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Nosocomial infections (NI) result in considerably high mortality and morbidity rates, especially among pediatric patients. Considering current worldwide changes, information about the occurrence of pathogens and susceptibility tests are now seen as decisive for optimizing treatment. The purpose of this research was to determine the frequency of microorganisms, antimicrobial and genetic profiles, and risk factors associated with nosocomial infections in a teaching hospital in Campo Grande, Mato Grosso do Sul. From January 1998 to December 1999, 108 patients were characterized as having nosocomial infection, from which 137 pathogens were isolated. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by conventional and automated techniques. Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae strains were characterized by Pulsed Field Gel Electrophoresis (PFGE). Pathogens were most often isolated from infants one-month old or younger, and bloodstream infections were the most frequent. The main isolated agents isolated were: coagulase-negative staphylococci (38), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (19), S. aureus (26), K. pneumoniae (18), and Candida spp. (13). The risk conditions that were most closely related to NI acquisition were: prolonged hospital stays (69.4%), prematurity (60.9%) and exposure to high-risk device procedures (95.4%). Ciprofloxacin and imipenem were the most effective drugs, inhibiting all or almost all of the Enterobacteriaceae, P. aeruginosa and Acinetobacter calcoaceticus isolates. Only 23% of the S. aureus samples were resistant to oxacillin. Genomic typing revealed 10 distinct patterns for S. aureus and 13 for K. pneumoniae, suggesting that most them did not belong to the same clone. PFGE was effective in differentiating the strains.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2006.11.013 Byline: M.R. Chang (a), D.J. Lee (a)(b), J.Y. Lai (b) Keywords: Nano-particles; Coagulation; Fractal dimension; Removal Abstract: The Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) is the hi-tech manufacturing hub of Taiwan. Wastewater from the HSIP contains numerous nano-sized silicate particles whose size distributions peak at 2 and 90nm. A 3-5mgl.sup.-1 as Al dose of polyaluminum chloride (PACl) was used in the field to coagulate these particles, but the removal efficiency was low. Laboratory scale tests indicated that although PACl coagulation removed 52% of the turbidity and 48% of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) from water, its effect on nano-particle removal was minimal. About 58% of the soluble COD was associated with colloidal Si particles. A light scattering test and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) demonstrated that the nano-particles agglomerated in approximately linear aggregates of sizes 100-300nm. Prolonged contact between residual PACl and the nano-particles generated large aggregates with sizes of up to 10[mu]m and a fractal dimension of 2.24-2.63. The results presented herein should be of interest in the processing of 'high-tech' wastewater that contains nanosized silica particles. Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei 10617, Taiwan (b) R&D Center for Membrane Technology, Chung Yuan Christian University, Chungli 32023, Taiwan Article History: Received 2 February 2006; Revised 28 October 2006; Accepted 6 November 2006

The Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park (HSIP) is the main manufacturing base of 'high-tech' commodities of Taiwan. The treatment of wastewater of HSIP produces hard-to-dewater sludge, at a rate of 80 Mg/day, which is resistant to chemical conditioning. whose disposal is costly. The use of chemical flocculation and physical conditioning, including heating and freezing and thawing, on the dewaterability of HSIP sludge was examined in this Note. The dewaterability of the original sludge was poor. and neither chemical flocculation nor thermal heating enhanced its dewatering. However, the freezing and thawing could release up to 83% of moisture from the sludge body; in line with this occurrence, the settleability and filterability of the sludge were considerably enhanced. The ice front developed during freezing, which could destroy the floc network, release the interstitial water, and might correspond to the successful conditioning using freezing and thawing. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2004)130:12(1552) CE Database subject headings: Sludge; Wastewater treatment; Freeze-thaw; Industrial wastes; Taiwan.