Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of Bacteroides species by disk diffusion: The NordicAST Bacteroides study

Objectives - Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of anaerobic bacteria has until recently been done by MIC methods. We have carried out a multi-centre evaluation of the newly validated EUCAST disk diffusion method for AST of Bacteroides spp. Methods - A panel of 30 Bacteroides strains was assembled based on reference agar dilution MICs, resistance gene detection and quantification of cfiA carbapenemase gene expression. Nordic clinical microbiology laboratories (n = 45) performed disk diffusion on Fastidious Anaerobe Agar with 5% mechanically defibrinated horse blood (FAA-HB) for piperacillin-tazobactam, meropenem and metronidazole. Results - A total of 43/45 (95.6%) laboratories carried out disk diffusion per protocol. Intraclass correlation coefficients were 0.87 (0.80–0.93) for piperacillin-tazobactam, 0.95 (0.91–0.97) for meropenem and 0.89 (0.83–0.94) for metronidazole. For metronidazole, one media lot yielded smaller zones and higher variability than another. Piperacillin-tazobactam and meropenem zone diameters correlated negatively with cfiA expression. A meropenem zone diameter of Conclusions - Inter-laboratory agreement by disk diffusion was good or very good. The main challenges were media-related variability for metronidazole and categorical disagreement with the reference method for piperacillin-tazobactam in some cfiA-positive strains. An area of technical uncertainty specific for such strains may be warranted

Multicentre testing of the EUCAST broth microdilution reference method for MIC determination on mycobacterium tuberculosis

Objectives: the first objective of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) subcommittee for antimycobacterial susceptibility testing (AMST), launched in 2016, was to set a reference method for determining the MICs of antituberculous agents, since many protocols are used worldwide and a consensus one is needed for the determination of microbiological breakpoints. Methods: during 2017 and 2018, MIC determination protocols were evaluated prospectively in a multicentre study within the four AMST laboratories. MIC results were obtained for isoniazid, levofloxacin and amikacin on the reference strain Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv ATCC 27294. Broth microdilution (BMD) in Middlebrook 7H9 and solid medium dilution (SMD) in Middlebrook 7H10 were performed using two inoculum concentrations. MICs were interpreted with regard to visual and 99% inhibition after 7, 14 or 21 days of incubation for BMD and 21 days for SMD. Results: following the EUCAST reference protocol, intra- and inter-assay agreements were within ±1 MIC dilution for >95% of the observations for the three drugs in both methods. MIC values, presented as MIC mode (range) for BMD and SMD respectively, were: 0.03 (0.015-0.06) mg/L and 0.12 (0.06-0.25) mg/L for isoniazid, 0.25 mg/L (0.25-0.5) and 0.5 mg/L (0.12-0.5) for levofloxacin, and 0.5 mg/L (0.5-1.0) and 0.5 mg/L (0.5-1.0) for amikacin. Conclusions: both SMD and BMD were reproducible and eligible as a reference method for MIC determination of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). BMD was finally selected as the EUCAST reference method. From now on it will be used to set epidemiological cut-off values and clinical breakpoints of new and old antituberculous agents

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing of mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates - the EUCAST broth microdilution reference method for MIC determination

Scope:Several methods are used worldwide for antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) for theMycobac-terium tuberculosiscomplex (MTBC). The variability in the results obtained with these methods hamperssetting epidemiological cut-off (ECOFF) values and clinical breakpoints according to EUCAST guidelines.Methods for susceptibility testing and determination of the minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs)need to be standardized for MTBC isolates for old and new agents. Our objective was to establish astandardized reference method for MIC determination for MTBC.Methods:The EUCAST antimycobacterial susceptibility testing subcommittee (AMST) compared pro-tocols of MIC determination with regard to medium, inoculum preparation, antituberculous agentpreparation, incubation, reading of the results and interpretation.Recommendations:The EUCAST reference method of MIC determination for MTBC is the broth micro-dilution method in Middlebrook 7H9-10% OADC medium. Thefinal inoculum is a 105CFU/mL suspension,obtained from a 10 2dilution of a 0.5 McFarland suspension prepared after vortexing bacterial colonieswith glass beads before suspending them in sterile water. The culture is maintained in a U-shaped 96-well polystyrene microtitre sterile plate with a lid incubated at 36 ±1 C. Reading is done using aninverted mirror as soon as the 1:100 diluted control (i.e. 103CFU/mL suspension) shows visual growth.The MIC, expressed in mg/L, is the lowest concentration that inhibits visual growth.MycobacteriumtuberculosisH37Rv ATCC 27294 is used as the reference strain and its targeted MIC values are within therange 0.03e0.12 for isoniazid, 0.12e0.5 for levofloxacin and 0.25e1 mg/L for amikacin.Conclusions:The EUCAST reference method for MTBC was endorsed by EUCAST after public consultationand will from now on be used to define EUCAST ECOFFs and clinical breakpoints. This reference methodis not primarily intended to be used under routine conditions and the AST methods will need to b

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)

Language technologies for a multilingual Europe

This volume of the series “Translation and Multilingual Natural Language Processing” includes most of the papers presented at the Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe”, held at the University of Hamburg on September 27, 2011 in the framework of the conference GSCL 2011 with the topic “Multilingual Resources and Multilingual Applications”, along with several additional contributions. In addition to an overview article on Machine Translation and two contributions on the European initiatives META-NET and Multilingual Web, the volume includes six full research articles. Our intention with this workshop was to bring together various groups concerned with the umbrella topics of multilingualism and language technology, especially multilingual technologies. This encompassed, on the one hand, representatives from research and development in the field of language technologies, and, on the other hand, users from diverse areas such as, among others, industry, administration and funding agencies. The Workshop “Language Technology for a Multilingual Europe” was co-organised by the two GSCL working groups “Text Technology” and “Machine Translation” (http://gscl.info) as well as by META-NET (http://www.meta-net.eu)