OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to assess the effect of maternal antibiotic exposure on neonatal early-onset sepsis (EOS) rates over an 18-year period. METHODS A review was performed of infant and maternal records for all culture- proven cases of EOS in infants delivered at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA) in 1990-2007. RESULTS Data were analyzed from 335 EOS cases ov...

In cardiac surgery, sternal wound infection (SWI) continues to be one of the most serious postoperative complications. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) have become the most common causative agents of SWI. However, many CoNS species are resistant to routine intravenous antibiotic prophylaxis. 2000 cardiac surgery patients were randomised to routine prophylaxis with intravenous isoxazolyl ...

BACKGROUND Yaws--an endemic treponematosis and, as such, a neglected tropical disease--is re-emerging in children in rural, tropical areas. Oral azithromycin is effective for syphilis. We assessed the efficacy of azithromycin compared with intramuscular long-acting penicillin to treat patients with yaws. METHODS We did an open-label, non-inferiority, randomised trial at Lihir Medical Centre, ...

In order to determine the therapeutic value of penicillins in the management of anaerobic infections caused by Bacteroides fragilis, the antibacterial activity of penicillin G, ampicillin, and carbenicillin against 10 strains of B. fragilis subsp. fragilis, isolated from clinical material, was studied. This was undertaken by using a triple-layer technique, enzymatic inactivation of the antibiot...

Penicillin G acylase (PGA) is a heterodimeric enzyme synthesized as a single-polypeptide precursor that undergoes an autocatalytic processing to remove an internal spacer peptide to produce the active enzyme. We constructed a single-chain PGA not dependent on autoproteolytic processing. The mature sequence of the beta-domain was expressed as the N terminus of a new polypeptide, connected by a r...

During investigations into the production of 13-lactamase inhibitory activity by microorganisms we studied the culture Streptomyces gedanensis ATCC 4880. This culture has been reported by HATA et al.' to produce (3-lactamase inhibitory activity, the active component designated KA107 was shown to be a high molecular weight substance, probably a protein. Our studies have shown that S. gedanensis ...

This paper reports the covalent immobilization of penicillin G acylase from E. coli on sepabeads EC-EP, an epoxy-activated polymethacrylic carrier, and describes kinetic properties of the immobilized enzyme. The selected enzyme belongs to a class of biocatalysts whose industrial interest is due to their versatility to mediate hydrolysis of penicillins and semi-synthetic β−lactam antibiotics syn...

A total of 486 Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates were collected in 2003 and 2004 in Germany and revealed the following resistance rates: penicillin G (7.2%) and erythromycin A (18.9%). Telithromycin exhibited good in vitro activity (MIC at which 90% of the isolates tested were inhibited, 0.125 microg/ml). However, one erm(B)-positive isolate was found to be telithromycin resistant (MIC, 8 micro...