Background: Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are still a major health threats worldwide.Traditional surveillance methods involving manual surveillance by infection control practitioners (ICPs) for data collection processes are laborious, inefficient, and generate data of variable quality. In this study, we sought to evaluate the impact of surveillance and interaction platform system (SIPS) for HAIs surveillance compared to manual survey in tertiary general hospitals.Methods: A large multi-center study including 21 tertiary general hospitals and 63 wards were performed to evaluate the impact of electronic SIPS for HAIs.Results: We collected 4,098 consecutive patients and found that the hospitals installed with SIPS significantly increased work efficiency of ICPs achieving satisfactory diagnostic performance of HAIs with Chen et al. SIPS and HAIs

An efficient electrotransformation system that includes electrocompetent cells is a critical component for the success of large‐scale gene transduction and replication. The conditions of TG1 competent cell preparation and optimal electrotransformation were evaluated by investigating different parameters. Certain parameters for preparation of TG1 competent cells (≥8 × 10 10 colony forming units (cfu)/μg DNA) include optimum culture time of monoclonal bacteria (8–10 hr), amplification growth concentration (approximately OD 600 = 0.45), and culture volume (400 ml in 2 L conical flask). With increased storage of competent cells at −80°C, electrotransformation efficiency gradually decreased, but it remains greater than ≥ 10 10 cfu/μg DNA 3 months later. Moreover, the recovery time of electrotransformation also influenced electrotransformation efficiency (1.5–2 hr for optimization). The optimized transformation efficiency of TG1 (≥8 × 10 10 cfu/μg DNA) was observed under suitable electric voltage (2.5 kV), electric intensity (15 kV/cm), and electric time (3.5 ms) of electricity for plasmid transformation. Optimized DNA amount (0.01–100 ng) dissolved in water led to the high efficiency of plasmid transformation (≥8 × 10 10 cfu/μg DNA), but had low efficiency when dissolved in T4 ligation buffer (≤3 × 10 10 cfu/μg DNA). These results indicated that an optimized TG1 transformation system is useful for high electrotransformation efficiency under general laboratory conditions. The optimized TG1 transformation system might facilitate large‐scale gene transduction for phage display library construction.

Bovine mastitis, an inflammatory disease that occurs frequently in early lactation or the dry period, is primarily caused by bacterial infections. There is growing evidence that Aerococcus viridans (A. viridans) is becoming an important cause of bovine mastitis. The treatment of bovine mastitis is primarily based on antibiotics, which not only leads to a large economic burden but also the development of antibiotic resistance. On the other hand, bacteriophages present a promising alternative treatment strategy. The object of this study was to evaluate the potential of a previously isolated A. viridans phage vB_AviM_AVP (AVP) as an anti-mastitis agent in an experimental A. viridans-induced murine mastitis model. A. viridans N14 was isolated from the milk of clinical bovine mastitis and used to establish a mastitis model in mice. We demonstrated that administration of phage AVP significantly reduced colony formation by A. viridans and alleviated damage to breast tissue. In addition, reduced inflammation was indicated by decreased levels of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity in the phage-treated group compared to those in the phosphate buffered saline (PBS)-treated group. To the best of our knowledge, this report is the first to show the potential use of phages as a treatment for A. viridans-induced mastitis.

Risk assessment methods are often used in complex industrial systems to avoid risks and reduce losses. The existing methods have not effectively solved the problems of lack of evaluation data and the interpretability of the entire evaluation process. This paper proposes a new risk assessment model based on the belief rule base (BRB) and Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The FTA algorithm overcomes the difficulties of traditional BRB model in obtaining expert knowledge, clear indicators, and establishing logical relationships. This method establishes FTA rules based on the BRB model and expands the knowledge base through the FTA algorithm. A Bayesian network is applied as a conversion bridge between the FTA and BRB model. In addition, the model is optimized to reduce the uncertainty in the model. The method proposed is described by a case and its effectiveness is verified.

Equity in maternal- and infant-care services is key to achieving equity in maternal and infant health outcomes. In this study, 12 indicators of maternal and infant services were selected to measure equity in maternal and infant services in China from 2000-2014 using the Theil index and between-group variance, with the result showing that equity has improved steadily and significantly, though serious inequities in premarital and reproductive health services remain. Relatively speaking, equity at the interprovincial level has increased, but equity in urban-rural stratification has improved more, indicating that policies should focus on interprovincial inequities and premarital and reproductive health services.