To determine the distribution and antimicrobial drug resistance in bacterial pathogens causing nosocomial infections, surveillance data on nosocomial infections documented from 1981 to 1999 at National Taiwan University Hospital were analyzed. During this period, 35,580 bacterial pathogens causing nosocomial infections were identified. Candida species increased considerably, ranking first by 1999 in the incidence of pathogens causing all nosocomial infections, followed by Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Candida species also increased in importance as bloodstream infection isolates, from 1.0% in 1981-1986 to 16.2% in 1999. The most frequent isolates from urinary tract infections were Candida species (23.6%), followed by Escherichia coli (18.6%) and P. aeruginosa (11.0%). P. aeruginosa remained the most frequent isolates for respiratory tract and surgical site infections in the past 13 years. A remarkable increase in incidence was found in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (from 4.3% in 1981-1986 to 58.9% in 1993-1998), cefotaxime-resistant E. coli (from 0% in 1981-1986 to 6.1% in 1993-1998), and cefotaxime-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (from 4.0% in 1981-1986 to 25.8% in 1993-1998). Etiologic shifts in nosocomial infections and an upsurge of antimicrobial resistance among these pathogens, particularly those isolated from intensive care units, are impressive and alarming.

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Increasing land occupancy for farming without conservation principles, particularly in the Indonesian island of Java, is resulting in a severe erosion problem. This study investigated the characteristics of soil erosion and the spatial contribution of land use and land slope on erosion under the tropical climate in a watershed scale. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation model with locally source parameters assessment in a Geographic Information Systems was used for soil erosion calculation. Erosion (in unit t ha −1 yr −1 ) and land slope were classified into five classes. Meanwhile, the types of land use were classified into six types. The results showed critical erosions largely occurred in steeply sloping areas, where the main source of erosion was farmland. We found that land cultivation practices have more potential to increase soil erosion in slopes steeper than 15%, and the large amount of erosions were generated from some small areas of the watershed. This study also demonstrated the land slope and erosion correlation equations for five land slope classes, which detected that the largest effect of land slope on erosion was recognized in the low sloping areas. These findings indicated erosion studies in various land slope zones were necessary to understand the uniqueness of erosion in specific land slope areas. The present study provides a fundamental knowledge of land slope zonations for erosion control planning particularly in high-risk erosion areas.

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Large-scale land cultivation practices for agriculture which disregard conservation principles are resulting in land degradation problems in tropical regions. The differences of environmental condition become the main concern for determining proper strategies to overcome this problem. The present study aimed to evaluate the application of land and water conservation (LWC) practices in tropical agricultural watersheds. The conservation practices (in the form of regreening bare areas and construction of LWC structures i.e. small-scale dam, terrace and stone weir) were performed in a partnership scheme involving government, higher education institution, local inhabitant and private party. The result showed that the partnership approach made conservation activities possible in a shorter time and a lower risk of failure. Economically, it reduced the unit cost of the conservation structures construction up to 70%. We also assessed the dam performance for LWC purpose. The assessment indicated the dam could effectively increase soil water storage and control the river sedimentation. The use of local resources (community and materials for conservation structures) enabled the sustainable of LWC practices on a watershed scale.