Medical principles and practice : international journal of the Kuwait University, Health Science Centre
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Increasing reports of resistance to newer anti-tuberculosis drugs have prompted the search for other alternative drugs. Streptomycin could be used for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis if susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolate to streptomycin could be accurately detected. We performed phenotypic and genotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) of 118 M. tuberculosis isolates for streptomycin. ⋯ Our data show that, like ifampicin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide, streptomycin also exhibits discordant phenotypic and genotypic DST results for some M. tuberculosis isolates. Hence, streptomycin should be included in therapy regimens only if both phenotypic and genotypic resistance testing indicate susceptibility to avoid amplification of resistance and drug toxicity.
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This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy, completeness, precision, and readability of outputs generated by three Large Language Models (LLMs): GPT by OpenAI, BARD by Google, and Bing by Microsoft, in comparison to patient education material on Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP) provided by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG). ⋯ While all models displayed a variable degree of correctness, ChatGPT excelled in completeness, significantly surpassing BARD and Bing. However, Bing led in precision, providing the most relevant and concise answers. Regarding readability, ChatGPT exhibited higher difficulty. The study found that while all LLMs showed varying degrees of correctness in answering RCOG questions on patient information for Pelvic Organ Prolapse (POP), ChatGPT was the most comprehensive, but its answers were harder to read. Bing, on the other hand, was the most precise. The findings highlight the potential of LLMs in health information dissemination and the need for careful interpretation of their outputs.
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Clostridioides difficile is a major cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea worldwide. For years, metronidazole and vancomycin were considered the standard treatment for C. difficile infection (CDI). However, they are increasingly being associated with treatment failure and recurrence. In this study we investigated the in vitro activity of dalbavancin and fourteen other antimicrobials against 155 toxigenic C. difficile isolates originating from patients with C. difficile-associated diarrhea. ⋯ Dalbavancin exhibited potent activity against the isolates tested. As C. difficile is an important healthcare-associated pathogen, continued surveillance is required to monitor for development of resistance.
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Background & Purpose A new discriminatory system for evaluating the quality of pharmaceuticals is described in this paper as the Pharmaceutical Polygon Fingerprint Matrix system (PharmP-FM). To assess the quality of various pharmaceutical formulations and dosage forms, PharmP-FM uses both qualitative and quantitative fingerprinting techniques. The system expands on the SeDeM expert system, which was initially created to evaluate the suitability of powder for direct compression. ⋯ Its user-friendly nature and adaptability to different formulations and dosage forms make it a versatile discriminatory system. Additionally, PharmP-FM is an open-ended and scalable system that can incorporate additional parameters and accommodate products of varying complexities. The study's results strongly suggest its potential as a potential tool for pharmaceutical quality assessment.
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Oral healthcare professionals play a crucial role in guiding patients toward evidence-based choices among the many available oral rinses. In this study, we explored how specific oral rinse formulations affect the viability and modulate critical virulence traits of the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. ⋯ By inhibiting the virulence factors the oral rinse can have a crippling effect on C. albicans, weakening this opportunistic pathogen and hindering its potential to cause infection.