Presence of hypervirulence-associated determinants in Klebsiella pneumoniae from hospitalised patients in Germany.

Background: Klebsiella (K.) pneumoniae is a ubiquitous Gram-negative bacterium and a common coloniser of animals and humans. Today, K.

[Diagnostic stewardship in outpatient and hospital medicine with focus on microbiological urinary and bloodstream diagnostics].

Targeted infection diagnosis supports decision-making in the rational use of antibiotics usually encompassed as Antibiotic Stewardship (ABS). Similar to ABS, the term "Diagnostic Stewardship" (DGS) is suggested, whereas DGS includes, beneath general, predominantly microbiological infection diagnostics - with specific pathogen detection, conventional via culture or immunology, increasingly also using molecular biological methods. Especially in microbiology, pre-analytics, analytics and post-analytics play an essential role.

[New Antibiotics for Treatment of Highly Resistant Gram-negative Bacteria].

New β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor (BLI) combinations (ceftolozan/tazobactam, ceftazidim/avibactam, meropenem/vaborbactam, imipenem/relebactam, aztreonam/avibactam) are the focus of newly approved antibiotics or those currently in advanced clinical testing. In contrast to the BLI currently available, the new inhibitors avibactam, vaborbactam and relebactam are not structurally β-lactams.The combination with a BLI protects β-lactam from degradation by broad-spectrum β-lactamases from gram-negative pathogens.

Impact of 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate for induction of human regulatory T cells.

The epigenetic regulation of transcription factor genes is critical for T-cell lineage specification. A specific methylation pattern within a conserved region of the lineage specifying transcription factor gene FOXP3, the Treg-specific demethylated region (TSDR), is restricted to regulatory T (Treg) cells and is required for stable expression of FOXP3 and suppressive function. We analysed the impact of hypomethylating agents 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine and epigallocatechin-3-gallate on human CD4(+)  CD25(-) T cells for generating demethylation within FOXP3-TSDR and inducing functional Treg cells.

High sensitivity and specificity of a new functional flow cytometry assay for clinically significant heparin-induced thrombocytopenia antibodies.

Introduction: Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is a life-threatening condition, in which the anticoagulant heparin, platelet factor 4 (PF4), and platelet-activating antibodies form complexes with prothrombotic properties. Laboratory tests to support clinical diagnosis are subdivided into functional, platelet activation assays, which lack standardization, or immunological assays, which have moderate specificity toward HIT. In this study, clinical performance of HITAlert, a novel in vitro diagnostic (IVD) registered platelet activation assay, was tested in a large cohort of HIT-suspected patients and compared with immunological assays.