Publications by authors named "Koji Kusaba"

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry( MALDI-TOF MS) is a bacterial typing tool that was approved as a medical device in 2011. However, external accuracy control examination of bacterial typing using mass spectrometry is still only performed on a small scale. In this study, E.

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Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was approved for medical use in 2011 and is currently used as a rapid, accurate and lowcost technique for bacterial identification. External quality control for medical analysis is monitored using tests of the Japanese Association of Medical Technologists and Prefectural Association of Clinical Laboratory Technologists and through user surveys of reagent and equipment manufacturers. However, external quality control of bacterial typing using MS is not performed.

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Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) was approved for medical use in 2011, and is currently used as a rapid, accurate and low-cost technique for bacterial identification. Microbiological testing and internal accuracy control in Japan are mainly implemented in accordance with the standards of the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI). However, few facilities perform internal accuracy control of bacterial identification by MALDI-TOF MS.

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Background: A low body mass index (BMI) has been reported to be a poor prognostic factor for complex pulmonary disease (MAC-PD). The purpose of this study was to clarify the clinical features of MAC-PD in cases with a low BMI.

Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the data of patients diagnosed with MAC-PD at Saga University Hospital between 2008 and 2019.

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We herein report a case of systemic phaeohyphomycosis by Exophiala dermatitidis (E. dermatitidis) with chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The patient had been taking oral corticosteroids for years to control the GVHD.

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Objective: To study how and to what degree the rapid pathogen identification by MALDI-TOF MS coupled with rapid disk diffusion test improve the current clinical practice of patients with bacteremia in a tertiary teaching hospital with full-time ID consultation service.

Patients And Methods: MALDI-TOF MS and 8H disk diffusion tests were directly applied to the positive blood cultures samples and the results were reflected on antimicrobial therapy (n = 119). The appropriateness of antimicrobial selection through these interventions was verified with conventional culture results in comparison with historical control (n = 129).

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Article Synopsis
  • Pulmonary nocardiosis is a rare but serious disease caused by Nocardia bacteria, with poor outcomes such as recurrence or death, and the optimal treatment duration is unclear.
  • A study reviewed medical records of 24 patients to compare outcomes after 2 years and found that those with controlled disease received significantly longer antibiotic treatment, particularly with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole.
  • The research concluded that extending treatment duration beyond 3 months with trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole is linked to better patient outcomes in pulmonary nocardiosis cases.*
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Microflex LT (Bruker Daltonics) and VITEK MS (bioMérieux) are bacterial identification systems that are based on matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). For VITEK MS, two identification softwares, VITEK MS IVD (IVD) and SARAMIS (SARAMIS), are available. Microflex LT is equipped with MALDI Biotyper RTC software (Biotyper).

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A 61-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with 2-day history of malaise and dyspnea. He had mitral prolapse and type II diabetes mellitus with neurogenic bladder, which was cared for by catheterization on his own. On arrival the patient was in septic condition with hypoxemia, and physical examination revealed systolic murmur at the apex.

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Enterococcus consists human bowel flora, but sometimes behave as an important nosocomial pathogen. In order to identify clinical characteristics that help discriminate between ampicillin-susceptible and ampicillin-resistant enterococcal bacteremia in advance for antimicrobial susceptibility testing, a retrospective eight-year study was carried out in patients with enterococcal bacteremia experienced in Saga University Hospital, Japan. A total of 143 patients were included in the analysis: 85 (59.

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Objectives: To investigate clinical and microbiological characteristics of community-acquired bacteremia (CAB).

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed subjects with CAB hospitalized at Saga University Hospital between January 2009 and September 2011. We investigated causative organisms, primary infection sites, and subject summaries and complications, and analyzed the mortality factor.

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Nocardia concava was identified as a new species in 2005; however, the clinical manifestations of Nocardia concava infection have yet to be clarified. We herein present the case of an immunosuppressed patient who developed disseminated nocardiosis caused by N. concava with multiple abscesses in the lungs, cutis, subcutaneous tissue, skeletal muscles and kidneys accompanied by central nervous system involvement, including meningitis and ventriculitis.

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We attempted to analyze any influences to %T>MIC achievement probability due to the difference of the MIC measurement concentration range of MEPM for 613 strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by the Monte Carlo simulation method. As for the analysis, we calculated the achievement probability of 30% and 50% for MEPM %T>MIC by the administration volume of MEPM: 250 mg, 500 mg, and 1,000 mg, the administration time: 0.5 h, and 3 h, the administration frequency: 2 times, and 3 times, and the renal excretion capability: Normal, Slight, Moderate, and High abnormal with the 3 types of MIC concentration measurement level 1) <=0.

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Some automated systems of the identification and susceptibility for microorganisms are used and prevail in hospital laboratories. One of the most serious problems is to perform accurate susceptibility testing for low-level resistant organisms, while antibiotic resistant microbes are increasing in medical fields. To evaluate automated machines for the susceptibility testing, several antibiotic resistant organisms were examined by plural technicians in some laboratories.

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Using quantitative Bayesian analysis as a clinical epidemiological approach, we developed a diagnosis for lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) due to Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 181 subjects--a derivation cohort-with MRSA retrieved from lower respiratory specimens June 2006 to March 2008. Dividing them into infection or colonization (no infection) groups, we compared them for the presence or absence of clinical parameters, including fever > 38 degrees C, MRSA >106 CFU (colony-forming units)/mL, phagocytosis on Gram staining, serum albumin < 3.

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We have reported in this journal in vitro susceptibilities of clinical isolates to antibiotics every year since 1992. In this paper, we report the results of an analysis of in vitro susceptibilities of 12,919 clinical isolates from 72 centers in Japan to selected antibiotics in 2007 compared with the results from previous years. The common respiratory pathogens, Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Moraxella catarrhalis and Haemophilus influenzae maintained a high susceptibility to fluoroquinolones (FQs).

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Moraxella catarrhalis, formerly called Branhamella catarrhalis, 'Neisseria catarrhalis' or 'Micrococcus catarrhalis', is a Gram-negative, aerobic diplococcus frequently found as a colonizer of the upper respiratory tract. Over the last 20-30 years, this bacterium has emerged as a genuine pathogen, and is now considered an important cause of otitis media in children and an aetiological agent in pneumonia in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. However, bacteraemia due to M.

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In empirical antibacterial therapy, regional surveillance is expected to yield important information for the determination of the class and dosage regimen of antibacterial agents to be used when dealing with infections with organisms such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, in which strains resistant to antibacterial agents have been increasing. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of five carbapenem antibiotics against P. aeruginosa strains isolated in the Northern Kyushu district of Japan between 2005 and 2006 were measured, and 100 strains for which carbapenem MICs were < or =0.

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Quantitative DNA-DNA hybridization to measure the genetic distances among bacterial species is indispensable for taxonomical determination. In the current studies, we developed a method to determine bacterial DNA relatedness on a glass microarray. Reference DNAs representing a total 93 species of Enterobacteriaceae were arrayed on a glass microplate, and signal intensities were measured after 2 hr of hybridization with Cy3-labeled bacterial DNAs.

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Isolation frequency and antimicrobial susceptibility of Haemophilus influenzae isolated in Saga University hospital from October 2002 to September 2003 were investigated. Out of 155 H. influenzae strains subjected 77 were isolated from pediatrics specimens.

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We determined the antibacterial activities of oral Cephems against isolated from the patients with the respiratory infections, the urinary tract infections, and infections in the obstetrics field of an adult and a child, during the period from 2002 to 2003; Streptococcus pyogenes, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Branhamella catarrhalis, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli of 40 strains of each, and Peptostreptococcus spp. 22 strains. S.

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