A major antimicrobial resistance mechanism in Gram-negative bacteria is the production of β-lactamase enzymes. The increasing emergence of β-lactamase-producing multi-drug-resistant "superbugs" has resulted in increases in costly hospital Emergency Department (ED) visits and hospitalizations due to the requirement for parenteral antibiotic therapy for infections caused by these difficult-to-treat bacteria. To address the lack of outpatient treatment, we initiated an iterative program combining medicinal chemistry, biochemical testing, microbiological profiling, and evaluation of oral pharmacokinetics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Dance exposure and determinants of wellness in Irish dance (ID) and contemporary dance (CD) are under-investigated in pre-professional, collegiate cohorts. This study prospectively investigated these variables in ID and CD participants for one year.
Design: Prospective study.
General use of plasma components includes replacement for multiple coagulation factor deficiencies, for treatment of single coagulation factor deficiencies for which a concentrate is unavailable, and as a replacement fluid used in therapeutic plasma exchange for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Four major products currently transfused are fresh-frozen plasma (FFP), plasma frozen within 24 hours of phlebotomy (FP24), cryoprecipitate-poor plasma (CPP), and thawed plasma. FP24, CPP, and thawed plasma contain decreased amounts of labile coagulation factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A multi-center study was conducted to evaluate the Bio-Rad GS HIV Combo Ag/Ab EIA, a 4th generation HIV-1/HIV-2 assay for the simultaneous detection of HIV p24 antigen and antibodies to HIV-1 (groups M and O) and HIV-2 in human serum or plasma in adult and pediatric populations.
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess assay performance for the detection of acute HIV infections; sensitivity in known HIV positive samples; percent agreement with HIV status; specificity in low and high risk individuals of unknown HIV status; and to compare assay performance to a 3rd generation HIV assay.
Study Design: The evaluation included testing 9150 samples at four U.
Background: The galactomannan (GM) assay is an approved noninvasive test for detection of invasive aspergillosis (IA) that has been validated in adult patients with hematologic malignancies who are undergoing bone marrow transplantation. There have been few studies with this assay in pediatric patients, but early reports suggest that there may be differences in the performance such that false-positive GM tests in pediatric patients are more common than in adult patients.
Methods: We performed a prospective study in pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients with twice-weekly sampling for GM detection during the highest risk periods of neutropenia and graft-versus-host disease.
Background: The clinical utility of Platelia Aspergillus enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for galactomannan (GM) antigen detection in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) for the diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis (IA) in lung transplant recipients is not known.
Methods: BAL fluid samples from consecutive lung transplant recipients who underwent bronchoscopy were prospectively analyzed for GM.
Results: A total of 333 BAL samples from 116 patients were tested.
Invasive aspergillosis (IA) is a frequent complication of blood or marrow transplantation. Previous studies have reported that the Aspergillus galactomannan enzyme immunoassay (GM EIA) may be a useful diagnostic tool for IA, but its sensitivity is variable. We examined the performance of the GM EIA in 986 serum samples from 67 patients.
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