The pneumococcal population structure and drug resistance patterns are constantly changing worldwide. In this study, we described serotypes and antimicrobial susceptibility among 478 multiple-drug resistant (MDR) pediatric nasopharyngeal pneumococci recovered in 2010-2017. The majority of isolates (89.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) is considered the most sensitive method for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, this method is relatively resource- and time-consuming. This study was performed to compare SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antigen (N-Ag) testing using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Laboratory diagnostics of lysosomal acid lipase deficiency (LAL-D), a rare disorder associated with alterations, are based on the evaluation of LAL activity. In dry blood spots (DBS) submitted for LAL-D diagnostics (the screening cohort) over a two-year period or obtained from a cohort of retrospective LAL-D patients, we measured: (1) LAL activity using a two-reaction assay with 4-methylumbelliferone palmitate (4-MU-Palm) and Lalistat-2, a specific LAL inactivator; (2) total lipase (TL) activity by a 1-hour kinetic 4-MU-Palm cleavage reaction (no Lalistat-2). The TL activity was expressed as the area under the kinetic curve after 1 hour (TL-AUC) of the reaction and presented as the median (min-max).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSerotype distribution and antimicrobial resistance were analyzed in 632 nasopharyngeal pneumococcal isolates collected at a single pediatric center in 2010-2017 before and following the introduction of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccine (PCV13) in Russia in 2014. The mean prevalence of PCV13 serotypes was 77.7% in 2010-2015 with a significant decline to 58.
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