Kelch proteins are critical for cell polarity and morphogenesis in a wide range of organisms, but their mechanistic roles in these processes are still largely undefined.

Experimental examination of worry among older and young adults.

Background: Worry is experienced by many older adults, yet our understanding of the emotional experience of late-life worry is poor as findings regarding older adults are inferred from findings of studies conducted with young adults. In the present study, we aimed to characterize age differences in affect, self-reported arousal, and physiological arousal experienced during worry.

Methods: Fifty-three young (M = 21.

High colonization rate and prolonged shedding of Clostridium difficile in pediatric oncology patients.

Surveillance testing for Clostridium difficile among pediatric oncology patients identified stool colonization in 29% of patients without gastrointestinal symptoms and in 55% of patients with prior C. difficile infection (CDI). A high prevalence of C.