Staphylococcus epidermidis bacteria are a significant health concern for hospitalized infants, children and anyone with implanted medical devices. The bacteria-typically skin dwellers-can infect the bloodstream and cause a life-threatening condition known as sepsis. Between one and three million people a year in the United States are diagnosed with sepsis, and between 15 and 30 percent of them die. Severe bacterial sepsis is characterized by an extreme immune response, inflammation, reduced blood flow, clotting, and organ failure. Methicillin-resistant strains of S. epidermidis (MRSE) cause most sepsis cases. Notably, methicillin resistance rates in S. epidermidis exceed those in the more-familiar S. aureus (MRSA), and methicillin resistance makes MRSE infections difficult to treat.
For decades scientists have thought that S. epidermidis sepsis resulted from an overwhelming immune response to unchanging surface structures on the invading bacteria. Now, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists have identified an S. epidermidis toxin (PSM-mec) that is released into the bloodstream and contributes to sepsis. The investigators say this is the first time a toxin from S. epidermidis or closely related bacteria has been linked to sepsis.
In tissue studies using S. epidermidis strains, the group found that the PSM-mec toxin helped the bacteria survive in human blood and resist attack by neutrophils, important immune system fighters. In a mouse model, the toxin significantly increased disease and stimulated the immune response, which worsened the septic infection.
The researchers say clinical studies are needed to assess whether PSM-mec affects sepsis in people and thus can be a target for therapeutics. They also are investigating whether related toxins found in methicillin-susceptible S. epidermidis and S. aureus have a similar function.

NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases http://tinyurl.com/ybjgqcud

Mental stress could put heart disease patients at increased risk of a dangerous event, such as a heart attack, according to research carried out at King’s College London and St Thomas’ Hospital.
 Observational studies on large populations have linked the acute mental stress caused by earthquakes or the World Cup with increased heart attacks and other adverse cardiac events. In contrast in patients with known coronary heart disease (CHD) and stable angina exercise is generally safe and likely beneficial.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) looked at 15 people with significant CHD and 11 people without significant CHD. The study volunteers underwent tests to trigger mental stress whilst the blood pressure and speed of blood flow inside the coronary arteries supplying blood to the heart were measured.
The researchers saw an increase in heart rate and blood pressure during mental stress testing reflecting an increase in oxygen demand by the heart muscle. Surprisingly in people with CHD blood flow in the coronary arteries did not increase to meet that demand. The researchers saw an increased inability of the blood to flow through the small blood vessels in the heart.
Dr Satpal Arri, BHF Research Fellow at King’s College London and Cardiology Registrar at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, who led the study supervised by Professor Simon Redwood, said:
“These preliminary results show a clear association between mental stress and effects on the heart that are particularly concerning for people with coronary heart disease. Currently there are no specific treatments to counteract these effects, although current angina treatments such as beta-blockers, that reduce the body’s stress response, may offer protection. Specific treatments for mental stress could come from this research in the future.
In the short term, our findings suggest that it’s important that doctors are aware that mental stress may pose a risk for some people with coronary heart disease so they can then advise and treat patients accordingly to minimise that risk.”
Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the BHF, which funded the research, said: “We’ve known for some time, in part through BHF-funded research, that mental stress can have indirect effects on the heart. But this study has shed some light on how mental stress could pose a risk to people with significant coronary heart disease and that it may have a different effect from exercise stress, which, in contrast, can be beneficial.
Larger scale studies are needed to confirm this finding.”

Kings College Londonhttp://tinyurl.com/hmd7m6x

A study by researchers at the University of Southampton shows that antibiotics may be an effective treatment for acute non-complicated appendicitis in children, instead of surgery.

The condition, which causes the appendix – a small organ attached to the large intestine – to become inflamed due to a blockage or infection, affects mainly children and teenagers. Appendicitis is currently treated through an operation to remove the appendix, an appendicectomy, and it is the most common cause of emergency surgery in children.

The review, led by Nigel Hall, Associate Professor of Paediatric Surgery at the University of Southampton, assessed existing literature published over the past 10 years that included 10 studies reporting on 413 children who received non-operative treatment rather than an appendectomy.

It shows that no study reported any safety concern or specific adverse events related to non-surgical treatment, although the rate of recurrent appendicitis was 14 per cent.

Mr Hall, who is also a Consultant Paediatric and Neonatal Surgeon at Southampton Children’s Hospital, commented: ‘Acute appendicitis is one of the most common general surgical emergencies worldwide and surgery has long been the gold standard of treatment. But it is invasive and costly, not to mention extremely daunting for the child concerned and their family. Our review shows that antibiotics could be an alternative treatment method for children. When we compared the adult literature to the data in our review it suggested that antibiotic treatment of acute appendicitis is at least as effective in children as in adults. This now needs to be explored more widely.’

The review says that longer term clinical outcomes and cost effectiveness of antibiotics compared to appendicectomy require further evaluation, preferably as large randomised trials to reliably inform decision making.

University of Southampton www.southampton.ac.uk/news/2017/01/antibiotics-appendicitis.page

Simultaneous injections of the radiopharmaceuticals fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) and 18F-sodium fluoride (18F-NaF) followed by quantitative scanning significantly improves image quality and detection of bone metastases at a lower dose, according to research presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI).
“For certain patients with breast and prostate cancer who require evaluation of metastatic disease, a single PET/MR exam can provide more accurate information with less radiation dose in one procedure that is more convenient for patients and potentially less costly for the healthcare system,” said Andrei Iagaru, MD, associate professor of radiology and division chief, Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, Calif.  
Dual-agent PET/MR is further supported by time of flight, a quantitative feature of modern PET image reconstruction that approximates the position where photons are created as radioactive agents decay, which translates into finer image quality.
For this study, researchers prospectively enrolled 55 cancer patients—39 men with prostate cancer and 17 women with breast cancer, ages 34 to 85, in line for conventional bone scan to determine the spread of their disease. All participants were administered simultaneous injections of the imaging agent 18F NaF for the evaluation of bone turnover and FDG for increased metabolic activity and/or inflammation.
After injection, scientists performed PET/ MRI scans with time of flight capability and compared the results with conventional technetium 99m-methyl diphosphonate (99mTc MDP) bone scintigraphy. Results of the study showed improved detection of prostate and breast cancer that had metastasized to bone. Dual-agent PET/MR pointed to bone metastases in 22 patients who were also found positive for metastases with conventional bone scan. In addition, PET/MR detected more bone metastases in 14 patients when compared to the conventional bone scan, which caught only one lesion that was not detected by PET/MR.
Researchers concluded that PET/MR found a greater extent of metastases and, as an added benefit, significantly reduced the required radiation dose from the injected agents—80 percent less from 18F-NaF and 67 percent less from 18F-FDG.

Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging www.snmmi.org/NewsPublications/NewsDetail.aspx?ItemNumber=24410

In the last decade, mounting evidence has linked seizure-like activity in the brain to some of the cognitive decline seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients with Alzheimer’s disease have an increased risk of epilepsy and nearly half may experience subclinical epileptic activity – disrupted electrical activity in the brain that doesn’t result in a seizure but which can be measured by electroencephalogram (EEG) or other brain scan technology.
In a recent feasibility study, clinician-scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) tested an anti-epileptic drug for its potential impact on the brain activity of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease. The team, led by Daniel Z. Press, MD, of the Berenson-Allen Center for Non-invasive Brain Stimulation at BIDMC, documented changes in patients’ EEGs that suggest the drug could have a beneficial effect.
“In the field of Alzheimer’s disease research, there has been a major search for drugs to slow its progression,” said Press, an Instructor of Neurology in the Cognitive Neurology Unit at BIDMC and an Associate Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. “If this abnormal electrical activity is leading to more damage, then suppressing it could potentially slow the progression of the disease.”
In this double-blind within-subject study, a small group of patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease visited BIDMC three times. At each visit, patients were given a baseline (EEG) to measure the electrical activity in the brain. Next, patients were given injections containing either inactive placebo or the anti-seizure drug levetiracetam, at either a low dose (2.5 mg/kg) or a higher dose (7.5 mg/kg). Neither patients nor medical professionals knew which injections patients were receiving, but each patient eventually got one of each type, in a random order.
After receiving the injection, patients underwent another EEG, then magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – which measures blood flow in the brain, another way to quantify brain activity and determine where in the brain it is taking place. Finally, patients took a standardized cognitive test, designed to measure memory, executive functioning, naming, visuospatial ability and semantic function – capabilities all affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
In the seven patients able to complete the study protocol successfully, Press and colleagues analysed changes in their EEGs. (Blood flow analysis from the MRI data is still underway.) Overall, higher doses of the anti-seizure drug appeared to normalize abnormalities seen in the patients’ EEG profiles. That is, researchers saw overall increases in brain wave frequencies that had been abnormally low in Alzheimer’s disease patients prior to receiving the higher dose of levetiracetam, and, likewise, saw decreases in those that had been abnormally high.
“It’s worth noting, we did not demonstrate any improvement in cognitive function after a single dose of medication in this study,” said Press. “It’s too early to use the drug widely, but we’re preparing for a larger, longer study.”

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
www.bidmc.org/News/PRLandingPage/2017/June/Press-Anti-Epilepsy-Alzheimers.aspx