Bacterial spectrum and resistance patterns in corneal infections at a Tertiary Eye Care Center in South China

AIM： To investigate the spectrum and antibiotic susceptibility of bacteria isolated from patients with suspected corneal infections in Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center in South China over the past four years retrospectively. METHODS： Totally 1943 corneal scrapes from patients with corneal infections from 2010 to 2013 were cultured and processed using standard microbiological procedures to identify bacterial isolates. Simultaneously, the bacterial isolates were tested for antibiotic susceptibility to 8 antibiotics （ceftazidime, cefuroxim, cefazolin, levofloxacin, ofloxacin, neomycin, tobramycin, chloramphenicol） using the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. RESULTS： Of the total 1943 scrapes, 397 （20.43%） were culture-positive, of which 294 （74.06%） were gram- positive （GP） and 103 （25.94%） were gram-negative （GN） bacteria. Of the GP organisms, the most prevalent genera were Staphylococcus spp. （56.17%, n=223）, Kocuria spp. （5.29%, n=21） and Micrococcus spp. （1.26%, n=5）. On the other hand, the most prevalent genera were Pseudomonas spp. （12.85%, n=51）, Burkholderia spp. （2.02%, n=8） and Acinetobacter spp. （1.51%, n =6） for the GN organisms. Among five antibiotics that have eye drop products, the resistant to neomycin of GP （7.82%, 95% Ch 4.72%-10.92%） and GN isolates （9.71%, 95% Ch 4.01%-15.41% ） was lowest, while the resistant to chloramphenicol was highest （GP： 34.35%, 95% Ch 28.92%-39.78%; GN： 60.19%, 95% Ch 50.74%-69.64%）. CONCLUSION： Staphylococcus spp. was the most common bacterial pathogens isolated from patients with corneal infections in this setting. High percentages of GP and GN bacteria were mostly susceptible to neomycin and highly resistant to chloramphenicol.

The first examples of ilexgenin A hybrids as a new class of multi-potent,anti-platelet agents

Seventeen novel ilexgenin A hybrids（lA-aspirin） and（IA-NO）,as donor hybrids（IA-NO will release NO in vivo and function as NO donor）,were designed and synthesized in order to develop new multi-targeting agents for the treatment of platelet disorders.Their in vitro activities against ADP,AA and thrombin were evaluated.As a result,IA hybrids achieved substantial increases in the three tested pathways compared with IA.Encouragingly,the most potent hybrid compounds 6d and 14d displayed about 8-fold higher potency than aspirin,and 3-fold higher potency than the simultaneous administration of aspirin and IA in inhibiting ADP-induced aggregation with IC_（50） values of 0.15 mmol/L and 0.14 mmol/L,respectively. The results suggest these IA hybrids are good candidates for multi-target therapies,and especially,may be considered as promising ADP agonists.

Formation of Inclusion in Ti–Al Killed Low C–Mn Steel

The formation of inclusion in Ti–Al complex deoxidized C–Mn steel was investigated. When Al content in steel is very low([Al]=0.0005%), for 0.003%【[Ti]【0.007%, the inclusion is the Al2O3–SiO2–MnO–TiOx composite inclusion; for [Ti]≥0.009%, the inclusion is TiOx in the steel. When [Ti]=0.005%, [Al]【0.001%, the inclusion is the Al2O3–SiO2–MnO–TiOx composite inclusion; while [Al]】0.006%, inclusions would be pure Al2O3. The experimental results agree with the thermodynamics conclusions.