Comparing Two Automated Techniques for the Primary Screening-Out of Urine Culture.

Urinary tract infection is the most common human infection with a high morbidity. In primary care and hospital services, conventional urine culture is a key part of infection diagnosis but results take at least 24 h. Therefore, a rapid and reliable screening method is still needed to discard negative samples as quickly as possible and to reduce the laboratory workload.

Validation and Search of the Ideal Cut-Off of the Sysmex UF-1000i Flow Cytometer for the Diagnosis of Urinary Tract Infection in a Tertiary Hospital in Spain.

Urinary tract infections (UTI) are one of the most prevalent infections. A rapid and reliable screening method is useful to screen out negative samples. The objective of this study was to validate the Sysmex flow cytometer UF-1000i by evaluating its accuracy, linearity and carry-over; and define an optimal cut-off value to be used in routine practice in our hospital.

Comparative effect of photodynamic therapy on separated or mixed cultures of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sanguinis.

Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has shown to exert a bactericidal effect against Streptococcus sanguinis and Streptococcus mutans. However, this efficacy has been reported for either type of bacteria separately. Bacterial suspensions of both strains, separately or together, were treated with concentrations of methylene blue (MB) and rose bengal (RB).

Towards the early detection of β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae by MALDI-TOF MS analysis.

Objectives: Development of a novel MALDI-TOF MS-based method for the rapid detection of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae.

Methods: The method was evaluated in terms of sensitivity, specificity and turnaround time regarding the antibiotic used (cefotaxime, ceftazidime, ceftriaxone, cefpodoxime or cefepime) and the performance of the automated MBT STAR-BL software (Bruker Daltonik GmbH, Germany) relative to qualitative interpretation of spectra for detecting β-lactamase resistance by MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Daltonik) in a collection of 11 isogenic Escherichia coli control strains expressing different β-lactamases. Finally, for clinical validation, β-lactamase activity was determined under previously evaluated conditions in 100 clinical isolates previously characterized by PCR and sequencing.

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius Human Infection Cases in Spain: Dog-to-Human Transmission.

Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is an opportunistic pathogen that has been identified as infectious agent or colonizer mainly in dogs. S. pseudintermedius has been also detected in humans and more specifically in people in contact with dogs.