Inaccuracy of routine susceptibility tests for detection of erythromycin resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli

In The Netherlands, both an increase in and regional differences in erythromycin resistance of Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli have been reported. To determine the accuracy of routine tests for erythromycin resistance, 48 erythromycin-resistant isolates from various laboratories that participate in the Dutch surveillance of Campylobacter infections were reinvestigated. Initial susceptibility testing for erythromycin had been performed by disk diffusion in six and MIC-based methods in two laboratories. Reinvestigation was carried out using broth microdilution as a reference standard, as well as E-test and genetic resistance testing. Of 36 C. jejuni isolates reported by the initial laboratories as erythromycin-resistant, four (11%) and five (14%) were confirmed as erythromycin-resistant using broth microdilution according to CLSI and EUCAST resistance criteria, respectively. Erythromycin resistance was found in eight of 12 (67%) C. coli isolates according to both criteria. Results of E-tests were in accordance with these results in all isolates. Resistance-associated mutations in the 23S rRNA gene (A2059G and A2058T) were found in all isolates showing high-level resistance, whereas none were found in susceptible isolates. Routine determination of the erythromycin resistance of C. jejuni and C. coli shows unacceptable interlaboratory variation. In the absence of standardized protocols and interpretive criteria for disk diffusion, and while we await the development of easily applicable and reliable methods for molecular resistance testing, the use of broth microdilution remains the best method

Cytology of parthenogenesis of five Meloidogyne species

La présente étude a porté sur l'ovogenèse de plusieurs isolats à parthénogenèse méiotique facultative - #Meloidogyne hapla race A, #M. chitwoodi, #M. fallax - et à parthénogenèse améiotique (mitotique) - #M. hapla race B, #M. javanica et l'isolat Xa appartenant à une espèce non identifiée - et ce au moyen d'une technique de coloration fluorescente au Hoechst 33258. En l'absence de fécondation, le nombre de chromosomes somatiques est rétabli par fusion du pronucleus et du second corps polaire chez les isolats de #M. hapla race A, dans tous les autres cas la réduction chromosomique est compensée par la duplication des chromosomes dans le noyau de l'oeuf après la première division. Chez l'une des lignées mono-femelles de l'isolat Xa le développement embryonnaire, génétiquement contrôlé, se produit à l'intérieur de la femelle. Cette étude confirme la grande variabilité des modes de reproduction des espèces de #Meloidogyne ce qui peut expliquer leur succès mondial. Dans un isolat de #M. hapla race A, seuls 12% des oocytes des femelles fécondées contiennent des spermatozoïdes et ce sont les oocytes en prophase 1 - au lieu de la prométaphase 1 - qui sont observés en position postérieure à la spermathèque. (Résumé d'auteur

A 14b 200MS/s DAC with SFDR>78dBc, IM3

A 14-bit 200MS/s current-steering DAC with a novel digital calibration technique called dynamic-mismatch mapping (DMM) is presented. Compared to traditional static-mismatch mapping and dynamic element matching, DMM reduces the nonlinearities caused by both amplitude and timing errors, without noise penalty. This 0.14µm CMOS DAC achieves a state-of-the-art performance of SFDR>78dBc, IM

Meten van broeikasgassen in het landschap

Verschillende meetinstrumenten en technieken worden ingezet om de dynamiek van deze uitwisseling in ruimte en tijd in beeld te krijgen. De metingen moeten vertellen wat de netto broeikasgasbalans van het landschap is en hoe deze zal reageren op een veranderend klimaa

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN SiC AND Ni OR Fe AND THEIR ALLOYS

No abstract

Why humans are attractive to malaria mosquitoes

Malaria mosquitoes use host odours to find their blood sources, but little is known about the semiochemicals that mediate this behaviour. A combined study is undertaken to identify the volatile human-specific compounds that are used in the host-seeking behaviour of the females of Anopheles gambia

Translating Sepsis-3 criteria in children: Prognostic accuracy of age-adjusted quick SOFA score in children visiting the emergency department with suspected bacterial infection

Background: Recent attempts to translate Sepsis-3 criteria to children have been restricted to PICU patients and did not target children in emergency departments (ED). We assessed the prognostic accuracy of the age-adjusted quick Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (qSOFA) and compared the performance to SIRS and the quick Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 score (qPELOD-2). We studied whether the addition of lactate (qSOFA-L) would increase prognostic accuracy. Methods: Non-academic, single-center, retrospective study in children visiting the ED and admitted with suspected bacterial infection between March 2013 and January 2018. We defined suspected bacterial infection as initiation of antibiotic therapy within 24 h after ED entry. Age-adjusted qSOFA, SIRS, qPELOD-2, and qSOFA-L scores were compared by area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) analysis. Primary outcome measure was PICU transfer and/or mortality and secondary outcome was prolonged hospital length of stay. Results: We included 864 ED visits [474 (55%) male; median age 2.5 years; IQR 9 months-6 years], of which 18 were transferred to a PICU and 6 ended in death [composite outcome PICU transfer and/or mortality; 23 admissions (2.7%)]. 179 (22.2%) admissions resulted in prolonged hospital length of stay. PICU transfer and/or death was present in 22.5% of visits with qSOFA≥2 (n = 40) compared to 2.0% of visits with qSOFA < 2 (n = 444) (p < 0.01). qSOFA tends to be the best predictor of PICU transfer and/or mortality (AUROC 0.72 (95% CI, 0.57-0.86) compared to SIRS [0.64 (95% CI, 0.53-0.74), p = 0.23] and qPELOD-2 [0.60 (95% CI, 0.45-0.76), p = 0.03)]. Prolonged hospital length of stay was poorly predicted by qSOFA (AUROC 0.53, 95% CI 0.46-0.59), SIRS (0.49, 95% CI 0.44-0.54), and qPELOD-2 (0.51, 95%CI 0.45-0.57). qSOFA-L resulted in an AUROC of 0.67 (95%CI, 0.50-0.84) for PICU transfer and/ormortality and an AUROC of 0.56 (95% CI, 0.46-0.67) for prolonged hospital length of stay. Conclusion: The currently proposed bedside risk-stratification tool of Sepsis-3 criteria, qSOFA, shows moderate prognostic accuracy for PICU transfer and/or mortality in children visiting the ED with suspected bacterial infection. The addition of lactate did not improve prognostic accuracy. Future prospective studies in larger ED populations are needed to further determine the utility of the qSOFA score