Enhancing ascitic fungal infection diagnosis through next-generation sequencing: a pilot study in surgical ICU patients.

Objectives: Ascites, often associated with critical pathologies such as liver cirrhosis or bowel perforation, can be complicated by fungal infection, increasing mortality especially in intensive care settings and demanding rapid diagnosis and adequate treatment. Traditional microbiological diagnostic methods have limited sensitivity in accurately identifying fungal pathogens in ascitic fluid. Alternative diagnostic methods may offer important insights to enable guiding of antifungal therapy and refining empirical treatment strategies.

Next- and Third-Generation Sequencing Outperforms Culture-Based Methods in the Diagnosis of Ascitic Fluid Bacterial Infections of ICU Patients.

Objectives: Infections of the ascitic fluid are serious conditions that require rapid diagnosis and treatment. Ascites is often accompanied by other critical pathologies such as gastrointestinal bleeding and bowel perforation, and infection increases the risk of mortality in intensive care patients. Owing to a relatively low success rate of conventional culture methods in identifying the responsible pathogens, new methods may be helpful to guide antimicrobial therapy and to refine empirical regimens.

In Vitro Effects of a Novel Coating Agent on Bacterial Biofilm Development on Ureteral Stents.

Objectives: Ureteral stenting is a widely used method for noninvasive urinary drainage in ureteral obstruction. However, biofilm development due to transient bacteriuria can cause severe complications such as incrustation with subsequent obstruction as well as recurrent urinary tract infection. Apart from local ailment such as dysuria, this increases both stent replacement frequency and incidence of complications.

Retrospective study on outcome of salvage Helicobacter pylori eradication therapies based on molecular genetic susceptibility testing.

Background: Antimicrobial susceptibility of Helicobacter (H.) pylori is usually determined by phenotypic methods. When H.