We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
To save content items to your account,
please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies.
If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account.
Find out more about saving content to .
To save content items to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org
is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings
on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part
of your Kindle email address below.
Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations.
‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi.
‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global priority with significant clinical and economic consequences. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the major pathogens associated with significant morbidity and mortality. In healthcare settings, the evaluation of prevalence, microbiological characteristics, as well as mechanisms of resistance is of paramount importance to overcome associated challenges.
Methods:
Consecutive clinical specimens of P. aeruginosa were collected prospectively from 5 acute-care and specialized hospitals between October 2014 and September 2017, including microbiological, clinical characteristics and outcomes. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility test were performed using the BD Phoenix identification and susceptibility testing system, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS), and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test strips. Overall, 78 selected MDR P. aeruginosa isolates were processed for whole-genome sequencing (WGS).
Results:
The overall prevalence of MDR P. aeruginosa isolates was 5.9% (525 of 8,892) and showed a decreasing trend; 95% of cases were hospital acquired and 44.8% were from respiratory samples. MDR P. aeruginosa demonstrated >86% resistance to cefepime, ciprofloxacin, meropenem, and piperacillin-tazobactam but 97.5% susceptibility to colistin. WGS revealed 29 different sequence types: 20.5% ST235, 10.3% ST357, 7.7% ST389, and 7.7% ST1284. ST233 was associated with bloodstream infections and increased 30-day mortality. All ST389 isolates were obtained from patients with cystic fibrosis. Encoded exotoxin genes were detected in 96.2% of isolates.
Conclusions:
MDR P. aeruginosa isolated from clinical specimens from Qatar has significant resistance to most agents, with a decreasing trend that should be explored further. Genomic analysis revealed the dominance of 5 main clonal clusters associated with mortality and bloodstream infections. Microbiological and genomic monitoring of MDR P. aeruginosa has enhanced our understanding of AMR in Qatar.
Public-private partnerships (PPPs) for green technologies have received relatively little attention in contrast with PPPs in areas such as public health. In this regard, the chapter outlines how the regimes governing climate change and sustainable development are increasingly seeking to enhance the contribution of PPPs to global efforts to accelerate innovation and diffusion of green technologies. The chapter examines a number of PPPs at the multilateral level (WIPO GREEN) and at the bilateral level (the US-China Clean Energy Research Center) showing how they approach IP in a pragmatic manner that stands in contrast to the stalemate which has characterised the debate on intellectual property rights and green technologies at the international level. Given that these PPPs tend to be still at an early stage in their development, the importance of evaluation and adaptation over time is highlighted to ensure theyare effective and impactful in a dynamic global landscape where the pace of innovation is fast.
This chapter canvasses relevant aspects of the triple interface of intellectual property, public–private partneships (PPPs), and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – and the significance of their growing connections within a knowledge governance framework – that is, whether and how PPPs encourage innovation, build innovation capacity, engage in technology transfer or sharing, or otherwise ensure wide dissemination and diffusion of innovation results across borders to advance the progress of the SDGs. It then examines more closely each of the "P"s in PPPs, flagging the many unresolved issues and questions about this type of joint governance arrangement or collaborative partnership, at the practical, policy, and conceptual levels. Finally, it previews and situates each of the other chapters in the book, by providing brief synopses and locating the diverse perspectives represented within an emerging conceptual map of the triple interface.
Public–private partnerships (PPPs) play an increasingly prominent role in addressing global development challenges. United Nations agencies and other organizations are relying on PPPs to improve global health, facilitate access to scientific information, and encourage the diffusion of climate change technologies. For this reason, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development highlights their centrality in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the same time, the intellectual property dimensions and implications of these efforts remain under-examined. Through selective case studies, this illuminating work contributes to a better understanding of the relationships between PPPs and intellectual property considered within a global knowledge governance framework, that includes innovation, capacity-building, technological learning, and diffusion. Linking global governance of knowledge via intellectual property to the SDGs, this is the first book to chart the activities of PPPs at this important nexus.
Developing countries set an important precedent in their contestation of ACTA, which has gone relatively unnoticed. For the first time, they have formally questioned at the WTO an entire plurilateral agreement containing TRIPS-plus obligations negotiated and concluded outside the organization. While many developing countries have had concerns about TRIPS-plus standards in regional and bilateral trade agreements for several years, never have such concerns been so forcefully articulated from the point of view of their “systemic” implications for the TRIPS Agreement and the WTO. The use of the TRIPS Council as a platform for such contestation is also rather remarkable and unprecedented.
In this context, this chapter examines the positions of developing countries, particularly emerging economies, towards ACTA at the WTO TRIPS Council and how they evolved in a short time period towards open defiance. While there has been extensive analysis of concerns amongst developing countries regarding specific provisions in ACTA, there has been relatively less attention to their concerns about the Agreement’s systemic implications, as well as the broader dynamics of their significance for the international intellectual property (IP) system.
While developing countries were ultimately not behind the coup de gr â ce that led to ACTA’s de facto political demise, their hostility towards it certainly contributed to that outcome, amidst a growing opposition movement arising from different quarters. At the same time, the responses of developing countries to ACTA illustrate some of the limitations and weaknesses they face in addressing such initiatives at the international level.