D-Dimers and MPO Are No Suitable Biomarkers for Application in Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA) Surveillance in a Real-World Setting of Vascular Surgery Patients.

There is currently no clinically valid biomarker for predicting the growth and prognosis of abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA). The most promising candidates with the highest diagnostic values are plasma D-dimers and markers of activated neutrophils, i.e.

Colistin susceptibility test evaluation of multiple-resistance-level Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates generated in a morbidostat device.

Objectives: Colistin is a last-resort antibiotic against the critical-status pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. There is still uncertainty regarding how to accurately measure colistin susceptibility in P. aeruginosa.

Post liposuction infections by rapidly growing mycobacteria.

Rapidly growing mycobacteria (RGM) are recognized agents of surgical site infections. Recently, RGM skin and soft tissue infections have been increasingly reported. As symptoms, clinical signs and disease latency remain non-specific and microbiological detection requires targeted growth media, RGM diagnosis remains challenging for clinicians.

Effect of mutation and genetic background on drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Bacterial factors may contribute to the global emergence and spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB). Only a few studies have reported on the interactions between different bacterial factors. We studied drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from a nationwide study conducted from 2000 to 2008 in Switzerland.

Prevalence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto in humans from a Cuban village.

Unlabelled: Lyme disease has not been officially reported in Cuba. However, clinical cases have been serologically reported. Seroprevalence survey of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto antibodies in humans in the country has not been conducted.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in a country with low tuberculosis incidence: role of immigration and HIV infection.

Immigrants from high-burden countries and HIV-coinfected individuals are risk groups for tuberculosis (TB) in countries with low TB incidence. Therefore, we studied their role in transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Switzerland. We included all TB patients from the Swiss HIV Cohort and a sample of patients from the national TB registry.

Evaluation of a modified culture medium for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.

The aim of the present study was to assess the possible use of a modified medium, prepared in the laboratory using the constituents of Barbour-Stonner-Kelly (BSK) medium and medium 199 as base, for the culture of Borrelia strains, comparing the growth of individual strains in this medium and in the BSK-H medium, and the protein profile and antigenic characteristics of Borrelia proteins expressed in these media. A qualitative evaluation of growth of Borrelia species was made with acceptable results (morphology and motility), but during a quantitative evaluation using the three main genospecies of Borrelia, the better results were obtained with a B. burgdorferi sensu stricto strain.

Enhancing the etiologic diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia in adults using the urinary antigen assay (Binax NOW).

Objectives: Approximately 40% of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) remains of unknown etiology. To improve the rate of detection of the causative microbiologic agent, the Binax NOW Streptococcus pneumoniae urinary antigen test (UAT) was evaluated.

Design: In this prospective study, 67 adults with CAP were compared with 81 healthy patients to determine sensitivity and specificity of the UAT and its role in improving the etiologic diagnosis of CAP.