Investigation of the clonal associations in Acinetobacter Baumannii strains isolated from the respiratory samples of patients in a tertiary research hospital

Objective

The blaOXA resistance genes and ISAba1 were examined in 70 samples from lower respiratory tract of hospitalized patients.

Materials and Methods

Of the 67 isolates obtained, almost half (46.3%) of them were from endotracheal aspirate, and most were collected from the intensive care units of the reanimation (37.3%) and internal medicine (32.8%) units.

Results

Three samples from the internal medicine intensive care unit had positive cultures. Of the multidrug resistant (MDR) samples, 70 isolates (>50%) were moderately sensitive, while fewer (10%) were resistant to tigecycline. In contrast, 100% were sensitive to colistin. All strains were found to be positive for blaOXA-23-like and blaOXA-51-like genes, whereas no blaOXA-40-like and blaOXA-58-like genes were detected. The ISAba1 positivity rate was 90.0%. Pattern 5 was mainly identified among the 22 different patterns. Of note, 50% of Pattern 5 was found in the patients of the internal medicine intensive care unit, and a third was associated with ventilator-associated pneumonia. Importantly, the internal medicine unit's equipment was found to be culture positive.

Conclusion

Findings obtained from this study suggest that isolates can easily spread through the hospital via isolate cross-contamination caused by health personnel. These contaminating isolates may be able to maintain their presence within the hospital for a long time.

Suprasellar germinoma with hypopituitarism in an 18-year old man: A case report and review of literature

An 18 year old patient was presented to the ophtalmology outpatient clinic with blurrred vision, headache and fatigue for 6 months. Ophtalmological examination showed loss of visual acuity in the left eye and decreased in the right eye and bilateral optic atrophy. Further physical examination pointed out delayed sexual development. Hypopituitarism was observed in endocrinological examination. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated contrast enhancing mass lesion at suprasellar region with involvement of posterior perimesencephalic cisternal region. The mass resected by craniotomy and pathology showed germinoma. Afterwards he received systemic chemotherapy with bleomisin, etoposide, cisplatin for 4 cycles followed by cranial radiotherapy with 30.6 Gy with a boost to the primary tumor at a dose of 19.8 Gy. On his follow-up MRI, there are no signs of residual tumor nor tumor recurrence. His final examination reveals slightly increased visual acuity in the right eye and he continued to take hydrocortisone and L-thyroxin. After one year follow-up, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) alpha treatment was started for sexual development. Here in, we present a case with suprasellar germinoma in the context of the review of the literature.

Unexpected Aetiology in Elderly Patient Presenting with Acute Hypercapnic Coma

In an emergency room setting, hypercapnic respiratory failure is a clinical entity infrequently encountered. It results from inadequate removal of carbon dioxide from distal alveoli. Goitre is defined as abnormal enlargement of the thyroid gland. It may cause compression of surrounding structures including trachea as thyroid dimension increases. Goitre associated with breathing difficulty is a very well-known situation. Retrosternal goitre can be misinterpreted as asthma and can lead to diagnostic delay. We report a case in which the patient with retrosternal goitre presented rarely with acute hypercapnic coma.

Interobserver reliability of sonographic fetal biometry in second trimester maternal serum screening

PURPOSE

To examine the interobserver variability for fetal biometry parameters and to investigate whether this variability affects the second-trimester maternal serum screening test (STMSS) results.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 60 singleton pregnancies who were scheduled for STMSS were investigated. Two experienced sonographers performed all examinations at the same visit. The risk calclations of screening were performed according to the each operator's biometric measurements separately. Interobserver variability in measurements of fetal biometrics and the effect of this interobserver variability on the screening results were assessed.

RESULTS

inter-observer reliability for biparietal diameter (BPD) and femur length (FL) were 0.904 and 0.888 (p < 0.00 1), respectively. interobserver reliability coefficients for trisomy 21, trisomy 13/18, and neural tube defect were 0.887, 0.999, and 0.920 (p < 0.0001), respectively.

CONCLUSION

The present results demonstrate that the interobserver reliability and agreement of ultrasound measurements of fetal biometry in cases of routine prenatal screening are highly reliable.

Effect of lidocaine spray in pain management during office-based endometrial sampling: A randomised placebo-controlled trial

Office-based endometrial sampling is the most frequently performed gynaecological procedure. The procedure is usually associated with pain and discomfort. Several anaesthetic and analgesic techniques (e.g., non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, paracervical block, misoprostol and topical anaesthetics) are used for pain management during endometrial sampling. There is no comprehensive study using lidocaine in spray form; we sought to investigate the analgesic efficacy of 10% lidocaine spray in patients undergoing office-based endometrial biopsy. We conducted a prospective, randomised (lidocaine spray (n = 60) and placebo (n = 60), respectively), double-blind study. The mean pain score during procedure was 3.51 ± 1.51 in the lidocaine spray group and 5.11 ± 1.66 in the placebo group. Lidocaine spray treatment significantly lowered the pain scores compared with placebo (p < 0.001). Lidocaine spray can be accepted as a non-invasive, easy to apply and more comfortable anaesthetic method for office-based endometrial sampling.