In this work, the antibacterial activity of deflazacort and several of its synthetic precursors was tested against a panel of bacterial pathogens responsible for most drug-resistant infections including Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus spp., Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Enterobacter spp. The derivative of deflazacort, PYED-1 (pregnadiene-11-hydroxy-16α,17α-epoxy-3,20-dione-1) showed the best antibacterial activity in a dose-dependent way. We focused on the action of PYED-1 against S. aureus cells. PYED-1 exhibited an additive antimicrobial effect with gentamicin and oxacillin against the methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolate 00717. In addition to its antimicrobial effect, PYED-1 was found to repress the expression of several virulence factors of S. aureus, including toxins encoded by the hla (alpha-haemolysin), hlb (beta-haemolysin), lukE-D (leucotoxins E-D), and sea (staphylococcal enterotoxin A) genes, and cell surface factors (fnbB (fibronectin-binding protein B) and capC (capsule biosynthesis protein C)). The expression levels of autolysin isaA (immunodominant staphylococcal antigen) were also increased.

Purpose -This paper was written in order to present research undertaken in several hospital units in Greece, in order to explore: nurses' knowledge on health risk factors associated with their work responsibilities, the ways that these factors interfere with their general condition of health (physically and psychologically) and their views on future training interventions on health and safety (H&S) issues.Design/methodology/approach -The methodological tools used were questionnaires completed by 213 nurses, who were working in various units of three Greek hospitals and structured interviews conducted with ten nurses, which allowed the researchers to explore more thoroughly the respondents' views/feelings on H&S risks, implications and training.Findings -The most frequent hazard identified by nurses was hepatitis (biohazard), latex gloves and antiseptics (chemical hazards). The respondents declared that they consistently apply self-protection measures. They also acknowledged the importance of having a support mechanism among colleagues, which would provide them help when needed. They also appeared very keen on attending regularly H&S training programs, especially if these programs were administered during working hours.Originality/value -The research has explored all types of health hazards (physical, chemical, biological and psychosocial) faced by nurses. The results of this study could be useful to hospital managers and H&S professionals who wish to take active measures in order to provide a safer working environment. There could also be comparisons with other similar research in other units/hospitals/health systems/countries, so as to examine whether -and for what reasons -there are differences in the way health professionals experience exposure to risk factors. Finally, this study might be useful to training designers/providers, who need to obtain a better understanding on nurses' educational/training needs when they organize and administer their various H&S training interventions.

Serial body site swabbing is used to monitor horizontal spread of aggressive bacterial species in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Since colonization/carriage is thought to precede systemic infection, one might expect to retrieve colonizing pathogens from blood cultures. This hypothesis, however, has not been fully investigated in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants that are at high sepsis' risk. The primary outcome was, in a population of VLBW infants with late-onset sepsis, the matching between blood culture results and pathogens isolated from rectal and nose/pharyngeal surveillance swabs in the preceding 2 weeks. The secondary outcomes were the site of swabbing and time interval from colonization to blood culture positivity. Out of 333 VLBW neonates, 80 (24%) were diagnosed with bacterial sepsis. In 46 (57%) neonates, the blood culture showed the same pathogen species cultured from a swab. Of these, 30 were isolated from infants with both body sites colonized with an average time interval of 3.5 days; 2/16 were isolated from rectal swabs and 14 /16 from nose/pharyngeal samples. Conclusion: Our data show a fair correspondence between bacteria colonizing the nasopharynx and/or the rectum and pathogens later isolated from blood cultures. This association depends on the swabbing site, number of sites, and pathogen species. Although these data constitute valuable results, they are not sufficient for providing the sole base of a thoughtful clinical decision.