Impact of an educational intervention upon the hand hygiene compliance of children.

BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene compliance is the single most effective way to reduce healthcare-associated infections. Children are notoriously vulnerable to infection as well as acting as conduits to transmission. Based on these observations, the authors formulated the hypothesis that behavioural change which improved children's hand hygiene compliance would decrease the spread of infectious diseases. AIM: To create an educational intervention to induce long-term behavioural change culminating in increased hand hygiene compliance of children, and thus a decrease in the rate of infections. METHODS: Focus groups conducted during interactive teaching sessions identified what children felt would help them to increase their hand hygiene compliance. This informed the design of an educational device that was subsequently trialled to measure its effectiveness in increasing hand hygiene compliance. Initial developmental stages were conducted in two schools in the East Midlands with study participants aged 5-8 years; the device was subsequently used in a healthcare setting to assess deployment flexibility. FINDINGS: Focus groups indicated that children enjoyed interactive learning, developed knowledge about cross-transmission of infections, and became motivated to encourage others to improve hand hygiene compliance. Microbiological swabbing verified the presence of pathogens on children's hands and environmental surfaces that could serve as reservoirs of infection, and questionnaires indicated an increase in handwashing following the intervention. CONCLUSION: Educational interventions have the potential to increase hand hygiene and reduce the transmission of infections.

Survivin is an independent predictor of short-term survival in poor prognostic breast cancer patients.

Established clinico-pathological factors can place patients with breast cancer into good and poor prognostic categories, but even within these groups behaviour and response to treatment can differ. This study examined the value of cell cycle and apoptotic regulatory proteins in predicting behaviour in a poor prognostic group. A total of 165 patients, all of whom had died of breast cancer with duration of survival 12-127 months, median 38 months, were examined using immunohistochemistry for proliferation, apoptosis, p53, phosphorylated p53, p21, checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2), bcl-2, bax, survivin and XIAP. All had received chemotherapy and/or hormonal therapy and were predominantly T2, node positive, grade III with only half oestrogen-receptor (ER) positive. High proliferation, phosphorylated p53, Chk2 and survivin expression correlated with grade III and lack of ER, whereas low proliferation, p21 and bcl-2 related to better grade and presence of ER. On univariate analysis grade, proliferation, phosphorylated p53, bcl-2, ER and survivin related to duration of survival. In multivariate analysis, grade (P=0.001) and survivin (P=0.005) were independent prognostic factors, grade III and presence of survivin relating to shorter survival. The latter was particularly for those patients receiving neoadjuvant therapy and adjuvant chemo- and hormonal therapy. The presence of the inhibitor of apoptosis protein survivin is a highly significant independent predictor of shorter duration of survival of patients with poor prognostic features, and merits investigation as a marker in other prognostic groups.

Expression of the A-raf proto-oncogene in the normal adult and embryonic mouse.

We have determined the expression pattern of the A-raf proto-oncogene in the embryonic and adult mouse. Western blot analysis of protein lysates from tissues of adult mice show that p69A-raf is ubiquitously expressed, but that levels of expression vary among different tissues. To determine the cell-specific expression pattern of A-raf, we generated transgenic mice expressing the beta-galactosidase reporter gene from the A-raf promoter. We show that A-raf expression is highly specific within a given tissue, and we identify cell types expressing this gene in the adult testis, epididymis, vas deferens, seminal vesicle, ovary, oviduct, bladder, kidney, intestine, heart, spleen, thymus, and cerebellum. In the embryo, ubiquitous expression of the reporter gene is observed, but the highest levels of expression are specifically detected in the embryonic heart at stages 9.5-11.5 days post-coitum.