Risk factors for bleeding and transfusion during orthotopic liver transplantation.

Objective: While orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) can be associated with haemorrhage, the risk factors for bleeding and transfusion remain difficult to predict. Perioperative transfusion has potentially deleterious side effects and impairs graft and patient survival. Preoperative identification of patients at high risk of bleeding is of clinical interest to manage perioperative transfusion and blood product storage.

A comparative study on the efficacy of the new quinolone alatrofloxacin in the treatment of experimental legionellosis in guinea pigs.

The in vivo efficacy of trovafloxacin, intraperitoneally administered as alatrofloxacin (CP-116,517), was assessed and compared with that of erythromycin, alone or in combination with rifampicin, in a model of Legionella pneumophila pneumonia in guinea pigs. Trovafloxacin (5 mg/kg administered as alatrofloxacin once daily for 7 days) gave a survival rate of 100% in infected animals. Clearance of bacteria and of bacteria-induced lesions from lungs was achieved by day 6 post-inoculation.

Antimicrobial susceptibility of Streptococcus pneumoniae isolated from pediatric carriers in Spain.

The in vitro activity of several beta-lactam agents, macrolides, and cotrimoxazole was investigated against 53 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates recovered from healthy children. The rates of resistance to penicillin or amoxicillin, cefaclor, and cefuroxime were 30%, 51%, and 37%, respectively. No cefotaxime-resistant isolates were found.

[Activity of erythromycin and clarithromicin against isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae with decreased sensitivity to penicillin obtained from healty carriers. Spanish Collaborative Group].

Background: Empirical treatment of pneumococcal upper and lower respiratory infections must be chosen on the basis of the susceptibility patterns of nasopharyngeal colonizing strains isolated from healthy carriers.

Methods: The susceptibility to erythromycin and clarithromycin was investigated by a conventional microdilution method among 103 pneumococci isolates recovered from healthy children (n = 63) and adults (n = 40) exhibiting decreased susceptibility to penicillin (MIC > or = 0.12 mg/l).

Relationship between outer membrane protein profiles and resistance to ceftazidime, imipenem, and ciprofloxacin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates from bacteremic patients.

Outer membrane protein (OMP) profiles of 122 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates recovered from the blood of bacteremic patients were analyzed to relate alterations in the expression of OMPs with porin activity to resistance to imipenem, ceftazidime, and ciprofloxacin. Imipenem-resistant isolates lacked or expressed reduced amounts of porin OprD. In contrast, alterations of OMP profiles were absent in most ceftazidime-resistant isolates.