In vitro transdifferentiation of umbilical cord stem cells into cardiac myocytes: Role of growth factors

Recently, stem cell based cell therapy has become a realistic option to replace damaged cardiomyocytes. Most studies on stem cell transplantation therapy have focused on the use of undifferentiated stem cells. There is a strong possibility that some cardiogenic differentiation of the stem cell in vitro prior to transplantation would result in higher engraftment efficiency, as well as enhanced myocardial regeneration and recovery of heart function. In this study we aimed to define the conditions for ex-vivo differentiation of cord blood stem cells to cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells. These conditions include the combination of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF); basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF-2) and platelet derived growth factor AB (PDGF-AB). Forty cord blood samples were included in this work. In this work, the percentage of CD34+ cells, CD31+ cells and CD34/31+ cells in mononuclear cells (MNC) suspension was counted prior to culture (day zero), and day 10 in the different growth factor cocktails used as well as the control tube, from which the fold increase of CD34+ cells, CD31+ cells and CD34/31+ cells was calculated. Detection of cardiac troponin I in the cultured cells to confirm cardiac differentiation was done at day 10 using Mouse anti-troponin I monoclonal antibody. From the present study, it was concluded that the growth factor cocktail in protocol 2 (FGF2+VEGF+PDGF-AB) gives better in vitro trans-differentiation of stem/progenitor cells in umbilical cord blood into cardiomyocytes and endothelial cells than the cytokines cocktail in protocol 1 (FGF2+VEGF) alone

BioFire FilmArray BCID2 versus VITEK-2 System in Determining Microbial Etiology and Antibiotic-Resistant Genes of Pathogens Recovered from Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections

Central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) is among the most serious hospital acquired infections. Therefore, the rapid detection of the causative microorganism is of crucial importance to allow for the appropriate antimicrobial therapy. In the present study, we analyzed the clinical performance of the BioFire FilmArray Blood Culture Identification 2 (BCID2) panel in the identification of 33 microbial species and 10 antibiotic resistance genes in comparison to the VITEK-2 system. A total of 104 blood specimens were included. The FilmArray BCID2 results were concordant with the VITEK-2 system in 69/97 specimens (71.1%). Non-concordance was either due to the detection of more pathogens by the FilmArray BCID2 23/28 (82%) or microbial species were misidentified 5/28 (18%). Hence, in comparison to the VITEK-2 system, the FilmArray BCID2 panel showed an overall sensitivity of 75.8% (95% CI, 66–83%) and an overall specificity of 98% (95% CI, 97–98.8%) in detecting microbial species. For the resistance genes, the FilmArray BCID was able to detect the presence of blaCTX-M gene in 23 Gram-negative isolates, blaNDM and blaOXA-48- like genes in 14 and 13 isolates, respectively. The mecA and mecC genes were found in 23 Staphylococcus species, while mecA, mecC and MREJ genes were found in 4 Staphylococcus aureus isolates. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting resistance genes by the FilmArray BCID2 was 90% (95% CI, 81.4–95%) and 99.6% (95% CI, 99–100%), respectively. As concluded, the present study emphasizes the high sensitivity and specificity of the FilmArray BCID2 in the rapid and reliable detection of different bacteria and fungi from positive blood culture bottles, as well as the accurate detection of various antibiotic resistance markers