Altered gut microbiota in patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease: an age-sex matched case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: The investigations related to how gut microbiota changes the brain-gut axis in idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) attract growing interest. We aimed to determine whether gut microbiota is altered in PD patients and whether non-motor symptoms of PD and disease duration had any relation with alterations of microbiota profiles among patients. METHODS: Microbial taxa in stool samples obtained from 84 subjects (42-PD patients and 42-healthy spouses) were analyzed using 16S rRNA amplicon-sequencing. RESULTS: We observed a significant decrease of Firmicutes and a significant increase of Verrucomicrobiota at the phylum level. At the family level, Lactobacillaceae and Akkermansiaceae were significantly increased and Coriobacteriales Incertae Sedis were significantly decreased in the PD patients compared to their healthy spouses. Genus level comparison inferred significant increase in abundance only in Lactobacillus while the abundance of Lachnospiraceae ND3007 group, Tyzzerella, Fusicatenibacter, Eubacterium hallii group and Ruminococcus gauvreauii group were all decreased. We determined that the abundance of Prevotella genus decreased, but not significantly in PD patients. In addition, we found differences in microbiota composition between patients with and without non-motor symptoms. CONCLUSION: We observed differences in gut microbiota composition between PD patients and their healthy spouses. Our findings suggest that disease duration influenced microbiota composition, which in turn influenced development of non-motor symptoms in PD. This study is the first in terms of both gut microbiota research in Turkish PD patients and the probable effect of microbiota on non-motor symptoms of PD.

Resistant gram-negative infections in a pediatric intensive care unit: a retrospective study in a tertiary care center.

AIM: Healthcare-associated infections cause increased morbidity and mortality in intensive care units. In this study, it was aimed to compare infections with multi-drug resistance and extended drug resistance, while evaluating the characteristics of resistant Gram-negative infections in the pediatric intensive care unit in our university hospital. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, pediatric patients who were found to have Gram-negative infections during hsopitalization in the pediatric intensive care unit in our faculty between January 2011 and December 2015, were evaluated retrospectively. RESULTS: One thousand thirty patients were internalized in our unit in the study period. The incidence for healthcare-associated infection was found as 17.2% and the incidence density was found as 32.7 per 1000 patient days. The incidence for healthcare-related infection per 1000 device days and the rate for device use were calculated as 66.9 and 0.59, respectively. One hundred thirty Gram-negative infection episodes were found in 79 patients whose median age was 22 (1-205) months. The most common infections included ventilator-related pneumonia (n=78, 60%) and bloodstream infections (n=38, 29.2%). The most common causative agents included Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=50, 38.5%), Kleibsiella pneumonia (n=32, 24.6%) and Acinetobacter baumannii (n=28, 21.5%). Among A. baumannii isolates, the rates for resistance against piperacillin-tazobactam and meropenem were found as 96.4% and 89.3%, respectively. Empirical use of carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and fluoroquinolones, the presence of total parenteral nutrition and history of Gram-negative bacterial infections prior to pediatric intensive care unit admission were significantly more common among extended-drug Gram-negative bacterial infections. The late mortality rate was found to be higher in presence of extended drug resistance. History of Gram-negative infection was found to be an independent risk factor in terms of extended drug resistance. CONCLUSION: Healthcare-associated infections are an important health problem and it is important for infection control committees of hospitals to determine and apply strategies according to hospital colonization in prevention.

AMAÇ: Saglik bakimi iliskili enfeksiyonlar yogun bakim birimlerinde yüksek hastalik ve ölüme neden olmaktadir. Bu çalismada, üniversite hastanemiz çocuk yogun bakim birimindeki dirençli gram negatif enfeksiyonlarin özellikleri degerlendirilirken; çok ilaca dirençli ve genisletilmis ilaç direnci olan enfeksiyonlarin karsilastirilmasi amaçlanmistir. GEREÇ VE YÖNTEMLER: Bu çalismada Ocak 2011­Aralik 2015 yillari arasinda, fakültemiz çocuk yogun bakim biriminde yatisi sirasinda gram negatif enfeksiyon saptanan çocuk hastalar geriye dönük olarak degerlendirildi. BULGULAR: Çalisma döneminde birimimize 1 030 hasta yatirildi; saglik bakimi iliskili enfeksiyon sikligi %17,2, siklik yogunlugu 1 000 hasta günü basina 32,7 idi. 1 000 cihaz günü basina saglik bakimi iliskili enfeksiyon sikligi ve cihaz kullanim orani sirasiyla 66,9 ve 0,59 olarak hesaplandi. Yas ortancasi 22 (1­205) ay olan 79 hastada, 130 gram negatif enfeksiyon atagi saptandi. En sik saptanan enfeksiyonlar, ventilatör iliskili pnömoni (n=78, %60) ve kan akim enfeksiyonu (n=38, %29,2) idi. En sik etkenler Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n=50, %38,5), Kleibsiella pneumonia (n=32, %24,6) ve Acinetobacter baumannii (n=28, %21,5) idi. A. baumannii izolatlari arasinda piperasilin-tazobaktam ve meropenem direnci sirasi ile %96,4 ve %89,3 saptandi. Ampirik karbapenem, aminoglikozid ve florokinolon kullanimi, total parenteral nütrisyon varligi, yogun bakim öncesi geçirilmis gram negatif enfeksiyon öyküsü anlamli olarak daha yüksekti. Geç dönem ölüm hizi genisletilmis ilaç direnci varliginda daha yüksek saptandi. Geçirilmis gram negatif enfeksiyon öyküsü, genisletilmis ilaç direnci açisindan bagimsiz risk etmeni olarak bulundu. ÇIKARIMLAR: Saglik bakimi iliskili enfeksiyonlar önemli bir saglik sorunudur ve önlemede mümkünse her hastanenin kendi enfeksiyon kontrol kurulunun hastane kolonizasyonuna göre stratejiler belirleyip uygulamasi önemlidir.