Publications by authors named "Scarborough M"

: The microbiological profile of bone and joint infections is important for determining the empiric choice of both systemic and local antimicrobial therapy. This study assessed whether there was a difference in the bacterial species that were isolated on culture in osteomyelitis (OM), fracture-related infection (FRI) or prosthetic joint infection (PJI). This was a retrospective, observational cohort study of patients who had surgical intervention for PJI or OM or FRI with a positive microbial culture between 2019 and 2022.

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Background: Prior work has demonstrated that telemedicine in orthopedic surgery is cost-effective and can yield good clinical outcomes with high patient satisfaction. However, few studies have investigated the use of telemedicine in orthopedic oncology. In this study, we assessed the effect of telemedicine on (1) potential cost savings for orthopedic oncologic patients and (2) clinical outcomes as measured by unexpected in-person clinic visits and missed complications.

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  • Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have an anti-inflammatory effect, are reduced in multiple sclerosis (MS), with unclear reasons for their depletion in the gut microbiome.* -
  • In a study using a model for MS, it was found that certain gut bacteria can worsen symptoms by depleting SCFA-producing microbes and that increased dietary fiber can help counteract this effect.* -
  • This research suggests that managing SCFA levels in MS patients may need a combination of dietary changes and adjustments to the gut microbiome to improve health outcomes.*
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  • A study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of local antibiotic treatment using aminoglycoside alone versus a combination of aminoglycoside and vancomycin in patients undergoing surgery for bone infections.
  • Out of 266 patients, 252 completed the study, showing similar therapy failure rates of 8.8% for aminoglycoside alone and 8.6% for the combination treatment, indicating no significant benefit to adding vancomycin.
  • Factors like higher BACH scores and low body mass index (BMI) were associated with an increased risk of treatment failure, but the method of antibiotic delivery and the presence of aminoglycoside resistance did not affect outcomes.
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  • Prosthetic joint infections (PJIs) caused by Candida species are serious complications following joint replacement surgeries, with a study reviewing 269 cases between 2010 and 2021 to assess treatment outcomes.
  • The majority of infections occurred in older patients (average age 73), primarily in hips and knees, and most cases involved additional bacterial infections; roughly 58% achieved a cure at the two-year follow-up.
  • Treatment effectiveness varied significantly depending on the surgical method used, with poorer outcomes linked to the debridement, antibiotics, and implant retention (DAIR) approach and patients older than 70, while infections from Candida parapsilosis tended to have better outcomes.
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This article discusses the recent regulatory restrictions on the use of fluoroquinolones and their impact on treating orthopaedic infections. We focus on the balance between the benefits and risks of fluoroquinolones in scenarios involving severe infections where alternative antibiotics may be less effective. The discussion includes a summary of recent evidence on adverse effects and the implications for clinical practice.

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Unlabelled: Chain elongating bacteria are a unique guild of strictly anaerobic bacteria that have garnered interest for sustainable chemical manufacturing from carbon-rich wet and gaseous waste streams. They produce C6-C8 medium-chain fatty acids, which are valuable platform chemicals that can be used directly, or derivatized to service a wide range of chemical industries. However, the application of chain elongating bacteria for synthesizing products beyond C6-C8 medium-chain fatty acids has not been evaluated.

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Emerging biotechnologies that solve pressing environmental and climate emergencies will require harnessing the vast functional diversity of the underlying microbiomes driving such engineered processes. Modeling is a critical aspect of process engineering that informs system design as well as aids diagnostic optimization of performance. 'Conventional' bioprocess models assume homogenous biomass within functional guilds and thus fail to predict emergent properties of diverse microbial physiologies, such as product specificity and community interactions.

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Social stress is a negative emotional experience that can increase fear and anxiety. Dominance status can alter the way individuals react to and cope with stressful events. The underlying neurobiology of how social dominance produces stress resistance remains elusive, although experience-dependent changes in androgen receptor (AR) expression is thought to play an essential role.

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Landfills are a major source of anthropogenic methane emissions and have been found to produce nitrous oxide, an even more potent greenhouse gas than methane. Intermediate cover soil (ICS) plays a key role in reducing methane emissions but may also result in nitrous oxide production. To assess the potential for microbial methane oxidation and nitrous oxide production, long sequencing reads were generated from ICS microbiome DNA and reads were functionally annotated for 24 samples across ICS at a large landfill in New York.

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Background: Periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) following unicompartmental knee replacement (UKR) is an uncommon, yet serious, complication. There is a paucity of evidence regarding the effectiveness of Debridement-Antibiotics-and-Implant-Retention (DAIR) in this setting. The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of DAIR for acute UKR PJI.

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Carbon transformations during anaerobic digestion are mediated by complex microbiomes, but their assembly is poorly understood, especially in full-scale digesters. Gene-centric metagenomics combining functional and taxonomic classification was performed for an on-farm digester during start-up. Cow manure and organic waste pre-treated in a hydrolysis tank were fed to the methane-producing digester and the volatile solids loading rate was slowly increased from 0 to 3.

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  • * The SNAP trial's early oral switch (EOS) domain is evaluating this by comparing the outcomes of patients who switch to oral antibiotics after an initial IV treatment versus those who continue with IV therapy, focusing on 90-day all-cause mortality.
  • * As of August 2023, the trial has randomized 264 participants from 77 centers with the goal of enrolling at least 1,000, highlighting both the challenges and successes in recruiting participants for this trial.
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  • Syntrophic acetate oxidation (SAO) is crucial for converting acetate to methane in anoxic environments, particularly in anaerobic digestion systems under thermophilic conditions and high ammonia levels.
  • A 300-day enrichment study identified a three-member microbial consortium from a municipal AD system, including an acetate-oxidizing bacterium and two methanogenic archaea, revealing their specific roles in the acetate conversion process.
  • The research indicated that the two methanogens had different electron donor preferences, which influenced their ATP production efficiency and community dynamics, emphasizing the importance of metabolic flexibility in methanogenic ecosystems.
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Background: The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence, associated disease burden and healthcare utilization due to Staphylococcus aureus prosthetic joint infections (SA-PJI) after primary hip and knee arthroplasty in European centres.

Methods: This study was conducted in patients who underwent primary hip and knee arthroplasty in 19 European hospitals between 2014 and 2016. The global incidence of PJI and SA-PJI was calculated.

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The origins of the Indo-European language family are hotly disputed. Bayesian phylogenetic analyses of core vocabulary have produced conflicting results, with some supporting a farming expansion out of Anatolia ~9000 years before present (yr B.P.

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  • Agroindustrial liquid residues are full of organic material and can be used by microbial communities to produce valuable chemicals, but it's challenging to direct these communities for specific outcomes.
  • Researchers conducted experiments using various residues in anaerobic bioreactors inoculated with microbial communities from a wastewater treatment plant to study how these communities behave and what products they generate.
  • Through genomic analysis, they identified 217 unique microbial genomes and evaluated their roles in producing medium-chain fatty acids (MCFAs), uncovering common biological functions among different microbial communities across various feedstocks.
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  • Islands have unique evolutionary environments that can create species with extreme body sizes, like dwarfs and giants.
  • A study examining over 1,500 island mammal species shows that those with the most extreme sizes are at the highest risk of extinction.
  • The arrival of modern humans has dramatically increased extinction rates for these mammals, leading to severe declines in their populations.
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Introduction: Previous studies have highlighted the association between insurance status and poor outcomes after surgical treatment of sarcomas in the United States.1-3 It is unclear how much of this disparity is mediated by confounding factors such as medical comorbidities and socioeconomic status and how much can be explained by barriers to care caused by insurance status.

Methods: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linkage data were procured for 7,056 patients undergoing treatment for bone and soft-tissue sarcomas in the extremities diagnosed between 2006 and 2013.

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Objectives: To analyse the adherence and impact of quality-of-care indicators (QCIs) in the management of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection in a prospective and multicentre cohort.

Methods: Analysis of the prospective, multicentre international S. Aureus Collaboration cohort of S.

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Introduction: Guidelines have improved the management of prosthetic joint infections (PJI). However, it is necessary to reassess the incidence and risk factors for treatment failure (TF) of Staphylococcus aureus PJI (SA-PJI) including functional loss, which has so far been neglected as an outcome.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study of SA-PJI was performed in 19 European hospitals between 2014 and 2016.

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Aims: Excision of chronic osteomyelitic bone creates a dead space which must be managed to avoid early recurrence of infection. Systemic antibiotics cannot penetrate this space in high concentrations, so local treatment has become an attractive adjunct to surgery. The aim of this study was to present the mid- to long-term results of local treatment with gentamicin in a bioabsorbable ceramic carrier.

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