UK clinicians' attitudes towards the application of molecular diagnostics to guide antibiotic use in ICU patients with pneumonias: a quantitative study.

Background: Molecular diagnostic tests may improve antibiotic prescribing by enabling earlier tailoring of antimicrobial therapy. However, clinicians' trust and acceptance of these tests will determine their application in practice.

Objectives: To examine ICU prescribers' views on the application of molecular diagnostics in patients with suspected hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia (HAP/VAP).

Gram-negative pulmonary infections - advances in epidemiology and diagnosis.

Purpose Of Review: Pulmonary infections due to Gram-negative organisms are increasing worldwide and traditional assumptions that these are limited to hospital and ventilator-acquired pneumonia are rapidly falling away. Accordingly, empiric antibiotic guidelines have to follow suit with ever broader spectrum choices in order to remain 'safe', as the Global prevalence of extensively resistant Gram-negative organisms inexorably increases. Rapid, multiplex PCR-based detection of a wide variety of potential pathogens offers the opportunity to replace empiric antibiotic choices with targeted, evidence-based therapy in clinically actionable timeframes.

H3.3 contributes to chromatin accessibility and transcription factor binding at promoter-proximal regulatory elements in embryonic stem cells.

Background: The histone variant H3.3 is enriched at active regulatory elements such as promoters and enhancers in mammalian genomes. These regions are highly accessible, creating an environment that is permissive to transcription factor binding and the recruitment of transcriptional coactivators that establish a unique chromatin post-translational landscape.