Clinical Utility of Blood Culture Identification 2 Panel in Flagged Blood Culture Samples from the Intensive Care Unit of a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: The availability of rapid diagnostic platforms for positive blood cultures has accelerated the speed at which the clinical microbiology laboratory can identify the causative organism and facilitate early appropriate antimicrobial therapy. There is a paucity of data regarding the clinical utility of the blood culture identification 2 (BCID2) panel test and its correlation with phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) in flagged blood culture bottles from intensive care units (ICUs) in countries such as India, which have high rates of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria (MDR-GNB).

Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study in a tertiary care ICU on 200 patients above 18 years of age in whom a BCID2 test was ordered when blood cultures flagged positive.

Epidemiology and outcomes of infections during extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in adult patients with COVID-19 ARDS- A single center study.

Background: There is a scarcity of data regarding nosocomial infections in patients with COVID-19 treated with ECMO. This observational study from India aims to describe the epidemiology and microbiology of infections in patients with COVID-19 associated ECMO.

Methods: This is an ambi-directional observational study of COVID-19 ECMO patients admitted from April 2021 to June 2022 in a tertiary care hospital.

Fucoidan protects CA1 pyramidal neurons of the hippocampus and preserves the cognitive profile of rats subjected to transient forebrain ischemia.

Fucoidan, a polysaccharide derived from brown seaweeds, especially Fucus Vesiculosus has been documented as an effective neuroprotectant. This study investigates the efficacy of fucoidan in mitigating the cognitive deficits in the rat model of vascular dementia induced through the 4-vessel occlusions (4VO) method. Male Wistar rats weighing about 250-300 g were randomly assigned into four groups, sham, lesion (4VO), 4VO + F5mg/kg, and 4VO + F50mg/kg.

Xpert Carba-R Assay on Flagged Blood Culture Samples: Clinical Utility in Intensive Care Unit Patients with Bacteremia Caused by .

Introduction And Background: Rapid molecular diagnostics to predict carbapenem resistance well before the availability of routine drug sensitivity testing (DST) can serve as an antimicrobial stewardship tool in the context of high rates of Carbapenem-resistant (CRE).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective observational study of patients more than 18 years of age on whom Xpert Carba-R (FDA approved for rectal swab specimen) was done on gram-negative bacteria (GNB) flagged blood culture samples, in an Indian intensive care unit between January 2015 and November 2018. We analyzed the performance of Xpert Carba-R in comparison with routine DST.

"Nurse-The Archer" Fighting Against the Hidden Enemy.

Background And Aim: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global threat spreading like a wildfire and taking the world by its storm. It has challenged the healthcare delivery systems and disrupted them in a way no one ever imagined before. We at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India received many patients in the COVID critical care unit (CCU) and found a gradual lack of bundle care compliance resulting in an upsurge of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) amid the patients.