Diagnostic performance of an automated robot for MALDI target preparation in microbial identification.

The MBT Pathfinder is an automated colony-picking robot designed for efficient sample preparation in matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. This article presents results from three key experiments evaluating the instrument's performance in conjunction with MALDI Biotyper instrument. The method comparison experiment assessed its clinical performance, demonstrating comparable results with gram-positive, gram-negative, and anaerobic bacteria (scores larger than 2.

Increasing segmentation performance with synthetic agar plate images.

Background: Agar plate analysis is vital for microbiological testing in industries like food, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology. Manual inspection is slow, laborious, and error-prone, while existing automated systems struggle with the complexity of real-world agar plates. A shortage of diverse datasets hinders the development and evaluation of robust automated systems.

Serum lactate in refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Post-hoc analysis of the Prague OHCA study.

Background: The severity of tissue hypoxia is routinely assessed by serum lactate. We aimed to determine whether early lactate levels predict outcomes in refractory out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) treated by conventional and extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (ECPR).

Methods: This study is a post-hoc analysis of a randomized Prague OHCA study (NCT01511666) assessing serum lactate levels in refractory OHCA treated by ECPR (the ECPR group) or conventional resuscitation with prehospital achieved return of spontaneous circulation (the ROSC group).

Trauma associated with cardiopulmonary resuscitation based on autopsy reports after the 2015 ERC guidelines.

Introduction: Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-related injuries have not been assessed since the 2015 Resuscitation Guidelines were established.

Aim: To describe the incidence and severity of CPR-related injuries, and to evaluate the impact of the 2015 European Resuscitation Council (ERC) guidelines on the objective assessment of injuries.

Methods: This multicenter, retrospective study analyzed autopsy reports of patients who underwent CPR.

Correlating Sensory Assessment of Smoke-Tainted Wines with Inter-Laboratory Study Consensus Values for Volatile Phenols.

Vineyard exposure to wildfire smoke can taint grapes and wine. To understand the impact of this taint, it is imperative that the analytical methods used are accurate and precise. This study compared the variance across nine commercial and research laboratories following quantitative analysis of the same set of smoke-tainted wines.

A thermostable Cas12b from Brevibacillus leverages one-pot discrimination of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

Background: Current SARS-CoV-2 detection platforms lack the ability to differentiate among variants of concern (VOCs) in an efficient manner. CRISPR/Cas (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR-associated) based detection systems have the potential to transform the landscape of COVID-19 diagnostics due to their programmability; however, most of these methods are reliant on either a multi-step process involving amplification or elaborate guide RNA designs.

Methods: Three Cas12b proteins from Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris (AacCas12b), Alicyclobacillus acidiphilus (AapCas12b), and Brevibacillus sp.

CPR-related injuries after non-traumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: Survivors versus non-survivors.

Aim: There have been no direct comparisons of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)-related injuries between those who die during CPR and those who survive to intensive care unit (ICU) admission. This study aimed to compare the incidence, severity, and impact on survival rate of these injuries and potential influencing factors.

Method: This retrospective multicenter study analyzed autopsy reports of patients who experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and were not admitted to hospital.

A Thermostable Cas12b from Leverages One-pot Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern.

Current SARS-CoV-2 detection platforms lack the ability to differentiate among variants of concern (VOCs) in an efficient manner. CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) has the potential to transform diagnostics due to its programmability. However, many of the CRISPR-based detection methods are reliant on either a multi-step process involving amplification or elaborate guide RNA designs.

The comparison of cardiopulmonary resuscitation-related trauma: Mechanical versus manual chest compressions.

Introduction: AIM:: To compare injuries after cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) caused by manual or mechanical chest compressions in resuscitated patients with non-traumatic cardiac arrest.

Methods: This retrospective, multicenter study was based on autopsy reports of patients who died after CPR; individuals with a traumatic cause(s) of cardiac arrest were excluded. Patients were divided into two CPR groups: mechanical and manual.

Automatically designed machine vision system for the localization of CCA transverse section in ultrasound images.

The common carotid artery (CCA) is a source of important information that doctors can use to evaluate the patients' health. The most often measured parameters are arterial stiffness, lumen diameter, wall thickness, and other parameters where variation with time is usually measured. Unfortunately, the manual measurement of dynamic parameters of the CCA is time consuming, and therefore, for practical reasons, the only alternative is automatic approach.

The use of silver solid amalgam electrodes for voltammetric and amperometric determination of nitrated polyaromatic compounds used as markers of incomplete combustion.

Genotoxic nitrated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs) are formed during incomplete combustion processes by reaction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with atmospheric nitrogen oxides. 1-Nitropyrene, 2-nitrofluorene, and 3-nitrofluoranthene as the dominating substances are used as markers of NPAHs formation by these processes. In the presented study, voltammetric properties and quantification of these compounds and of 5-nitroquinoline (as a representative of environmentally important genotoxic heterocyclic compounds) have been investigated using a mercury meniscus modified silver solid amalgam electrode (m-AgSAE), which represent a nontoxic alternative to traditional mercury electrodes.

TRPC channels and diacylglycerol dependent calcium signaling in rat sensory neurons.

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels of the TRPV, TRPA, and TRPM subfamilies play important roles in somatosensation including nociception. While particularly the Thermo TRPs have been extensively investigated in sensory neurons, the relevance of the subclass of "canonical" TRPC channels in primary afferents is yet elusive. In the present study, we investigated the presence and contribution to Ca(2+) transients of TRPC channels in dorsal root ganglion neurons.

Nuclear morphology of transitional keratinocytes in normal human epidermis.

Transitional keratinocytes (TK) of normal interfollicular human epidermis were studied by electron microscopy to provide more information on the ultrastructural nuclear and nucleolar changes during physiological keratinization. The results revealed that TK contained condensed nuclei in the initial stage, degraded nuclei in the advanced stage, and nuclear remnants in the late stage of their transformation into cornified cells. The condensed nuclei were essentially characterized by ultrastructural changes generally considered to reflect the cessation of RNA synthesis.

Nucleolar ultrastructure in psoriatic skin lesions.

Keratinocytes in psoriatic skin lesions were studied to provide more information on the nucleolar ultrastructure in these cells. In contrast to normal keratinocytes, nucleoli in the keratinocytes of the uppermost layer of stratum granulosum (intermedium) of psoriatic lesions were characterized by the absence of the segregation of nucleolar components. In addition, the keratinocytes without keratohyalin of the uppermost layer of stratum intermedium of psoriatic lesions did not contain degranulated nucleoli.