Matthew baillie's specimens and engravings.

In 1799, Matthew Baillie, William Hunter's nephew, published his famous atlas of pathology. It was entitled A Series of Engravings Accompanied with Explanations which are Intended to Illustrate the Morbid Anatomy of Some of the Most Important Parts of the Human Body. The present study aims to match the illustrations to extant specimens in the collections of William and John Hunter, preserved at the University of Glasgow and at the Royal College of Surgeons of England respectively. Baillie's book contains 10 fasciculi, consisting of 73 plates and 206 figures. The specimens Baillie illustrated came from his own collection and those of ten others, including his uncles, William and John Hunter. The book was illustrated by William Clift and engraved by James Basire, William Skelton and James Heath. Excluding eight illustrations of intestinal worms where the provenance of the specimens is uncertain, a total of 98 specimens from William Hunter's collection were illustrated in 104 figures. Eight of the specimens were calculi impossible to identify specifically. Excluding worms and calculi, 72 of William Hunter's specimens illustrated by Baillie are extant in the Hunterian Collection at the University of Glasgow. All but one of the 20 specimens illustrated that had belonged to John Hunter were identified in the on-line catalog of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Baillie's own collection was destroyed when the Royal College of Surgeons of England was bombed in 1941. Baillie is credited with being the first to produce an illustrated systematic textbook of morbid anatomy and probably the first to illustrate emphysema and transposition of the great vessels. His book, however, was not comprehensive. It did not cover a number of topics such as muscles and bones and there is little coverage of the nervous system. Baillie's book, however, was an original concept as an atlas of morbid anatomy and showed his deep insight into pathology. Clin. Anat. 31:622-631, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evolution of Stronger SARS-CoV-2 Variants as Revealed Through the Lens of Molecular Dynamics Simulations.

Using molecular dynamics simulations, the protein-protein interactions of the receptor-binding domain of the wild-type and seven variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike protein and the peptidase domain of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 were investigated. These variants are alpha, beta, gamma, delta, eta, kappa, and omicron. Using 100 ns simulation data, the residue interaction networks at the protein-protein interface were identified. Also, the impact of mutations on essential protein dynamics, backbone flexibility, and interaction energy of the simulated protein-protein complexes were studied. The protein-protein interface for the wild-type, delta, and omicron variants contained several stronger interactions, while the alpha, beta, gamma, eta, and kappa variants exhibited an opposite scenario as evident from the analysis of the inter-residue interaction distances and pair-wise interaction energies. The study reveals that two distinct residue networks at the central and right contact regions forge stronger binding affinity between the protein partners. The study provides a molecular-level insight into how enhanced transmissibility and infectivity by delta and omicron variants are most likely tied to a handful of interacting residues at the binding interface, which could potentially be utilized for future antibody constructs and structure-based antiviral drug design.

An automated hand hygiene compliance system is associated with decreased rates of health care-associated infections.

BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are avoidable through good hand hygiene (HH) practices. Hand hygiene compliance systems (HHCSs) have been shown to reliably measure HH adherence, but data on their effectiveness at reducing HAI rates are limited. METHODS: This nonrandomized, pre-post intervention study was conducted at a community hospital in the United States. HAI rates were examined before and after implementation of a HHCS. Preintervention began in January 2014 and intervention began in March 2015; data were collected through September 2017. Additional infection-specific interventions were carried out. HAIs were calculated as incidence rate ratios. RESULTS: The preintervention and intervention periods included 14,297 and 36,890 patients, respectively. The HHCS recorded an average of 696,928 HH opportunities/month. A significant reduction in the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infections was observed during the intervention: IRR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.35-0.87. Similarly, a significant reduction in the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections was observed: IRR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23-0.89. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that monitoring HH practices with an automated system, in addition to other infection control measures, may be an effective means of reducing HAIs. Further studies are needed to isolate the potential role of HHCSs in the reduction of HAIs.

An automated hand hygiene compliance system is associated with improved monitoring of hand hygiene.

BACKGROUND: Consistent hand hygiene is key to reducing health care-associated infections (HAIs) and assessing compliance with hand hygiene protocols is vital for hospital infection control staff. A new automated hand hygiene compliance system (HHCS) was trialed as an alternative to human observers in an intensive care unit and an intensive care stepdown unit at a hospital facility in the northeastern United States. METHODS: Using a retrospective cohort design, researchers investigated whether implementation of the HHCS resulted in improved hand hygiene compliance and a reduction in common HAI rates. Pearson χ2 tests were used to assess changes in compliance, and incidence rate ratios were used to test for significant differences in infection rates. RESULTS: During the study period, the HHCS collected many more hand hygiene events compared with human observers (632,404 vs 480) and ensured that the hospital met its compliance goals (95%+). Although decreases in multidrug-resistant organisms, central line-associated bloodstream infections, and catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates were observed, they represented nonsignificant differences. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Human hand hygiene observers may not report accurate measures of compliance. The HHCS is a promising new tool for fine-grained assessment of hand hygiene compliance. Further study is needed to examine the association between the HHCS and HAI rate reduction.

The medical collections at the University of Glasgow.

The medical and other collections in the University of Glasgow have at their core the generous bequest of Dr William Hunter (1718 - 1783), a local man who rose to become an internationally renowned anatomist and obstetrician. The University does not have a Medical Museum as such but an Anatomy Museum, a Zoology Museum, a Pathology Collection, medical displays in the main halls of the Hunterian Museum in the Gilbert Scott Building and a rich collection of antiquarian medical books and archives as well as contemporary libraries. The Hunterian Collection, since its inauguration at the University of Glasgow in 1807, has engendered a spirit of diversity and scholarship that embraces many disciplines across the campus. The Hunterian Museum was the first public museum in Scotland and service to the local, national and international communities and response to their academic needs is very much at heart of its function today.