Targeting the 16S rRNA Gene by Reverse Complement PCR Next-Generation Sequencing: Specific and Sensitive Detection and Identification of Microbes Directly in Clinical Samples.

The detection and accurate identification of bacterial species in clinical samples are crucial for diagnosis and appropriate antibiotic treatment. To date, sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene has been widely used as a complementary molecular approach when identification by culture fails. The accuracy and sensitivity of this method are highly affected by the selection of the 16S rRNA gene region targeted.

Formate Over-Oxidation Limits Industrialization of Glycerol Oxidation Paired with Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Formate.

Electrocatalytic CO reduction processes are generally coupled with the oxidation of water. Process economics can greatly improve by replacing the water oxidation with a more valuable oxidation reaction, a process called paired electrolysis. Here we report the feasibility of pairing CO reduction with the oxidation of glycerol on Ni S /NF anodes to produce formate at both anode and cathode.

End-users feedback and perceptions associated with the implementation of a clinical-rule based Check of Medication Appropriateness service.

Background: To support appropriate prescribing hospital-wide, the 'Check of Medication Appropriateness' (CMA) service was implemented at the University Hospitals Leuven. The CMA concerns a clinical rule based and pharmacist-led medication review service. The aim of this study was to explore both physicians' and pharmacists' feedback on the optimised CMA service to further improve the service.

Improving appropriate use of anticoagulants in hospitalised patients: A pharmacist-led Check of Medication Appropriateness intervention.

Aims: Inappropriate anticoagulant use increases the risk of bleeding and thrombotic events. We implemented clinical decision rules to promote judicious medication use, as part of the 'Check of Medication Appropriateness' (CMA). The CMA is a pharmacist-led review service, targeting potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs).

The effectiveness of Check of Medication Appropriateness for antimicrobial stewardship: an interrupted time series analysis.

Objectives: Inappropriate prescribing of antimicrobials in hospitals contributes to the emergence of resistance and adverse drug events. To support antimicrobial stewardship (AMS), clinical decision rules focusing on antimicrobial therapy were implemented in the 'Check of Medication Appropriateness' (CMA). The CMA is a hospital-wide pharmacist-led medication review service consisting of a clinical rule-based screening for potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs).

Telemedicine based remote monitoring after liver transplantation: Feasible in a select group and a more stringent control of immunosuppression.

Telemedicine gained interest in liver transplant patients but focused until now on the early post-operative period. This prospective cohort study assessed feasibility, safety, and clinical beneficial effects of a telemedicine based remote monitoring program (TRMP) for the chronic follow-up of adult liver transplant recipients. Between November 2017 and August 2019, a total of 87 of the 115 selected patients (76%) started the TRMP.

Impact of Check of Medication Appropriateness (CMA) in optimizing analgesic prescribing: An interrupted time series analysis.

Background: Pain therapy in inpatients is regularly suboptimal and might be improved by clinical pharmacy services. In our hospital, we have implemented a software-supported 'Check of Medication Appropriateness' (CMA), which is a centralized pharmacist-led service consisting of a clinical rule-based screening for potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs), and a subsequent medication review by pharmacists. We aimed to investigate the impact of the CMA on pain-related prescribing.

Multi-center evaluation of cepheid xpert® xpress SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care test during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Background: With the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, rapid diagnostics are paramount to contain the current pandemic. The routinely used realtime RT-PCR is sensitive, specific and able to process large batches of samples. However, turnaround time is long and in cases where fast obtained results are critical, molecular point of care tests (POCT) can be an alternative.

Development and feasibility of a telemonitoring tool with full integration in the electronic medical record: a proof of concept study for patients with inflammatory bowel disease in remission on biological therapy.

Telemonitoring can be implemented to enhance disease monitoring and ultimately reduce the number of outpatient visits and associated costs. We developed an in house IBD mobile app and established a proof of concept study to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the telemonitoring tool for monitoring of disease activity. An IBD mobile app was designed through close collaboration between the Information Technology and Gastroenterology department of University Hospitals of Leuven.

Development and implementation of "Check of Medication Appropriateness" (CMA): advanced pharmacotherapy-related clinical rules to support medication surveillance.

Background: To improve medication surveillance and provide pharmacotherapeutic support in University Hospitals Leuven, a back-office clinical service, called "Check of Medication Appropriateness" (CMA), was developed, consisting of clinical rule based screening for medication inappropriateness. The aim of this study is twofold: 1) describing the development of CMA and 2) evaluating the preliminary results, more specifically the number of clinical rule alerts, number of actions on the alerts and acceptance rate by physicians.

Methods: CMA focuses on patients at risk for potentially inappropriate medication and involves the daily checking by a pharmacist of high-risk prescriptions generated by advanced clinical rules integrating patient specific characteristics with details on medication.

A smart algorithm for the prevention and risk management of QTc prolongation based on the optimized RISQ-PATH model.

Aims: QTc prolongation is a complex problem linked with multiple risk factors. The RISQ-PATH score was previously developed to identify high-risk patients for QTc prolongation. The aim of this study was to optimize and validate this risk score in a large patient cohort, and to propose an algorithm to generate smart QT signals in the electronic medical record.

A noble-metal-free system for photodriven catalytic proton reduction.

Who needs the nobles? Ideally, devices to harvest solar energy into fuels would, in addition to having very high turnover numbers, make use of earth-abundant materials. In this Highlight we focus on a recent example in which a copper-based photosensitizer is used, in combination with an iron-based catalyst for light-driven proton reduction.

Ultrafast dynamics in iron tetracarbonyl olefin complexes investigated with two-dimensional vibrational spectroscopy.

The dynamics of iron tetracarbonyl olefin complexes has been investigated using two-dimensional infrared (2D-IR) spectroscopy. Cross peaks between all CO-stretching bands show that the CO-stretch modes are coupled, and from the cross-peak anisotropies we can confirm previous assignments of the absorption bands. From the pump-probe delay dependence of the diagonal peaks in the 2D-IR spectrum we obtain a correlation time of ∼3 ps for the spectral fluctuations of the CO-stretch modes.

Eliminating the paper medical archive by bulk document scanning of historic folders and implementing revised workflows for scanning new documents.

We made the decision in our hospital to radically eliminate the paper archive by bulk scanning over a million medical records. This reorganization goes together with installation of new workflows for injecting information that is still captured on paper as automatically as feasible into the electronic medical record. In this article we describe our organizational and technical approach and we highlight principles which our experience suggests to be useful.

LISA, the next generation: from a web-based application to a fat client.

The LISA application, developed by the University Hospitals Leuven, permits referring physicians to consult the electronic medical records of their patients over the internet in a highly secure way. We decided to completely change the way we secured the application, discard the existing web application and build a completely new application, based on the in-house developed hospital information system, used in the University Hospitals Leuven. The result is a fat Java client, running on a Windows Terminal Server, secured by a commercial SSL-VPN solution.