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Carbapenem-resistant (CRE) infection is highly endemic in China, but estimates of the infection burden are lacking. We established the incidence of CRE infection from a multicenter study that covered 25 tertiary hospitals in 14 provinces. CRE cases defined as carbapenem-nonsusceptible, ,, or infections during January to December 2015 were collected and reviewed from medical records. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing and carbapenemase gene identification were performed. Among 664 CRE cases, most were caused by (73.9%), followed by (16.6%) and (7.1%). The overall CRE infection incidence per 10,000 discharges was 4.0 and differed significantly by region, with the highest in Jiangsu (14.97) and the lowest in Qinghai (0.34). Underlying comorbidities were found in 83.8% of patients; the median patient age was 62 years (range, 45 to 74 years), and 450 (67.8%) patients were male. Lower respiratory tract infections (65.4%) were the most common, followed by urinary tract infection (16.6%), intra-abdominal infection (7.7%), and bacteremia (7.7%). The overall hospital mortality rate was 33.5%. All isolates showed nonsusceptibility to carbapenems and cephalosporins. The susceptibility rate of polymyxin B was >90%. Tigecycline demonstrated a higher susceptibility rate against than against (90.9% versus 40.2%). Of 155 clinical isolates analyzed, 89% produced carbapenemases, with a majority of isolates producing KPC (50%) or NDM (33.5%)-type beta-lactamases among and The incidence of CRE infection in China was 4.0 per 10,000 discharges. The patient-based disease burden in tertiary hospitals in China is severe, suggesting an urgent need to enhance infection control.

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Polymer‐based conductive hydrogels have the synergistic advantages of high conductivity and tissue‐like properties, making them promising candidates for the construction of flexible electronic devices. However, conductive hydrogel materials can easily absorb microorganisms due to their high water content. To address the problem that conductive hydrogels are susceptible to infection by external pathogens when monitoring wounds and when used in implanted organs, tannic acid‐borax (TA‐B) complexes are introduced into classical dual network polyacrylamide/agarose (PAM/Agar) hydrogels to form PAM/Agar/TA‐B hydrogel conductors. These hydrogels are antibacterial and have good mechanical properties, light transmission, electrical conductivity, and adhesion. TA‐B increases the compressive stress of the PAM/Agar/TA‐B hydrogel by 58.14% compared to a PAM/Agar hydrogel. The PAM/Agar/TA‐B hydrogel can be used as an electronic conductor for electronic skin and wearable sensors. Outstanding biocompatibility allows the hydrogel to be used as a monitoring device at wounds to monitor heartbeat, skin wounds, and internal tissue status in real time. In summary, an antibacterial strain sensing matrix that is safe for human health monitoring is developed.

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Abstract:Hydrogel-based wound dressings provide a cooling sensation, a moist environment, and act as a barrier to microbes for wounds. In this study, a series of soft, flexible, porous non-stick hydrogel dressings were prepared through the simple repeated freeze-thawing of a poly(vinyl alcohol), human-like collagen (or and carboxymethyl chitosan) mixed solution rather than chemical cross-linking and Tween80 was added as pore-forming agent for cutaneous wound healing. Some of their physical and chemical properties were characterized. Interestingly, hydrogel PVA-HLC-T80 and PVA-HLC-CS-T80 presented excellent swelling ratios, bacterial barrier activity, moisture vapor permeability, hemostasis activity and biocompatibility. Furthermore, in vivo evaluation of the healing capacity of these two hydrogels was checked by creating a full-thickness wound defect (1.3 cm × 1.3 cm) in rabbit. Macroscopic observation and subsequent hematoxylin eosin staining (H&E) staining and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis at regular time intervals for 18 days revealed that the hydrogels significantly enhanced wound healing by reducing inflammation, promoting granulation tissue formation, collagen deposition and accelerating re-epithelialization. Taken together, the obtained data strongly encourage the use of these multifunctional hydrogels for skin wound dressings.

Novel human-like collagen (HLC)/chitosan blended with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) nanofibrous meshes of different ratios were fabricated by electrospinning from aqueous solutions. Through studying the effects of the three composition on the solution rheological properties and the morphology of electrospun meshes, the mechanism of electrospinning was explored at the molecular level, and the ratio of PEO/(HLC & chitosan) (w/w) should be controlled below 1/4 as a plasticizer and HLC/chitosan maintained 4/3 w/w. Obtained meshes were treated by 0.2% glutaraldehyde solution (95% ethanol) for crosslinking and 0.2 M glycine solution for blocking unreacted aldehyde groups and became insoluble with fiber diameters of 151 ± 33 to 278 ± 46 nm, PEO was leached out after crosslinking and rinsing. HLC/chitosan scaffolds (4/3, w/w) could mimic native ECM in both chemical component and structure and support cellular in-growth in vivo while exhibited proper degradation rate in vivo. Bone marrow stromal cells adopted a flattened shape with filopodia- and lamellipodia-like extensions in the scaffolds and grew as a confluent layer after 7 days of culture in vitro. This study indicated the feasibility of electrospun nanofabrious HLC/chitosan scaffold from aqueous solution for tissue engineering application.