Drainage days-an independent risk factor for serious sternal wound infections after cardiac surgery: a case control study.

Background: Postoperative sternal wound infections are a potentially devastating complication following cardiac surgery. The aim of our study was to determine risk factors associated with patients' baseline characteristics and peri- and postoperative management for the development of surgical site infections (SSIs) after cardiac surgery involving sternotomy.

Methods: Since 2009 the University Hospital of Basel, a tertiary care center in Switzerland, has participated in the national SSI-surveillance program by conducting postdischarge surveillance.

A new cable-tie-based sternal closure device: infectious considerations.

Objectives: To determine the difference in sternal infection and other infectious events between conventional wire and cable-tie-based closure techniques post-sternotomy in a collective of patients after cardiac surgery.

Methods: The sternal ZipFix™ (ZF) system consists of a biocompatible poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) cable-tie that surrounds the sternum through the intercostal space and provides a large implant-to-bone contact. Between 1 February 2011 and 31 January 2012, 680 cardiac operations were performed via sternotomy at our institution.

Equal efficacy of glucoprotamin and an aldehyde product for environmental disinfection in a hematologic transplant unit: a prospective crossover trial.

Background: The inanimate hospital environment has emerged as an important reservoir of nosocomial pathogens. In particular, multidrug-resistant pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter species, and Clostridium difficile, play a major role in the transmission of hospital-acquired infections. In Europe, aldehydes, chlorine, and quaternary ammonium compounds have been commonly used for environmental disinfection.

Denitratisoma oestradiolicum gen. nov., sp. nov., a 17beta-oestradiol-degrading, denitrifying betaproteobacterium.

A Gram-negative, motile, denitrifying bacterium (strain AcBE2-1(T)) was isolated from activated sludge of a municipal wastewater treatment plant using 17beta-oestradiol (E2) as sole source of carbon and energy. Cells were curved rods, 0.4-0.

Thiomicrospira arctica sp. nov. and Thiomicrospira psychrophila sp. nov., psychrophilic, obligately chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria isolated from marine Arctic sediments.

Two psychrophilic, chemolithoautotrophic, sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were isolated from marine Arctic sediments sampled off the coast of Svalbard with thiosulfate as the electron donor and CO(2) as carbon source. Comparative analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences suggested that the novel strains, designated SVAL-D(T) and SVAL-E(T), represent members of the genus Thiomicrospira. Further genotypic (DNA-DNA relatedness, DNA G+C content) and phenotypic characterization revealed that the strains represent members of two novel species.