Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major cause of both hospital and community infections globally. It's important to illuminate the differences between community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) and hospital-acquired MRSA (HA-MRSA), but there have been confusions on the definition, especially for the MRSA isolates identified within 48 h of admission. This study aimed to determine the molecular characteristics and virulence genes profile of CA and HA-MRSA isolates identified less than 48 h after hospital admission in our region. Methods: A total 62 MRSA isolates identified within 48 h after admission and the clinical data were collected. Antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) of collected isolates were performed according to the guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) 2015, and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) typing, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and virulence gene profiling were performed to explore the molecular diversity. Results: SCCmec III and sequence type (ST) 239 were the most prevalent SCCmec type and ST in both CA and HA-MRSA groups. HA-MRSA group had higher prevalence of SCCmec III (87.2 %) and ST239 (79.5 %) compared with CA-MRSA (60.9 and 43.4 %, both P < 0.001), while the frequency of SCCmec IV (26.0 %) and ST59 (21.7 %) were higher in CA-MRSA than its counterpart (P < 0.001 and P = 0.003). MRSA-ST239-III was the predominant type in this study (61.3 %, 38/62), especially in HA-MRSA group (76.9 %, 30/39). However, CA-MRSA strains exhibited more diversity in genotypes in this study. Meanwhile, CA-MRSA tended to have lower resistant percentage to non-β-lactams antibiotics but more virulence genes carriage, especially the staphylococcal enterotoxins (SE) genes. Notably, seb gene was only detected in CA-MRSA isolates (52.2 %), likely a significant marker for CA-MRSA isolates. Panton-Valentine leukocidin gene (PVL) was highly detected in both groups, while appeared no significantly different between CA-MRSA (47.8 %) and HA-MRSA (43.6 %). Conclusions: Our findings support a difference in the molecular epidemiology and virulence genes profile of CA-MRSA and HA-MRSA. Furthermore, this study indicates a possible transmission from HA-MRSA to CA-MRSA, which may cause the overlap of the definition.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and its complications are seriously affecting public health worldwide. Myocardial infarction (MI) is the primary cause of death in patients with T2DM. T2DM patients without a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) have the same risk of major coronary events as those with CAD; T2DM patients with a history of MI have &gt;40% risk of recurrence of MI. Thus, CAD in patients with T2DM needs to be treated actively to reduce the risk of MI. The cardiology community focused on the role of T2DM in the development of CAD and on the related issues of T2DM and MI with respect to comorbidities, prognosis, drug therapy, and heredity. In this mini review, the latest progress of clinical evidence-based research between T2DM and MI in recent years was reviewed, and the possible research directions in this field were considered and prospected.

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Introduction. Nurses play an important role in caring for dying patients. However, little is known about the attitude towards death of the registered nurses in China. Materials and Methods. A knowledge, attitude, and the practice (KAP) survey using standardized questionnaires was conducted at eight teaching hospitals in Jiangsu Province, China. In total, 366 nursing interns were recruited and 357 turned in valid response. Data about the interns’ demographic characteristics and their attitudes to death in five domains, including fear of death, death avoidance, natural acceptance, approach acceptance, and escape acceptance, were collected. Results. Compared to the norms, the nursing interns had statistically significantly higher scores in the domains death avoidance, approach acceptance, and fear of death (14.9 vs. 11.1, 26.2 vs. 24.2, and 20.3 vs. 19.0, respectively); however, statistically significantly lower scores were in the domains natural acceptance and escape acceptance (18.4 vs. 22.0, and 13.6 vs. 15.1, respectively). Religious belief, experience of a deceased relative in family, death education, and family atmosphere of discussing death are positively associated with one or more domains of attitude towards death. Conclusion. The positive attitude towards death and death education before clinical practice are helpful for nursing interns when they care for dying patients. In general, the scores of attitude towards death are at a moderate level in the surveyed Chinese nursing interns. The death education for nursing students needs to be reinforced in China.

Background: Preoperative anxiety is an unpleasant state of tension that may impact patients' post-operative pain and satisfaction. The level of preoperative anxiety should be routinely identified. The Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) is a self-reported questionnaire that is used to quickly assess preoperative anxiety and information needs with good psychometric properties. Objectives: To validate the Chinese version of the Amsterdam Preoperative Anxiety and Information Scale (APAIS) and to explore coping strategies used by patients in dealing with surgery and anesthetic. Methods: The cross-cultural validation of APAIS involved the translation of a Chinese version of APAIS and an investigation of its psychometric properties and clinical applicability. Forward-back translation and a pilot study were performed to produce a Chinese adaptation of APAIS. The inpatients of the orthopedic, otolaryngology, and general surgery department scheduled for general anesthesia surgery were enrolled to complete psychometric testing. The reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were calculated to assess construct validity. The criteria validity was analyzed using the correlation between APAIS and State-trait anxiety inventory-state (STAI-S) and Visual analogue scale-anxiety (VAS-A). Coping styles were evaluated using the Medical Coping Modes Questionnaire (MCMQ) score that covered three domains: confrontation, avoidance, and resignation. The impact of different coping styles on patients' anxiety was explored. Results: A total of 204 valid questionnaires were collected the day before surgery. Cronbach's alpha coefficients were 0.862 for the anxiety scale and 0.830 for the information scale. Exploratory factor analysis with oblique rotation revealed two factors that explained 76.45% of the total variances. A confirmatory factor analysis showed a twofactor model with an adequate model fit (root mean square error of approximation: 0.073, goodness-of-fit: 0.966). The APAIS anxiety score significantly correlated with STAI-S (r = 0.717, P < 0.01) and VAS-A (r = 0.720, P < 0.01). For the three coping strategies, preoperative anxiety had a low correlation with confrontation (r = 0.33, P < 0.01) and resignation (r = 0.22, P < 0.05). Conclusions: The Chinese version of APAIS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing preoperative anxiety. Use of this measurement tool for Chinese patients is feasible and shows promising results.

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General anesthetics can induce cognitive impairments and increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). However, the underlying mechanisms are still unknown. Our previous studies shown that long-term isoflurane exposure induced peripheral and central insulin resistance (IR) in adult mice and aggravated IR in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) mice. Clinical and preclinical studies revealed an association between impaired insulin signaling and tau pathology in AD and other tauopathies. We investigated if alleviation of hippocampal IR by the antidiabetic agent metformin could reduce tau hyperphosphorylation and cognitive decline induced by isoflurane in mice. The effects of prolonged (6 h) isoflurane anesthesia on hippocampal IR, hippocampal tau hyperphosphorylation, and hippocampus-dependent cognitive function were evaluated in wild type (WT) adult mice and the high-fat diet plus streptozotocin (HFD/STZ) mouse model of T2DM. Here we shown that isoflurane and HFD/STZ dramatically and synergistically induced hippocampal IR and fear memory impairment. Metformin pretreatment strongly ameliorated hippocampal IR and cognitive dysfunction caused by isoflurane in WT mice, but was less effective in T2DM mice. Isoflurane also induced hippocampal tau hyperphosphorylation and metformin reversed this effect. In addition, isoflurane significantly increased blood glucose levels in both adult and T2DM mice, and metformin reversed this effect as well. Administration of 25% glucose to metformin-pretreated mice induced hyperglycemia, but surprisingly did not reverse the benefits of metformin on hippocampal insulin signaling and fear memory following isoflurane anesthesia. Our findings show hippocampal IR and tau hyperphosphorylation contribute to acute isoflurane-induced cognitive dysfunction. Brief metformin treatment can mitigate these effects through a mechanism independent of glycemic control. Future studies are needed to investigate whether long-term metformin treatment can also prevent T2DM-induced hippocampal IR and cognitive decline.