Compassionate Use of Cefiderocol as Adjunctive Treatment of Native Aortic Valve Endocarditis Due to Extremely Drug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Serious infections such as endocarditis due to extremely drug-resistance gram-negative bacteria are an increasing challenge. Here, we present successful adjunctive use of cefiderocol for a patient with persistently bacteremic healthcare-associated native aortic valve endocarditis due to an extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-positive Pseudomonas aeruginosa susceptible in vitro only to colistin, following failure of conventional therapeutic options.

Team based learning in nursing and midwifery higher education; a systematic review of the evidence for change.

REVIEW AIM: The aim of this study is to review the evidence in relation to the experiences and outcomes of students on nursing and/or midwifery higher education programmes, who experience team based learning. REVIEW OBJECTIVES: To examine the relationship between team based learning and attainment for nursing and midwifery students in professional higher education. To examine the relationship between team based learning and student satisfaction for nurses and midwifery students in higher education. To identify and report examples of good practice in the implementation of team based learning in Nursing and Midwifery higher education. DESIGN: A systematic Review of the literature was undertaken. The population were nurses and midwives studying on higher education pre and post registration professional programmes. The intervention was learning and teaching activities based on a team-based learning approach. Data sources included CINAHL and MEDLINE. ERIC and Index to Theses were also searched. REVIEW METHODS: International research papers published in English between 2011 and 2017 that met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Papers that met the criteria were subjected to quality appraisal and agreement amongst authors for inclusion in the review. RESULTS: A total of sixteen papers were reviewed and four themes emerged for discussion. These were Student Engagement, Student Satisfaction, Attainment and Practice Development and Transformational Teaching and Learning. CONCLUSIONS: There is a tentative, though growing body of evidence to support TBL as a strategy that can impact on student engagement, student satisfaction, attainment, practice development and transformative teaching and learning. The literature indicates that implementing TBL within the curriculum is not without challenge and requires a sustained and structured approach. Staff and students need to understand the processes involved, and why they should be adhered to, in the pursuit of enhanced student experiences and outcomes for nurses and midwives in Higher Education.

RNAi trigger fragment truncation attenuates soybean FAD2-1 transcript suppression and yields intermediate oil phenotypes.

Suppression of the microsomal ω6 oleate desaturase during the seed development of soybean (Glycine max) with the 420-bp soybean FAD2-1A intron as RNAi trigger shifts the conventional fatty acid composition of soybean oil from 20% oleic and 60% polyunsaturates to one containing greater than 80% oleic acid and less than 10% polyunsaturates. To determine whether RNAi could be attenuated by reducing the trigger fragment length, transgenic plants were generated to express successively shorter 5' or 3' deletion derivatives of the FAD2-1A intron. We observed a gradual reduction in transcript suppression with shorter trigger fragments. Fatty acid composition was less affected with shorter triggers, and triggers less than 60 bp had no phenotypic effect. No trigger sequences conferring significantly higher or lower suppression efficiencies were found, and the primary determinant of suppression effect was sequence length. The observed relationship of transcript suppression with the induced fatty acid phenotype indicates that RNAi is a saturation process and not a step change between suppressed and nonsuppressed states and intermediate suppression states can be achieved.

Effect of antioxidant supplementation of cryopreservation medium on post-thaw integrity of human spermatozoa.

This study examined whether the addition of an antioxidant to cryopreservation medium could improve the post-thaw integrity of cryopreserved human spermatozoa, particularly from men with abnormal semen parameters. Semen samples were collected by masturbation and assessed following WHO standards. Normal (n = 23) and abnormal (n = 20) samples were divided into three aliquots prior to cryopreservation. The first aliquot remained untreated and was mixed with cryopreservation medium (in-house 1:1). The second and third aliquots were mixed with cryopreservation medium containing either 100 micromol or 200 micromol vitamin E analogue. Samples were frozen at -10 degrees C per minute to -80 degrees C, then plunged into liquid nitrogen. Thawed samples were assessed for motility, vitality and DNA integrity. Split-plot repeated-measures ANOVA was used to assess within-subject (dose) and between-group (normal/abnormal) differences in post-thaw motility index, vitality staining and DNA fragmentation. Vitamin E dose was significantly associated with post-thaw motility (P = 0.041) and the pattern of response across doses was similar for normal and abnormal groups. Post-thaw motility was significantly improved by the addition of 200 micromol vitamin E (P = 0.006), but neither vitality nor sperm DNA fragmentation were altered. These results suggest that the addition of vitamin E to cryopreservation medium improves post-thaw motility.