4-Hydroxyphenyllactic Acid in Cerebrospinal Fluid as a Possible Marker of Post-Neurosurgical Meningitis: Retrospective Study.

The search for new potential biomarkers for the diagnostics of post-neurosurgical bacterial meningitis is required because of the difficulties in its early verification using results of the routine laboratory and biochemical analyses of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The goal of the study was to determine the contents of the aromatic metabolites and biomarkers in the CSF samples of the post-neurosurgical patients ( = 82) and their potential diagnostical significance for the evaluation of the risk of post-neurosurgical meningitis. Patients with signs of post-neurosurgical meningitis ( = 30) had lower median values of glucose and higher values of cell count, neutrophils, lactate, protein, 3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)lactic acid (-HPhLA), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) than patients without signs of post-neurosurgical meningitis ( = 52).

Ostwald ripening in the presence of simultaneous occurrence of various mass transfer mechanisms: an extension of the Lifshitz-Slyozov theory.

The Ostwald ripening stage of a phase transformation process with allowance for synchronous operation of various mass transfer mechanisms (volume diffusion and diffusion along the block boundaries and dislocations) and the initial condition for the particle-radius distribution function is theoretically studied. The initial condition is taken from the analytical solution describing the intermediate stage of a phase transition process. The present theory focuses on relaxation dynamics from the beginning of the ripening process to its final asymptotic state, which is described by the previously constructed theories (Slezov VV.

Evaporation kinetics of a polydisperse ensemble of drops.

A mathematical model of the evaporation of a polydisperse ensemble of drops, with allowance for a nonlinear 'diffusion' term in the kinetic equation for the population density distribution function, is developed. The model describes the interaction of a gas phase with vaporizing drops: it has great potential for application in condensed matter physics, thermophysics and engineering devices (e.g.

Antimicrobial Resistance and Genomic Characterization of OXA-48- and CTX-M-15-Co-Producing Hypervirulent ST23 Recovered from Nosocomial Outbreak.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) and hypervirulence (hv) have been long considered distinct evolutionary traits for (Kp), a versatile human pathogen. The recent emergence of Kp strains combining these traits poses a serious global threat. In this article, we describe the phenotypic and genomic characteristics of an MDR hvKp isolate, MAR14-456, representative of a nosocomial outbreak in Moscow, Russia, that was recovered from a postoperative wound in a patient who later developed multiple abscesses, fatal sepsis, and septic shock.