“
“Clostridium difficile is a major cause of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and frequently results in healthcare-associated infections. The epidemiology of C.

difficile infection (CDI), including the prevalent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) ribotypes and the clinical characteristics of the patients, is not well known in Japan, compared to the situation in the United States and Europe. We performed PCR ribotyping of C. difficile isolates from 71 consecutive patients with CDI at a University Hospital over a 3-year period and investigated the clinical features of those patients. CDI was diagnosed when a patient with diarrhea or colitis was found to have toxin B-positive C. difficile with no other enteropathogenic microorganisms. Toxin A-positive, toxin B-positive, binary toxin-positive (A(+)B(+)CDT(+)) strains; toxin A-positive, toxin B-positive, AZD7762 mw binary toxin-negative (A(+)B(+)CDT(-)) strains; and toxin A-negative, toxin B-positive, binary toxin-negative (A(-)B(+)CDT(-)) strains were isolated from 4, 58, and 9 patients, respectively, indicating that infections with binary toxin-positive strains

SB203580 were uncommon (5.6%). PCR ribotyping of the isolates demonstrated that among the 71 strains, 20 different PCR ribotypes were identified and that types smz, yok, and hr were predominant (19, 14, and 13 isolates, respectively), all of which were A(+)B(+)CDT(-). No specific time periods or wards were found to be associated with the three types; PCR ribotyping analysis clearly showed that the three types spread almost evenly in all wards for the 3 years studied. Comparative analysis of the clinical characteristics of patients harboring the three C. difficile types indicated that the duration of CDI was longer in the yok group than in the hr group. PCR PD-1/PD-L1 Inhibitor 3 clinical trial ribotyping, which is easy to perform, appears to give us useful information to trace CDI cases in clinical settings. Further,

the analysis of a large number of CDI cases may allow evaluation of the possible relationship between specific C. difficile types and the clinical features of patients.”
“Background and Purpose: Efforts to improve postprostatectomy incontinence have led to many modifications in surgical technique. We present our experience with a novel technique to improve continence outcomes in patients who are undergoing robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP).

Patients and Methods: A consecutive series of 159 patients after initiation of a bladder neck plication stitch was compared with the most recent group before the change. After completion of the vesicourethral anastomosis, a single suture was used to plicate the distal bladder neck. A structured questionnaire was used for follow-up. Continence criteria used were 1 pad per day for social continence and 0 pad per day for total continence.