Microbiological Investigations of ReNu Plastic Bottles and the 2004 to 2006 ReNu With MoistureLoc-Related Worldwide Fusarium Keratitis Event.

Purposes: The purposes of this study were to determine whether the contact lens solution RevitaLens Ocutec (containing the antimicrobial agents alexidine and polyquaternium-1) would inhibit Fusarium organisms when heated in ReNu plastic bottles; whether alexidine would inhibit Fusarium organisms when heated in non-ReNu plastic bottles; and whether an alexidine-neutralizing compound leaches from heated ReNu bottles.

Methods: RevitaLens and an alexidine solution (0.00045%), previously stored in ReNu bottles at room temperature (RT) and 56°C, were incubated with 7 different Fusarium organisms.

The networks of human gut microbe-metabolite associations are different between health and irritable bowel syndrome.

The goal of this study was to determine if fecal metabolite and microbiota profiles can serve as biomarkers of human intestinal diseases, and to uncover possible gut microbe-metabolite associations. We employed proton nuclear magnetic resonance to measure fecal metabolites of healthy children and those diagnosed with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D). Metabolite levels were associated with fecal microbial abundances.

Analysis of patterns of patient compliance after an abnormal Pap smear result: the influence of demographic characteristics on patient compliance.

Objective: This study aimed to determine population characteristics that correlate to suboptimal follow-up after an abnormal cervical cytology result.

Materials And Methods: Nonpregnant women, ages 21 to 65 years, with newly diagnosed abnormal cervical cytology result between January 2009 and January 2012 at an urban clinic were eligible for inclusion in this retrospective chart review. Cervical cytology data and demographic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, employment, marital and smoking status, health insurance and number of pregnancies were abstracted from electronic medical record.

Quantitative profiling of gut microbiota of children with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome.

Objectives: Human intestinal microbiota has a number of important roles in human health and is also implicated in several gastrointestinal disorders. The goal of this study was to determine the gut microbiota in two groups of pre- and adolescent children: healthy volunteers and children diagnosed with diarrhea predominant irritable bowel syndrome (IBS-D).

Methods: Phylogenetic Microbiota Array was used to obtain quantitative measurements of bacterial presence and abundance in subjects ’ fecal samples.

Pan-antimicrobial failure of alexidine as a contact lens disinfectant when heated in Bausch & Lomb plastic containers: implications for the worldwide Fusarium keratitis epidemic of 2004 to 2006.

Objective: ReNu with MoistureLoc (ReNuML), containing the antimicrobial agent alexidine 0.00045%, was associated with the Fusarium keratitis epidemic of 2004 to 2006. Although a single-point source contamination was ruled out, only Fusarium organisms were reported during the outbreak.

Distal gut microbiota of adolescent children is different from that of adults.

Human intestinal microbiota plays a number of important roles in human health and is also implicated in several gastrointestinal disorders. Although the diversity of human gut microbiota in adults and in young children has been examined, few reports of microbiota composition are available for adolescents. In this work, we used Microbiota Array for high-throughput analysis of distal gut microbiota in adolescent children 11-18 years of age.

Effects of time, temperature, and storage container on the growth of Fusarium species: implications for the worldwide Fusarium keratitis epidemic of 2004-2006.

Objective: To demonstrate the effects of time, temperature, and container properties on the ability of ReNu with MoistureLoc (ReNuML; contains the antimicrobial agent alexidine) to inhibit growth of Fusarium species.

Methods: ReNu with MoistureLoc was stored in its Bausch & Lomb (Rochester, New York) plastic or similarly sized glass containers for 1 and 4 weeks at room temperature, 42°C, and 56°C, and then tested for its ability to inhibit growth of 7 Fusarium isolates.

Results: ReNu with MoistureLoc stored in glass containers for 1 or 4 weeks at all 3 temperatures demonstrated no significant fungistatic deterioration.

A retrospective statistical analysis of the Fusarium keratitis epidemic of 2004-2006.

Purpose: A retrospective statistical analysis of the Fusarium keratitis epidemic of 2004-2006 was performed.

Methods: Poisson and binomial probability distributions were performed in conjunction with statistical data reported from Singapore's Fusarium keratitis outbreak in order to identify the earliest theoretical point in time that this outbreak and its cause could have been recognized.

Results: The outbreak in Singapore could, theoretically, have been recognized after only three months (three cases), P = 0.

Matched samples logistic regression in case-control studies with missing values: when to break the matches.

Simulated data sets are used to evaluate conditional and unconditional maximum likelihood estimation in an individual case-control design with continuous covariates when there are different rates of excluded cases and different levels of other design parameters. The effectiveness of the estimation procedures is measured by method bias, variance of the estimators, root mean square error (RMSE) for logistic regression and the percentage of explained variation. Conditional estimation leads to higher RMSE than unconditional estimation in the presence of missing observations, especially for 1:1 matching.

Comparison of male and female breast cancer incidence trends, tumor characteristics, and survival.

Purpose: To compare male and female breast cancer and to determine the predictors of tumor characteristics and survival in both genders.

Methods: Male (n = 2923) and female breast cancer cases (n = 442,500) from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) registry were analyzed. Joinpoint regression was performed to detect changes in incidence trends from 1973 to 2001.