22 Influx of calcium through voltage gated calcium channels (VGCCs) is essential for striatal 23 function and plasticity. VGCCs expressed in striatal neurons have varying kinetics, voltage 24 dependences and densities resulting in heterogeneous subcellular calcium dynamics. One 25 factor that determines the calcium dynamics in striatal medium spiny neurons is inactivation of 26 VGCCs. Aside fro...

PURPOSE Hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) remains one of the major hospital-acquired infections in China. Antibiotic treatment of HAP may lead to subsequent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). Baseline data on the occurrence of CDI among HAP patients in China are currently unavailable. This study examines the risk and disease burden of CDI among HAP hospitalized patients (HAP-CDI). METHODS...

BACKGROUND The study aimed to identify thresholds for hospital bed utilisation which are independently associated with significantly higher risks for Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in acute hospitals in England. METHOD A retrospective analysis was carried out on reported data from the English National Health Service (NHS) for the financial year 2013/2014. Reported rates of CDI were us...

BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a leading cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. The infective form of C. difficile is the spore, but the vegetative bacterium causes the disease. Because C. difficile spore germination is required for symptomatic infection, antigermination approaches could lead to the prevention of CDI. We recently reported that CamSA, a bile salt analog, i...

Background. Hospital rooms of inpatients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) can become contaminated with this major pathogen; unless adequately disinfected, rooms can serve as a reservoir where subsequent patients hospitalized in the same room can also become infected with C. difficile (CD). It was incidentally noted that a patient acquired severe CDI while in a room in our hospital tha...

Aim To investigate the epidemiology and risk factors of Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Methods This is a retrospective study of patients diagnosed with IBD. 1006 charts were screened and 654 patients met the inclusion criteria. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts based on the presence of prior diagnosis of CDI. Statistical analysis w...

OBJECTIVES To identify the role of chronic comorbidities, considered together in a literature-validated index (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale, CIRS), and antibiotic or proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) treatments as risk factors for hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) in elderly multimorbid hospitalised patients. DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. SETTING Subacute hospital ge...

OBJECTIVE To compare incidence of hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) measured by the use of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) discharge diagnosis codes with rates measured by the use of electronically available C. difficile toxin assay results. METHODS Cases of hospital-onset CDI were identified at 5 US hospitals durin...

Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is the most common nosocomial infection in the United States, being associated with high recurrence and persistence rates. Though the relationship between intestinal dysbiosis and CDI is well known, it is unclear whether different forms of dysbiosis may potentially affect the course of CDI. How this is further influenced by C. difficile-directed antibiotics...

INTRODUCTION Increasing morbidity and health care costs related to Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) have heightened interest in methods to identify patients who would most benefit from interventions to mitigate the likelihood of CDI. OBJECTIVE To develop a risk score that can be calculated upon hospital admission and used by antimicrobial stewards, including pharmacists and clinicians, t...