Evaluation of a new lithium colorimetric assay performed on the dade behring dimension X-pand system.

Lithium is the standard first line of treatment for bipolar disorder. Because of its potential toxicity, levels of the drug have to be constantly monitored. To this end, an accurate and rapid assay is thus required.

[Antibiotic sensitivity of enterobacteria in intensive care units].

Antibiotic therapy of intensive care patients is usually undocumented. The treatment is chosen according to epidemiologic and susceptibility data from microbiological laboratories. The aim of our study is to determine antibiotic susceptibility of enterobacteria isolated from intensive care patients during a five-month multicenter study in 18 French hospitals.

[Phenotype and genotype analysis of Torulopsis glabrata isolated from nosocomial infections].

Twenty-one strains of Torulopsis glabrata have been isolated in the hospital of Versailles during a three months period, in eight patients, and related to nosocomial infections. In order to know if they have been cross infected, a genotypic analysis (pulsed field electrophoresis) has been performed. The strains from four patients had the same karyotype, suggesting they had probably crossed infections.