Introduction: In May 2014 an outbreak of norovirus occurred among patrons of a restaurant in Melbourne, Australia. Investigations were conducted to identify the infectious agent, mode of transmission and source of illness, and to implement controls to prevent further transmission. Methods: A retrospective case-control study was conducted to test the hypothesis that food served at the restaurant between 9 and 15 May 2014 was the vehicle for infection. A structured questionnaire was used to collect demographic, illness and food exposure data from study participants. To ascertain whether any food handlers had experienced gastroenteritis symptoms and were a possible source of infection, investigators contacted and interviewed staff who had worked at the restaurant between 9 and 16 May 2014. Results: Forty-six cases (including 16 laboratory-confirmed cases of norovirus) and 49 controls were interviewed and enrolled in the study. Results of the analysis revealed a statistically significant association with illness and consumption of grain salad (OR: 21.6, 95% CI: 1.8-252.7, p = 0.015) and beetroot dip (OR: 22.4, 95% CI: 1.9-267.0, p = 0.014). An interviewed staff member who reported an onset of acute gastrointestinal illness on 12 May 2014 had prepared salads on the day of onset and the previous two days. Discussion: The outbreak was likely caused by person-to-food-to-person transmission. The outbreak emphasizes the importance of the exclusion of symptomatic food handlers and strict hand hygiene practices in the food service industry to prevent contamination of ready-to-eat foods and the kitchen environment.

BACKGROUND: We describe our experience of utilizing sub-dissociative dose ketamine (SDK) in managing a variety of acute and chronic painful conditions in the emergency department (ED). METHODS: A descriptive study was conducted in our ED over a period of seven years (2010–2016) by retrospectively reviewing charts of patients aged 18 and older presenting to the ED with painful complaints and receiving SDK analgesia. Primary data analyses included type of SDK administration (intravenous push [IVP], short-infusion [SI] or continuous infusion [CI]), dosing, rates of analgesic utilization before and after SDK administration, and adverse effects. RESULTS: Three hundred sixty-two patients were enrolled in the study. Mean ketamine doses given by IVP, SI and CI were 26.3 mg, 23.4 mg, and 11.3 mg. The mean duration of CI was 135.87 minutes. The percentage of patients not requiring post-SDK analgesia increased by 16％, 18％, and 37％ in IVP, SI and CI groups. Adverse effects were recorded for 13％ of patients. CONCLUSION: SDK administered by IVP, SI, and CI in the ED for a variety of painful conditions is a feasible analgesic modality in the ED that is associated with a decrease in overall requirements of post-ketamine analgesia and opioid sparing.

Background/Aims: There has been a paucity of published data on the epidemiology of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in Central Asia and Kazakhstan. Therefore, we aimed to study IBD prevalence and patient awareness among adults in Kazakhstan. Methods: The cross-sectional study was carried out among subjects of both sexes aged 18 years and older using IBD Alert Questionnaire (CalproQuest), single fecal calprotectin test, and endoscopy with biopsy to verify IBD from January to December 2017, across regions of Kazakhstan. All participants were included in the study after providing informed consent. Results: Out of 115,556 subjects, there were 128 confirmed IBD cases, in which 36 Crohn’s disease (CD) and 92 ulcerative colitis (UC) cases identified. The age and sex-adjusted IBD prevalence were 113.9 (95% confidence interval [CI], 69.0–158.9) per 100,000 population. The age- and sex-adjusted prevalence for UC were 84.4 (95% CI, 44.8–123.9) and for CD were 29.5 (95% CI, 8.2–50.9) per 100,000 population. Conclusions This is the first report on the prevalence of IBD with a verified diagnosis in the Central Asia and could be used to better plan and allocate healthcare resources for IBD management program.

Background: and Purpose High-grade carotid artery stenosis may alter hemodynamics in the ipsilateral hemisphere, but consequences of this effect are poorly understood. Cortical thinning is associated with cognitive impairment in dementia, head trauma, demyelination, and stroke. We hypothesized that hemodynamic impairment, as represented by a relative time-to-peak (TTP) delay on MRI in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stenosis, would be associated with relative cortical thinning in that hemisphere. Methods: We used baseline MRI data from the NINDS-funded Carotid Revascularization and Medical Management for Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis–Hemodynamics (CREST-H) study. Dynamic contrast susceptibility MR perfusion-weighted images were post-processed with quantitative perfusion maps using deconvolution of tissue and arterial signals. The protocol derived a hemispheric TTP delay, calculated by subtraction of voxel values in the hemisphere ipsilateral minus those contralateral to the stenosis. Results: Among 110 consecutive patients enrolled in CREST-H to date, 45 (41%) had TTP delay of at least 0.5 seconds and 9 (8.3%) subjects had TTP delay of at least 2.0 seconds, the maximum delay measured. For every 0.25-second increase in TTP delay above 0.5 seconds, there was a 0.006-mm (6 micron) increase in cortical thickness asymmetry. Across the range of hemodynamic impairment, TTP delay independently predicted relative cortical thinning on the side of stenosis, adjusting for age, sex, hypertension, hemisphere, smoking history, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and preexisting infarction (P=0.032). Conclusions Our findings suggest that hemodynamic impairment from high-grade asymptomatic carotid stenosis may structurally alter the cortex supplied by the stenotic carotid artery.