Improved Diagnosis and Treatment of Bone and Joint Infections Using an Evidence-based Treatment Guideline.

Background: Our institution created a multidisciplinary guideline for treatment of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis (AHO) and septic arthritis (SA) in response to updates in evidence-based literature in the field and existing provider variability in treatment. This guideline aims to improve the care of these patients by standardizing diagnosis and treatment and incorporating up to date evidence-based research into practice. The primary objective of this study is to compare cases before versus after the implementation of the guideline to determine concrete effects the guideline has had in the care of patients with AHO and SA.

Accurate prediction of retention in hydrophilic interaction chromatography by back calculation of high pressure liquid chromatography gradient profiles.

Gradient retention times are difficult to project from the underlying retention factor (k) vs. solvent composition (φ) relationships. A major reason for this difficulty is that gradients produced by HPLC pumps are imperfect - gradient delay, gradient dispersion, and solvent mis-proportioning are all difficult to account for in calculations.

Ion Aggregation and RN-C(R)-H···NR Hydrogen Bonding in a Fluorous Phase.

Potentiometric selectivities show that in fluorous ion-selective electrode membranes the tetrabutylammonium ion binds to fluorophilic proton ionophores. For the ionophore bis[3-(perfluorooctyl)propyl](2,2,2-trifluoroethyl)amine, this type of interaction is confirmed by the effect of the ionophore on the ionic conductivity of perfluoro(perhydrophenanthrene) solutions of a fluorophilic NBu salt. In this system, ion pairs, triple ions, and higher ionic aggregates dominate over single ions, and the ionophore increases the conductivity by favoring the formation of ion aggregates with a net charge.

Retention projection enables accurate calculation of liquid chromatographic retention times across labs and methods.

Identification of small molecules by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) can be greatly improved if the chromatographic retention information is used along with mass spectral information to narrow down the lists of candidates. Linear retention indexing remains the standard for sharing retention data across labs, but it is unreliable because it cannot properly account for differences in the experimental conditions used by various labs, even when the differences are relatively small and unintentional. On the other hand, an approach called "retention projection" properly accounts for many intentional differences in experimental conditions, and when combined with a "back-calculation" methodology described recently, it also accounts for unintentional differences.