A series of measures were implemented, in a secondary/tertiary-care hospital in Quebec, to control an epidemic of nosocomial Clostridium difficile-associated disease (n-CDAD) caused by a virulent strain; these measures included the development of a nonrestrictive antimicrobial stewardship program. Interrupted time-series analysis was used to evaluate the impact of these measures on n-CDAD incidence. ), but implementation of the antimicrobial stewardship program was followed by P p .63 a marked reduction in incidence (). This suggests that nonrestrictive measures to optimize antibiotic P p .007 usage can yield exceptional results when physicians are motivated and that such measures should be a mandatory component of n-CDAD control. The inefficacy of infection control measures targeting transmission through hospital personnel might be a result of their implementation late in the epidemic, when the environment was heavily contaminated with spores.

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Feed additives are used frequently in variable combinations to maximize broiler productivity and consumer safety. Therefore, we evaluated the efficiency of feed additives used in four different diets: a basal diet, a probiotic (PRO-PAC ®) supplement diet, an egg yolk purified immunoglobulin Y (IgY) supplemented diet, and a combination of IgY and PRO-PAC ® supplement (n = 15 for each group). We assessed the improvement of behavioral and hematological parameters of Ross broilers before and after an immune stress challenge using lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Behavioral as well as physiological parameters were analyzed. The standing frequency was the highest (P <0.05) in broilers supplemented with a combination of probiotics and IgY. Likewise, latency approach score to a novel object improved (P < 0.01) in the combination group at week-3. After intraperitoneal injection of LPS, this combination group achieved the best gait score at week-3, followed by week-5, compared to birds fed the basal diet. The heterophil/lymphocyte (H/L) ratio, heterophil differential count, and eosinophil differential count in the basal diet group that was challenged with LPS were significantly increased (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, P < 0.05, respectively) compared to the combination groups. Therefore, we concluded that the combination of IgY and probiotics can significantly improve the behavior and the underlying physiological parameters of Ross broilers. Consequently, this combination can improve the broilers ′ health, welfare and produce a safe meat free from harmful chemical residues.

Drugs that are commonly used in poultry farms can potentially cause a detrimental effect on meat consumers as a result of chemical residues. Therefore, seeking a natural alternative is crucial for the health of the consumers. The egg yolk immunoglobulin Y (IgY) is a promising natural replacement for antibiotics in the broilers' diet. There is a scarce focus on the influence of probiotics and IgY on the quality and the nutritive values of broiler meat and whether it can efficiently displace the anti-microbial power of antibiotics. Herein we used 40 Ross chicks (1.2 ± 0.43 days old) and separated them into four groups with variant feed additives (basal diet “control,” probiotic, IgY, and probiotic + IgY). Our findings showed that the combination of probiotic and IgY supplementation enhanced the carcass quality traits and decreased the pH values that could retard spoilage due to bacteria and improve shelf life and meat quality. The same group also achieved a significant reduction in thiobarbituric acid value, indicating an improvement of meat quality. Moreover, color, shear force, water holding capacity, and cooking loss were most acceptable in broiler meat supplemented with IgY, which confirmed the highest carcass quality. Notably, the weight gain in the combination group has been greatly increased. Also, the protein percentage was the highest (22.26 ± 0.29, P < 0.001) in this combined supplementation group, which revealed the highest nutritive values. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli could not be detected in the meat of the probiotics group and/or in the combined treatment group. Interestingly, the IgY group showed an evidence of the killing power (log colony-forming units per milliliter) of S. aureus and Listeria monocytogenes at 1,500 μg/ml. Our findings, in vitro as well as in vivo , revealed that the combination group had antimicrobial bioactivity and enhanced the chickens' immunity. Therefore, IgY, a novel trend of feed additives, can be used to limit drugs. Additionally, the mortality percentage recorded was zero in all groups that received feed supplementation, while the combination group reached the best financial advantages. We concluded that feeding IgY powder with probiotic is a frontier to improve the productivity, immunity, and meat quality of broilers.

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Fungal and mycotoxin contamination of milk products constitute a potential hazard to human health and food safety. Isolation and identifications of mold and yeast out of 140 milk products samples collected from dairy shops in Qena, Egypt were done through conventional microbiological methods. Aflatoxin-M1, aflatoxin-B1 and ochratoxin-A were characterized by thin-layer chromatography; aflR regulatory gene identified by using PCR. Marine algal extracts of Halimeda opuntia, Padina pavonica and Turbinaria decurrens species were studied for their antimicrobial activity. Overall of 80 and 64% dairy products samples were positive for mold and yeast contamination. A total of 38 mold and 15 yeast species were isolated. Aspergillus and Candida spp. were the most abundant isolated species. Furthermore 25, 40 and 27% of cheese and 71, 78 and 73.3 of dairy desserts samples were contaminated with AFM1, AFB1 and OTA, respectively; with average estimated dietary intake level much more than the acceptable daily intake for infant and adult. PCR identified aflR gene among four selected aflatoxigenic A. flavus. The major constituents of H. opuntia extract were 2,4-Decadienal, (E,E)-(21.56%) and 9,12-Octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-(36.16%). Ethyl acetate extract of Halimeda opuntia (3mg/ml) exhibited the strongest fungicidal activity with inhibition zones of 16.5 and 22.3 mm against A. flavus and A. niger. It exhibited potent candidacidal activity against C. tropicalis; 11 log10 orders of killing at 750 µg/ml. The discovered antimicrobial activity of H. opuntia is a promising candidate for designing novel antifungal agents which can be used in food preservatives and medicine industry.

Abstract. In secondary data use context, traditional data warehouse design methods don't address many of today's challenges; particularly in the healthcare domain were semantics plays an essential role to achieve an effective and implementable heterogeneous data integration while satisfying core requirements. Forty papers were selected based on seven core requirements: data integrity, sound temporal schema design, query expressiveness, heterogeneous data integration, knowledge/source evolution integration, traceability and guided automation. Proposed methods were compared based on twenty-two comparison criteria. Analysis of the results shows important trends and challenges, among them (1) a growing number of methods unify knowledge with source structure to obtain a well-defined data warehouse schema built on semantic integration; (2) none of the published methods cover all the core requirements as a whole and (3) their potential in real world is not demonstrated yet.