Background: Inappropriate urine-culture ordering is associated with increased antibiotic prescribing in myriad care environments, including acute and long-term care. In primary care, where urinary tract infections (UTIs) are commonly encountered, the appropriateness of urine-culture ordering has not been well described. We examined the appropriateness of urine-culture ordering and factors associated with inappropriate urine-culture ordering in primary care. Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a previous prospective study that included patients aged ≥18 years presenting with provider-suspected UTI with an accompanying urine culture at 2 safety-net, primary-care clinics in Houston, Texas, between November 2018 and March 2020. Patients with complicated or uncomplicated UTI were included, but those with a urinary catheter and pregnant females were excluded. Urine cultures were considered appropriate if the patient had an evidence-based symptom of UTI (ie, dysuria, frequency, urgency, hematuria, fever, chills, costovertebral angle tenderness, suprapubic, pelvic, or flank pain, or nephrolithiasis) as a diagnostic code or listed in providers’ free-text documentation. Diagnostic codes for symptoms that were not evidence based were grouped into categories based on body system, visit type (eg, routine visit), or sign or symptom clusters. We evaluated the relationships among demographic and clinical factors, the clinic visited, and non–evidence-based diagnostic codes with inappropriately ordered cultures. Results: We examined 870 cultures from 807 patients. Overall, 61.5% of patients were Hispanic (61.5%) and 23% were African American or Black. Also, 70.6% were women; the mean age was 49.2 years (SD, 14.6); and the mean Elixhauser score was 1.9 (SD, 5.4). Among the 870 cultures, 210 (24%) were ordered inappropriately. Dysuria (n = 289), frequency (n = 129), and UTI or cystitis (n = 117) were the most common, evidence-based codes among appropriate cultures. In the adjusted model, the nonteaching clinic (aOR, 6.33) and diagnostic codes comprising the following categories were associated with inappropriate culturing: acute lower back pain (aOR, 5.42), cardiac-related visits (aOR, 2.41), urinary incontinence (aOR, 4.46), routine health visits (aOR, 3.66), urine characteristics (aOR, 14.32), voiding difficulties (aOR, 3.88), and well-woman visits with a gynecological exam or family planning aspect (aOR, 12.27) (all P < .05). Conclusions: This research highlights potential gaps or miscues in provider behavior related to urine culture ordering, and unveiled problematic culturing related to urine characteristics and to routine visits, especially of a gynecological nature. This information can be incorporated into diagnostic stewardship interventions to address misconceptions, and to further explore the reasoning or processes wherein urine cultures are ordered for routine visits.

Financial support: NIAID UM1AI104681

Disclosure: None

Background: Antibiotic use without a prescription (nonprescription use) leads to antibiotic overuse, with negative consequences for patient and public health. We studied whether screening patients for prior nonprescription antibiotic use in the past 12 months predicted their intentions to use them in the future. Methods: A survey asking respondents about prior and intended nonprescription antibiotic use was performed between January 2020 and June 2021 among patients in waiting rooms of 6 public clinics and 2 private emergency departments in economically and socially diverse urban and suburban areas. Respondents were classified as prior nonprescription users if they reported previously taking oral antibiotics without contacting a doctor, dentist, or nurse. Intended use was defined as answering “yes” or “maybe” to the question, “Would you use antibiotics without contacting a doctor, nurse, or dentist?” We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value (PPV and NPV) of prior nonprescription antibiotic use in the past 12 months for future intended nonprescription use. Bayes PPV and NPV were also calculated, considering the prevalence of nonprescription antibiotic use (24.8%) in our study. Results: Of the 564 patients surveyed, the median age was 51 years (SD, 19–92), with 72% of patients identifying as female. Most were from the public healthcare system (72.5%). Most respondents identified as Hispanic or Latino(a) (47%) or African American (33%), and 57% received Medicaid or the county financial assistance program. Prior nonprescription use was reported by 246 (43%) of 564 individuals, with 91 (16%) reporting nonprescription use within the previous 12 months. Intention to use nonprescription antibiotics was reported by 140 participants (25%). The sensitivity and specificity of prior nonprescription use in the past 12 months to predict the intention to use nonprescription antibiotics in the future were 75.9% (95% CI, 65.3–84.6) and 91.4% (95% CI, 87.8–94.2), respectively. After the Bayes’ adjustment, the PPV and NPV of prior use to predict future intention were 74.5% (95% CI, 66.7–80.9) and 92.0% (95% CI, 88.7–94.4) (Table 1). Conclusions: These results show that prior nonprescription antibiotic use in the past 12 months predicted the intention to use nonprescription antibiotics in the future (PPV of 75%). As a stewardship effort, we suggest clinicians use a simple question about prior nonprescription antibiotic use in primary-care settings as a screening question for patients at high risk for future nonprescription antibiotic use.

Financial support: HSQR-R 5R01HS026901-04

Disclosure: None

Falls due to stumbles are a major cause of injury for many populations, and as such interventions to reduce fall risk have been a key focus of rehabilitation research. However, dedicated stumble recovery assistance in a powered lower-limb exoskeleton has yet to be explored as a fall mitigation intervention. Thus young, healthy adults ($ N=3 $) were recruited for a stumble recovery experiment to test the efficacy of knee exoskeleton stumble recovery assistance in improving an impaired stumble recovery response (i.e., the elevating strategy response). Leg weights were attached unilaterally to each participant’s shank to simulate walking and stumble recovery impairment, and a unilateral powered knee exoskeleton was worn on the same leg for walking and stumble recovery assistance. Ultimately, knee exoskeleton stumble recovery assistance served to improve participants’ elevating limb kinematics (i.e., increase thigh and knee motion) and reduce overall fall risk (i.e., reduce trunk motion and improve foot placement) during responses relative to their impaired response (i.e., with the leg weights and no assistance), and relative to their response while receiving only walking assistance. This initial exploration provides a first indication that knee exoskeleton stumble recovery assistance is a viable approach to improving an impaired stumble recovery response, which could serve two important use cases: (1) a safety mechanism for existing exoskeleton wearers, who may be less capable of recovering from stumbles due to the added weight or joint impedance of the device; (2) an external stumble recovery aid for fall-prone populations, such as the elderly or stroke survivors.

Hot-wire measurements in a Mach 3.5 quiet tunnel were made in the wake of a roughness patch on a flat plate. These measurements were used to determine mode shapes and frequencies of the dominant instabilities leading to boundary-layer transition. The egg-crate roughness pattern is an analytic function described by a sinusoidal equation, similar to an array of discrete elements that are positioned in a spanwise and streamwise grid, but containing both protuberances and dimples. This is an intermediate configuration towards understanding the underlying physics of a pseudorandom distributed roughness, and ultimately, the underlying physics of roughness-induced boundary-layer transition. The roughness pattern had a wavelength of 6.25 mm, with a nominal amplitude of 272 ${\rm \mu}{\rm m}$ (0.49 times the boundary layer thickness at the first row of protuberances). The roughness was positioned near the leading edge of the flat plate and contained 3.5 wavelengths in the streamwise direction and 7.5 wavelengths in the spanwise direction. The dominant instability was centred near 74 kHz at a free stream unit Reynolds number of $12.9\times 10^{6}\,{\rm m}^{-1}$ and resembled an antisymmetric mode downstream of each of the protuberances in the roughness patch. Computations using linear stability analysis based on the plane-marching parabolized stability equations (PSE) showed limited agreement with measurements when comparing the growth of the wake instability. Better agreement with the measurements was observed when considering the modification of first mode waves by the egg-crate roughness patch and the solution of the three-dimensional harmonic linearized Navier–Stokes equations was used as the in-flow to the PSE. The agreement confirms the significance of disturbance growth both upstream of and above a finite length roughness patch and the effect on the growth of instabilities in the wake.

Using a machine-learning model, we examined drivers of antibiotic prescribing for antibiotic-inappropriate acute respiratory illnesses in a large US claims data set. Antibiotics were prescribed in 11% of the 42 million visits in our sample. The model identified outpatient setting type, patient age mix, and state as top drivers of prescribing.

Background:Staphylococcus aureus–colonized hospitalized patients are at risk for invasive infection and can transmit S. aureus to other patients in the absence of symptoms. Infection isolation precautions do not reduce the risk of infection in colonized patients and are untenable in health systems with high rates of S. aureus colonization. Objective: We implemented an inpatient S. aureus screening and targeted decolonization program across hospital campuses to reduce transmission and invasive infection. We screen and decolonize for methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) because MSSA makes up more than half of all S. aureus isolated from clinical cultures in our health system. Methods: All medicine, pediatrics, and transplant patients receive S. aureus nares culture at admission and upon change in level of care for medicine, and at admission and weekly for pediatrics and transplant patients. All S. aureus–colonized patients receive decolonization with nasal mupirocin ointment and chlorhexidine baths. Two implementation frameworks guide our processes for S. aureus screening and decolonization: the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, to evaluate factors affecting implementation at different levels of the health system, and the Dynamic Sustainability Framework, to account for iterative changes as the hospital setting and patient population change over time. Implementation interventions focus on education of patients and bedside nurses who perform S. aureus screening and decolonization; utilization of the electronic health record to identify patients for screening and/or decolonization and avoid human error; and introduction of a clinical nurse specialist to oversee the program and to provide iterative feedback. Results: At baseline, 21% of patients had S. aureus colonization, 20% of which was MRSA, and the MRSA bloodstream infection rate was 0.06 per 1,000 patient days. After program implementation, there was no change in S. aureus colonization and the MRSA bloodstream infection rate fell to 0.04 per 1,000 patient days. Screening compliance improved from 39% (N = 1,805) of eligible patients in the 6-month period before the introduction of the clinical nurse specialist to 52% (N = 2,024) after the introduction of the clinical nurse specialist. In the same periods, decolonization increased from 18.6% to 41% of eligible patients. Conclusions: We used 2 implementation frameworks to design our S. aureus screening and decolonization program and to make iterative changes to the program as it evolved to include new patient populations and different hospital settings. This resulted in a large-scale, sustainable, health system program for S. aureus control that avoids reliance on infection isolation precautions.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None

The perinatal period is a vulnerable time for the development of psychopathology, particularly mood and anxiety disorders. In the study of maternal anxiety, important questions remain regarding the association between maternal anxiety symptoms and subsequent child outcomes. This study examined the association between depressive and anxiety symptoms, namely social anxiety, panic, and agoraphobia disorder symptoms during the perinatal period and maternal perception of child behavior, specifically different facets of development and temperament. Participants (N = 104) were recruited during pregnancy from a community sample. Participants completed clinician-administered and self-report measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms during the third trimester of pregnancy and at 16 months postpartum; child behavior and temperament outcomes were assessed at 16 months postpartum. Child development areas included gross and fine motor skills, language and problem-solving abilities, and personal/social skills. Child temperament domains included surgency, negative affectivity, and effortful control. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that elevated prenatal social anxiety symptoms significantly predicted more negative maternal report of child behavior across most measured domains. Elevated prenatal social anxiety and panic symptoms predicted more negative maternal report of child effortful control. Depressive and agoraphobia symptoms were not significant predictors of child outcomes. Elevated anxiety symptoms appear to have a distinct association with maternal report of child development and temperament. Considering the relative influence of anxiety symptoms, particularly social anxiety, on maternal report of child behavior and temperament can help to identify potential difficulties early on in mother–child interactions as well as inform interventions for women and their families.

Cyclonic storms (often called hurricanes, typhoons, or cyclones) often cause population declines in vulnerable bird species, and the intensity of these storms appears to be increasing due to climate change. Prior studies have reported short-term impacts of hurricanes on avifauna, but few have examined long-term impacts. Over two decades (1993–2018), we periodically surveyed a subspecies of West Indian Woodpecker Melanerpes superciliaris nyeanus on San Salvador, a small island in The Bahamas, to determine its distribution on the island, habitat use, and effects of hurricanes on abundance and population size. We conducted passive and playback surveys, supplemented with mist-netting. Woodpeckers were found only in the northern part of San Salvador, despite extensive surveys throughout other accessible areas of the island. Birds occupied areas with taller coppice adjacent to sabal palm Sabal palmetto groves, which were used for nesting. After hurricanes with >160 kph winds passed over San Salvador, woodpecker densities declined to 35–40% of pre-hurricane densities, but generally recovered back to pre-hurricane densities within 2–3 years. Based on an estimated density of woodpeckers within a ~1,400 ha occupied area, we calculated a population size of approximately 240 individuals (CI = 68-408). However, the population declined to far lower numbers immediately following hurricanes. Under IUCN Red List criteria, M. s. nyeanus classifies as ‘Critically Endangered’, and could be especially sensitive to future hurricanes if they occur at a high enough frequency or intensity to prevent the population from rebounding. Given the small size, isolation, and vulnerability of this population, we recommend preservation of the core habitat, continued monitoring, and further research. Our study shows that small, threatened bird populations can be resilient to the effects of hurricanes, but increased intensity of hurricanes, in combination with other threats, may limit this resilience in the future.

Catatonia is a psychomotor dysregulation syndrome of diverse aetiology, increasingly recognised as a prominent feature of N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor antibody encephalitis (NMDARE) in adults. No study to date has systematically assessed the prevalence and symptomatology of catatonia in children with NMDARE. We analysed 57 paediatric patients with NMDARE from the literature using the Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale. Catatonia was common (occurring in 86% of patients), manifesting as complex clusters of positive and negative features within individual patients. It was both underrecognised and undertreated. Immunotherapy was the only effective intervention, highlighting the importance of prompt recognition and treatment of the underlying cause of catatonia.