Epidemiology, Clinical, and Microbiological Characteristics of Multidrug-Resistant Gram-Negative Bacteremia in Qatar.

Antimicrobial resistance is a global healthcare threat with significant clinical and economic consequences peaking at secondary and tertiary care hospitals where multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (MDR GNB) lead to poor outcomes. A prospective study was conducted between January and December 2019 for all invasive bloodstream infections (BSIs) secondary to MDR GNB in Qatar identified during routine microbiological service to examine their clinical, microbiological, and genomic characteristics. Out of 3238 episodes of GNB BSIs, the prevalence of MDR GNB was 13% (429/3238).

Academic expectations among international students from North-Western China: A case of technology use during and post COVID-19.

This study examines the influence of the COVID-19 crisis on academic expectations among international students from north-western China. According to past studies, academic expectations are multifaceted, making it critical to test the methods employed to assess this fundamental trait. The outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in various significant changes in education, which have shifted from traditional to online or mixed formats.

Synthesis of NiP/CdS and Pt/TiO nanocomposite for photoreduction of CO into methanol.

It is a great challenge to convert thermochemically stable CO into value-added products such as CH, CHOH, CO via utilizing solar energy. It is also a difficult task to develop an efficient catalyst for the reduction of CO. We have designed and synthesized noble metal-free photocatalytic nanostructure NiP/CdS and Pt/TiO for conversion of CO to methanol in the presence of sacrificial donor triethylamine (TEA) and hydrogen peroxide.

Characterization and assessment of naturally mutant non-pathogenic O27 strain and their potential use as poultry probiotics.

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the molecular characteristics of naturally mutant non-pathogenic O27 strain of and its efficacy as probiotic in broilers and determine the best age at which it can be administered.

Materials And Methods: A total of 24 virulence genes using 24 sets of primers were detected using the polymerase chain reaction technique. For probiotics experiments, 60 chicks (day 1 old) were divided into three groups, 20 per group, and reared for 4 weeks.

A Hardware Implemented Autocorrelation Technique for Estimating Power Spectral Density for Processing Signals from a Doppler Wind Lidar System.

A signal processing technique utilizing autocorrelation of backscattered signals was designed and implemented in a 1.5 µm all-fiber wind sensing Coherent Doppler Lidar (CDL) system to preprocess atmospheric signals. The signal processing algorithm's design and implementation are presented.

INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR NURSING STAFF REGARDING APPROACH TO A PATIENT WITH SPIDER PHOBIA AND/OR BITE.

Spider bites are uncommon medical events, since there are limited number of spiders world-wide with fangs strong enough to pierce human skin, and most spiders bite humans only as a final defense when being crushed between skin and another object. Thus, most lesions attributed to spider bites are caused by some other etiology. The spiders that can cause medically significant bites include widow and false widow spiders (worldwide), recluse spiders (mostly North and South America), Australian funnel web spiders (eastern coastal Australia) and Phoneutria spiders (Brazil).

Correlation of interleukin-4 levels with Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasitaemia in Sudanese children.

Objectives: This study aimed to measure the level of interleukin-4 (IL-4) in the serum of children patients with falciparum malaria and to correlate the production of this cytokine with the severity of malaria parasitaemia.

Methods: One hundred ten patients with malaria participated in this study (53 males and 57 females) and their results were compared with that of 60 healthy control subjects. Their ages ranged between 6 months and 15 years.

Screening of Toxoplasma gondii infection among childbearing age females and assessment of nurses' role in prevention and control of toxoplasmosis.

Unlabelled: Toxoplasmosis, caused by Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular zoonotic protozoan parasite, with a worldwide distribution particularly in Arab countries including Egypt. The study evaluated toxoplasmosis infection among childbearing age Egyptian females and assessed the military nursing staff knowledge, attitude and compliance to toxoplasmosis prevention and control measures. The study was conductedin a general military hospital.

Radiometric calibration of ocean color satellite sensors using AERONET-OC data.

Radiometric vicarious calibration of ocean color (OC) satellite sensors is carried out through the full sunlight path radiative transfer (RT) simulations of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system based on the aerosol and water-leaving radiance data from AERONET-OC sites for the visible and near-infrared (NIR) bands. Quantitative evaluation of the potential of such approach for achieving the radiometric accuracies of OC satellite sensors is made by means of direct comparisons between simulated and satellite measured top of atmosphere (TOA) radiances. Very high correlations (R ≥ 0.

Knowledge and performance regarding management of house dust mites in a military hospital.

House dust mites (HDM) are microscopic arthropods live indoor and/or outdoor inhibited by vertebrates including man. This study improved nurses' knowledge and performance regarding the management of HDM to minimize nosocomial patient's exposure in a Military Hospital. All staff nurses with working experience of at least one year were included (n=60 nurses).

House dust mites: a risk factor to be considered for occupational safety or source of work-related allergens.

House dust mites (HDM) can be found worldwide where human beings live independent from the climate and are a major source of multiple allergens. Mite allergens sensitize and induce perennial rhinitis, asthma, or atopic dermatitis in a large portion of patients with allergic disease particularly children. There is convincing evidence that avoidance of mite allergen can effectively reduce allergic symptoms.

Polarization impacts on the water-leaving radiance retrieval from above-water radiometric measurements.

Above-water measurements of water-leaving radiance are widely used for water-quality monitoring and ocean-color satellite data validation. Reflected skylight in above-water radiometry needs to be accurately estimated prior to derivation of water-leaving radiance. Up-to-date methods to estimate reflection of diffuse skylight on rough sea surfaces are based on radiative transfer simulations and sky radiance measurements.

Calibration of the 1064 nm lidar channel using water phase and cirrus clouds.

Calibration is essential to derive aerosol backscatter coefficients from elastic scattering lidar. Unlike the visible UV wavelengths where calibration is based on a molecular reference, calibration of the 1064 nm lidar channel requires other approaches, which depend on various assumptions. In this paper, we analyze two independent calibration methods which use (i) low-altitude water phase clouds and (ii) high cirrus clouds.

Low and optically thin cloud measurements using a Raman-Mie lidar.

We analyze the potential of measuring low-altitude optically thin clouds with a Raman-elastic lidar in the daytime. Optical depths of low clouds are derived by two separate methods from nitrogen Raman and elastic-scattering returns. By correcting for aerosol influences with the combined Raman-elastic returns, Mie retrievals of low-cloud optical depth can be dramatically improved and show good agreement with the direct Raman retrievals.

Improving atmospheric correction for highly productive coastal waters using the short wave infrared retrieval algorithm with water-leaving reflectance constraints at 412 nm.

The recently developed short wave infrared (SWIR) atmospheric correction algorithm for ocean color retrieval uses long wavelength channels to retrieve atmospheric parameters to avoid bright pixel contamination. However, this retrieval is highly sensitive to errors in the aerosol model, which is magnified by the higher variability of aerosols observed over urban coastal areas. While adding extra regional aerosol models into the retrieval lookup tables would tend to increase retrieval error since these models are hard to distinguish in the IR, we explore the possibility that for highly productive waters with high colored dissolved organic matter, an estimate of the 412 nm channel water-leaving reflectance can be used to constrain the aerosol model retrieval and improve the water-leaving reflectance retrieval.