This study indicated that simple in vitro methods of in vivo precipitation of orally administered bases overpredict the intestinal crystalline precipitation in vivo in humans. Hydrodynamic conditions were identified as one important factor that needs to be better addressed in future in vivo predictive methods.

Compared to truly negative cultures, false-positive blood cultures not only increase laboratory work but also prolong lengths of patient stay and use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, both of which are likely to increase antibiotic resistance and patient morbidity. The increased patient suffering and surplus costs caused by blood culture contamination motivate substantial measures to decrease the rate of contamination, including the use of dedicated phlebotomy teams. The present study evaluated the effect of a simple informational intervention aimed at reducing blood culture contamination at Skåne University Hospital (SUS), Malmö, Sweden, during 3.5 months, focusing on departments collecting many blood cultures. The main examined outcomes of the study were pre-and postintervention contamination rates, analyzed with a multivariate logistic regression model adjusting for relevant determinants of contamination. A total of 51,264 blood culture sets were drawn from 14,826 patients during the study period (January 2006 to December 2009). The blood culture contamination rate preintervention was 2.59% and decreased to 2.23% postintervention (odds ratio, 0.86; 95% confidence interval, 0.76 to 0.98). A similar decrease in relevant bacterial isolates was not found postintervention. Contamination rates at three auxiliary hospitals did not decrease during the same period. The effect of the intervention on phlebotomists' knowledge of blood culture routines was also evaluated, with a clear increase in level of knowledge among interviewed phlebotomists postintervention. The present study shows that a relatively simple informational intervention can have significant effects on the level of contaminated blood cultures, even in a setting with low rates of contamination where nurses and auxiliary nurses conduct phlebotomies.Blood cultures are commonly contaminated, with contaminated cultures representing as many as 50% of positive cultures (1). Compared to truly negative cultures, false-positive (contaminated) blood cultures not only increase laboratory work but also prolong lengths of patient stay and increase the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics, with negative consequences for antibiotic resistance and patient morbidity. Furthermore, false-positive results can cause confusion regarding antibiotic regimens, endangering patient safety (2, 5, 16).The dominating organism in blood culture contamination, coagulase-negative staphylococcus (CoNS), is also an increasingly important pathogen, which is a significant clinical problem because there is no true "gold standard" for determining contamination from relevant pathogens (1, 8, 13, 22). Although not applicable for clinical use for individual patients, a laboratory assessment definition of contamination for comparison of rates between institutions has been developed. Target rates should not exceed 3% (7), but many teaching hospitals have contamination rates exceeding 6% or more (2,17,21).Considering the potential savings in resource utilization, it is justified to invest considerable reso...

A decrease in HT volume was associated with an increase in fat mass and leptin. We present a method with a high inter-rater reliability (0.94) that can be applied by nonradiologists for the assessment of HT damage. The method may be valuable in the risk assessment of diseases involving the HT.

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