In vitro efficacy of daptomycin and teicoplanin combined with ethanol, clarithromycin or gentamicin as catheter lock solutions.

Background: Despite widespread use, optimum choice of antimicrobial agents, concentrations, combinations and exposure times have not been determined for antibiotic lock technique (ALT). Our objective was to evaluate the efficacy of different antibiotic combinations using an in vitro model of catheter-related infection. Daptomycin (DAP) 5 mg/mL, teicoplanin (TEC) 5 mg/mL, both alone and combined with gentamicin (GM) 2.

Multicentre evaluation of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) of Roche Diagnostics in Andalusia.

Background: A Spanish multicentre evaluation of the third generation of Roche Diagnostics immunoturbidimetric inhibition method (TINIA) is presented for quantification of haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) in whole blood.

Methods: The analytical performance of the TINIA test was evaluated and blood sample results were compared with two other widely used analysers, Bio-Rad Variant II and Adams Arkray HA-8160, based on HPLC.

Results: Within- and between-batch imprecision (coefficients of variation (CVs)) for HbA1c levels of 5, 6, 7 and 8% were 0.