"CORE" a new assay for rapid identification of COlistin REsistant strains by MALDI-TOF MS in positive-ion mode.

Due to the global spread of pan resistant organisms, colistin is actually considered as one of the last resort antibiotics against MDR and XDR bacterial infections. The emergence of colistin resistant strains has been observed worldwide in Gram-negative bacteria, such as and especially in in association with increased morbidity and mortality. This landscape implies the exploration of novel assays able to target colistin resistant strains rapidly.

Organic thermoelectric generators: working principles, materials, and fabrication techniques.

Organic thermoelectricity is a blooming field of research that employs organic (semi)conductors to recycle waste heat through its partial conversion to electrical power. Such a conversion occurs by means of organic thermoelectric generator (OTEG) devices. The recent process on the synthesis of novel materials and on the understanding of doping mechanisms to increase conductivity has tremendously narrowed the gap between laboratory research and their application in actual applications.

Anti-counterfeiting SERS security labels derived from silver nanoparticles and aryl diazonium salts.

The development of anti-counterfeiting inks based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) labels have attracted great interest in recent years for their use as security labels in anti-counterfeiting applications. Indeed, they are promising alternatives to luminescent inks, which suffer from several limitations including emission peak overlap, toxicity and photobleaching. Most of the reported SERS security labels developed so far rely on the use of thiolate self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for the immobilization of Raman reporters on metallic nanoparticle surface.

Effective Rapid Diagnosis of Bacterial and Fungal Bloodstream Infections by T2 Magnetic Resonance Technology in the Pediatric Population.

Children are prone to bloodstream infections (BSIs), the rapid and accurate diagnosis of which is an unmet clinical need. The T2MR technology is a direct molecular assay for identification of BSI pathogens, which can help to overcome the limits of blood culture (BC) such as diagnostic accuracy, blood volumes required, and turnaround time. We analyzed results obtained with the T2Bacteria (648) and T2Candida (106) panels in pediatric patients of the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital between May 2018 and September 2020 in order to evaluate the performance of the T2Dx instrument with respect to BC.

Case Report: Fungemia in a Pediatric Patient With Refractory Acute B Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

is a very rare opportunistic yeast causing fungal disease in humans, especially in immunocompromised hosts. Here, we describe a new case of isolated from the blood of a pyrexial pediatric patient with refractory acute B cell lymphoblastic leukemia and acute respiratory distress. Prompt diagnosis through early clinical suspicion and appropriate molecular microbiology analysis allowed the yeast to be accurately identified at species level.