Evaluation of identification and susceptibility for Candida spp. isolated directly from positive blood culture bottles

Determination of the susceptibility profile of isolates of Candida from blood culture bottles is extremely important for correctly guiding patient pharmacotherapy. ,e aim of this study was to compare the results of analysis of Candida isolated directly from blood culture bottles by the VITEK MS MALDI-TOF identification system and the fluconazole disk diffusion assay with those of standard identification methods. Testing directly from the bottle allowed results 24 to 48 hours quicker than the standard method. ,ere was a categorical agreement of 51.64% (47 of 91 samples) between the results of analysis directly from the bottle and analysis by the standard method. Regarding species identification, there was 96.15% agreement for Candida parapsilosis (25 of 26 samples). Categorical agreement between the rapid and standard disk diffusion methods was 95%, and the agreement between the rapid disk diffusion method and the broth microdilution method was 97%. Only minor errors in the rapid method were observed: 3 (5%) in the standard disk diffusion method and 2 (3%) in the broth microdilution method. Our study concluded that the rapid disk diffusion method for fluconazole is a fast, easy, reproducible, and consistent method. Its timely implementation for testing antifungal agents in the clinical microbiology laboratory can help reduce profile release times, thus helping to determine the most appropriate antifungal treatment

ALTERAÇÃO EPIDEMIOLÓGICA E NA MORTALIDADE GERAL DE PACIENTES COM CANDIDEMIA EM UM HOSPITAL TERCIÁRIO

Introdução: Candidemia é uma infecção fúngica invasiva associada aos cuidados de saúde, com uma taxa de mortalidade de 25%‒50%. A infecção está diretamente associada à exposição aos fatores de risco ou baixa de imunidade. O acompanhamento da epidemiologia é importante para observar as tendências de aparecimento de novas espécies e diferentes perfis de suscetibilidade. Objetivo: Descrever a prevalência e o perfil de suscetibilidade aos antifúngicos de Candida spp. em hemoculturas de pacientes do Hospital de Clínicas Porto Alegre nos últimos 8 meses, assim como avaliar a taxa de mortalidade e terapia utilizada. Metodologia: Foram analisadas 69 amostras de outubro de 2022 a julho de 2023, positivas pelo sistema automatizado BACT/ALERT® e identificadas pelo método MALDI TOF (VITEK® MS). Para determinar o perfil de suscetibilidade aos antifúngicos foram utilizadas fitas gradientes e microdiluição em caldo, conforme BrCast 2023. Resultados: 69 amostras de Candida spp. foram isolados, e identificados como C. parapsilosis (n=18; 26,1%), C. orthopsilosis (n=14; 20,3%), C. albicans (n=11;15,9%), C. tropicalis (n=10; 14,5%), C. glabrata (n=6; 8,7%), C. guilliermondii (n=6; 8,7%), C. krusei (n=2; 2,9%), C. kefyr (n=1; 1,5%). C. metapsilosis (n=1; 1,4%). A suscetibilidade dos 69 isolados para o Fluconazol foi de 61,2%, para Anfotericina foi de 100% e Micafungina foi de 76,9%. O tratamento em 52,5% dos casos foi utilizado o Fluconazol, 28% Equinocandinas 7,5% Anfotericina, 3,0% associação de antifúngicos 1,5% Voriconazol e 6,0% não foi utilizado terapia antifúngica. A taxa de mortalidade em 30 dias desse período foi de 29.3%. Conclusão: Comparando a estudo anterior realizado em 2006 (Aquino VR, et al.) na instituição houve uma mudança na epidemiologia e na mortalidade geral. A prevalência na instituição é do complexo Candida parapsilosis (47,8%), esse complexo está relacionado ao uso de cateter venoso central e formação de biofilme, possibilitando a detecção de cepas não sensíveis ao fluconazol, que vem sendo relatado em estudos (Tortorano AM, et al., 2021). Concomitante houve um decréscimo na mortalidade (51,9% para 29,3%) que pode ser atribuído a profilaxia antifúngica em pacientes de risco, e maior conscientização em relação aos fatores de risco de candidemia apresentados pelos pacientes. O monitoramento contínuo da epidemiologia local, bem como o perfil de suscetibilidade aos antifúngicos, são ferramentas importantes para apoiar o diagnóstico e detecção de cepas resistentes

Study of volumn estimation model in distribution center packing information system

　　物流中心內的包裝作業是物流系統中相當重要且困難的一環。由於訂單中貨品的多樣性及其體積（形狀）有極大的差異，所以，每張訂單的材積數不易預估。影響所及，在根據訂單裝貨、決定派送路線時，我們很難『事先』測知那幾張訂單的貨可以裝得上同一輛車，以及應該需要的貨車數。衍生的問題甚至包括：派車路線、揀貨順序無法取得較佳的作業。一般配送網路的研究只考慮重量的限制而已，材積的估計大都不予考慮，但這卻是相當重要的一環。　　　　本研究主要分為「建立材積預估模式」以及「實例應用」等兩大部份。在「建立材積預估模式」部份，本研究針對包裝作業管理資訊系統中材積之預估做深入的探討，並發展出四種估計材積之啟發演算法，希望在撿貨前先求出每張訂單的最小體積，以利後續車輛調度、配送網路、撿貨順序等其他作業效率的改進。　　在「實例應用」方面，本研究根據所提出的演算法，實際以一個案廠商的包裝資料，做「預估訂單的材積」以及「決定零星產品裝箱籃子較佳的大小」兩種實例的應用

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data

Neotropical freshwater fisheries : A dataset of occurrence and abundance of freshwater fishes in the Neotropics

The Neotropical region hosts 4225 freshwater fish species, ranking first among the world's most diverse regions for freshwater fishes. Our NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set is the first to produce a large-scale Neotropical freshwater fish inventory, covering the entire Neotropical region from Mexico and the Caribbean in the north to the southern limits in Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay. We compiled 185,787 distribution records, with unique georeferenced coordinates, for the 4225 species, represented by occurrence and abundance data. The number of species for the most numerous orders are as follows: Characiformes (1289), Siluriformes (1384), Cichliformes (354), Cyprinodontiformes (245), and Gymnotiformes (135). The most recorded species was the characid Astyanax fasciatus (4696 records). We registered 116,802 distribution records for native species, compared to 1802 distribution records for nonnative species. The main aim of the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set was to make these occurrence and abundance data accessible for international researchers to develop ecological and macroecological studies, from local to regional scales, with focal fish species, families, or orders. We anticipate that the NEOTROPICAL FRESHWATER FISHES data set will be valuable for studies on a wide range of ecological processes, such as trophic cascades, fishery pressure, the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation, and the impacts of species invasion and climate change. There are no copyright restrictions on the data, and please cite this data paper when using the data in publications