Update on methods used for mycological testing: wide diversity and opportunities for improvement persist.

Past analysis of laboratory methods used for mycology specimens revealed significant variation in practices, many of which fell short of recommended procedures. In 2016 these findings led to a set of recommendations for laboratories to consider modification of their methods where appropriate, to analyse current laboratory methods used by participants in the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programs (RCPAQAP) Mycology module, and to compare these to the 2016 recommendations. Seven test items, with 105-107 participants each, were analysed.

Assessing students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties through multiple diagnostic assessments.

This article aims to assist practitioners in understanding dyslexia and other reading difficulties and assessing students' learning needs. We describe the essential components of language and literacy, universal screening, diagnostic assessments, curriculum-based measurement and eligibility determination. We then introduce four diagnostic assessments as examples, including norm-referenced assessments (i.

Species distribution and susceptibility of Nocardia isolates in New Zealand 2002-2021.

The aim was to record the distribution and susceptibility of Nocardia species in New Zealand. Local and referred isolates were identified by an evolving approach over the study period including conventional phenotypic methods, susceptibility profiles, matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF) and molecular sequencing. Isolates previously identified as a Nocardia sp.

The emergence of azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus complex in New Zealand.

Background: Azole resistance in Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) is increasing globally. A pan-azole-resistant isolate prompted genetic analysis of local azole-resistant isolates to determine resistance genotypes.

Antifungal susceptibility of clinical mould isolates in New Zealand, 2001-2019.

The objective of this study was to review the antifungal susceptibility of clinical mould isolates performed by the New Zealand Mycology Reference Laboratory. Isolates were either local or referred for testing from other New Zealand laboratories. All isolates were tested by the broth colorimetric microdilution method, Sensititre YeastOne (SYO).

Long-read sequencing based clinical metagenomics for the detection and confirmation of Pneumocystis jirovecii directly from clinical specimens: A paradigm shift in mycological diagnostics.

The advent of next generation sequencing technologies has enabled the characterization of the genetic content of entire communities of organisms, including those in clinical specimens, without prior culturing. The MinION from Oxford Nanopore Technologies offers real-time, direct sequencing of long DNA fragments directly from clinical samples. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of unbiased, genome-wide, long-read, shotgun sequencing using MinION to identify Pneumocystis jirovecii directly from respiratory tract specimens and to characterize the associated mycobiome.

Multi-Locus Next-Generation Sequence Typing of DNA Extracted From Pooled Colonies Detects Multiple Unrelated Strains in a Significant Proportion of Patient Samples.

The yeast is an important opportunistic human pathogen. For strain typing or drug susceptibility testing, a single colony recovered from a patient sample is normally used. This is insufficient when multiple strains are present at the site sampled.

Antifungal susceptibility testing results of New Zealand yeast isolates, 2001-2015: Impact of recent CLSI breakpoints and epidemiological cut-off values for Candida and other yeast species.

Objectives: We reviewed the antifungal susceptibility testing results of local yeast isolates (2001-2015) to record the impact of recently updated interpretive criteria and epidemiological cut-off values (ECVs) for yeast species.

Methods: Susceptibility testing was performed using Sensititre YeastOne. The results were interpreted following CLSI criteria or YeastOne-derived ECVs.

Evidence for a general-purpose genotype in Candida albicans, highly prevalent in multiple geographical regions, patient types and types of infection.

Epidemiological studies, using the probe Ca3, have shown that in a given patient population a single cluster of genetically related Candida albicans isolates usually predominates. The authors have investigated whether these local clusters are part of a single group, geographically widespread and highly prevalent as an aetiological agent of various types of candidiasis. An unrooted neighbour-joining tree of 266 infection-causing C.