Feasibility study suggests no impact from protected engagement time on adverse events in mental health wards for older adults

Hospital adverse events, such as falls, violence and aggression, security, self‐harm, and suicide, are difficult to manage in older people with dementia. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether protected engagement time (PET) resulted in lower adverse events and incidents compared to comparable non‐PET wards for people admitted to inpatient older people's mental health wards. Ten inpatient wards for older people were included. Five followed a PET‐management pathway, while five continued usual care. All adverse events and incidents were recorded in routine hospital records over 72 weeks. Data were gathered from these records and analysed as rate per person per week to assess differences in frequency and type of adverse events between wards. A total of 4130 adverse events were recorded. In the PET wards, a mean of 0.38 adverse events occurred per person per week compared to 0.40 in non‐PET wards. No statistically‐significant differences were found between PET and non‐PET wards for adverse events (P = 0.93), or for adverse events of any particular type (P ≥ 0.15). Therefore, there is no evidence to suggest that PET has any impact on adverse events in older people's mental health wards. Further investigation with a larger cohort is warranted, using a definitive, phase 3, clinical trial.     

Oral health comparison between children with neutropenia and healthy controls

The purpose of this cross‐sectional study was to assess and compare the oral health of children with neutropenia, who are under the active care of a hematologist in a designated marrow failure and myelodysplasia program, to a healthy control group. Children aged 6–18 with neutropenia attending the Marrow Failure and Myelodysplasia Program at SickKids Hospital and controls attending the Children's Clinic, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto were asked to participate in the study consisting of a patient questionnaire followed by a dental and radiographic examination. Fifteen patients with neutropenia (mean age 12.14 ± 4.04 years) and 26 healthy controls (mean age 11.61 ± 3.82 years) participated in this study. Patients with neutropenia reported significantly increased mouth sores (p < .008) and bleeding gums while brushing (p < .001). The dmft/t score was significantly lower for the neutropenia group (p < .009). The clinical examination also showed that there were no statistically significant differences with respect to ulcerations, gingival recession, tooth mobility, gingival inflammation, periodontal bone loss, DMFT/T scores, plaque, and calculus levels. Preliminary data demonstrates that pediatric patients who are under the active care of a hematologist do not present with an increased risk of oral diseases.     

In Vitro Selection of Neisseria gonorrhoeae Mutants with Elevated MIC Values and Increased Resistance to Cephalosporins

Strains of Neisseria gonorrhoeae with mosaic penA genes bearing novel point mutations in penA have been isolated from ceftriaxone treatment failures. Such isolates exhibit significantly higher MIC values to third-generation cephalosporins. Here we report the in vitro isolation of two mutants with elevated MICs to cephalosporins. The first possesses a point mutation in the transpeptidase region of the mosaic penA gene, and the second contains an insertion mutation in pilQ.