A Rapid Host Response Blood Test for Bacterial/Viral Infection Discrimination Using a Portable Molecular Diagnostic Platform.

Background: Difficulty discriminating bacterial versus viral etiologies of infection drives unwarranted antibacterial prescriptions and, therefore, antibacterial resistance.

Methods: Utilizing a rapid portable test that measures peripheral blood host gene expression to discriminate bacterial and viral etiologies of infection (the HR-B/V assay on Biomeme's polymerase chain reaction-based Franklin platform), we tested 3 cohorts of subjects with suspected infection: the HR-B/V training cohort, the HR-B/V technical correlation cohort, and a coronavirus disease 2019 cohort.

Results: The Biomeme HR-B/V test showed very good performance at discriminating bacterial and viral infections, with a bacterial model accuracy of 84.

Electronic Clinical Decision Support Tools: Strategies to Improve the Management of Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Low-Resource Settings.

Lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) is a common reason for hospitalization and antibacterial use globally. There is considerable overlap in the clinical presentation of bacterial and viral LRTIs. Low- or middle-income countries (LMICs) face the dual challenge of appropriately targeting antibacterials for bacterial LRTI while reducing inappropriate antibacterials for viral LRTI.

CETZOLE Analogs as Potent Ferroptosis Inducers and Their Target Identification Using Covalent/Affinity Probes.

Ferroptosis is a recently discovered cell death mechanism triggered by iron-dependent elevation of reactive oxygen species leading to lipid membrane peroxidation. We previously reported the development of a new class of ferroptosis inducers referred to as CETZOLEs with CC values in the low micromolar range. Structure-activity relationship study of these compounds led to the development of more potent analogs with CC values in the nanomolar range.

Prevalence and predictors of antibiotic prescription among patients hospitalized with viral lower respiratory tract infections in Southern Province, Sri Lanka.

Background: Antimicrobial overprescription is common for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), as viral and bacterial infections generally present with similar clinical features. Overprescription is associated with downstream antimicrobial resistance. This study aims to identify the prevalence and predictors of antibiotic prescription among patients hospitalized with viral LRTI.