Mould Routine Identification in the Clinical Laboratory by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

BACKGROUND: MALDI-TOF MS recently emerged as a valuable identification tool for bacteria and yeasts and revolutionized the daily clinical laboratory routine. But it has not been established for routine mould identification. This study aimed to validate a standardized procedure for MALDI-TOF MS-based mould identification in clinical laboratory. MATERIALS AND METHODS: First, pre-extraction and extraction procedures were optimized. With this standardized procedure, a 143 mould strains reference spectra library was built. Then, the mould isolates cultured from sequential clinical samples were prospectively subjected to this MALDI-TOF MS based-identification assay. MALDI-TOF MS-based identification was considered correct if it was concordant with the phenotypic identification; otherwise, the gold standard was DNA sequence comparison-based identification. RESULTS: The optimized procedure comprised a culture on sabouraud-gentamicin-chloramphenicol agar followed by a chemical extraction of the fungal colonies with formic acid and acetonitril. The identification was done using a reference database built with references from at least four culture replicates. For five months, 197 clinical isolates were analyzed; 20 were excluded because they were not identified at the species level. MALDI-TOF MS-based approach correctly identified 87% (154/177) of the isolates analyzed in a routine clinical laboratory activity. It failed in 12% (21/177), whose species were not represented in the reference library. MALDI-TOF MS-based identification was correct in 154 out of the remaining 156 isolates. One Beauveria bassiana was not identified and one Rhizopus oryzae was misidentified as Mucor circinelloides. CONCLUSIONS: This work's seminal finding is that a standardized procedure can also be used for MALDI-TOF MS-based identification of a wide array of clinically relevant mould species. It thus makes it possible to identify moulds in the routine clinical laboratory setting and opens new avenues for the development of an integrated MALDI-TOF MS-based solution for the identification of any clinically relevant microorganism

Les montagnes, terres d’abondance

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A fluvial record of the mid-Holocene rapid climatic changes in the middle Rhone valley (Espeluche-Lalo, France) and of their impact on Late Mesolithic and Early Neolithic societies

International audienceThis multi-proxy study of a small floodplain in the Rhone catchment area, at the northern edge of the Mediterranean morphoclimatic system, provides valuable information concerning the impact of mid Holocene climate variability (8.5-7.0 ka) and the effects of two rapid climatic changes (8.2 and 7.7/7.1 ka) on an alluvial plain, its basin and the first farming societies of the Rhone valley. Around 7.7/7.1 ka, the combined effects of (1) a strong rate of change in insolation and (2) variations in solar activity amplified marine and atmospheric circulation in the north-west Atlantic (Bond event 5b), which imply continental hydrological, soil and vegetation changes in the small catchment area. For this period, strong fluctuations in the plant cover ratio have been identified, related to a regime of sustained and regular fires, as well as abundant erosion of the hill slopes and frequent fluvial metamorphoses which led to braiding of the watercourse in this floodplain. There are few data available to evaluate the impact of natural events on prehistoric communities. This continental archive offers clear multi-proxy data for discussion of these aspects, having 4 cultural layers interbedded in the fluvial sequence (1 Late Mesolithic, 3 Cardial/Epicardial). Earlier data indicate the difficulty in recognizing such cultural features in the low alluvial plains of southern France during the Mesolithic/Early Neolithic transition, which should lead to caution when developing settlement models for this period. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Le REBENT-II Bretagne . Surveillance du Benthos du littoral breton. Année 2018

Ce « Rapport final » dresse le bilan des données REBENT acquises en 201

Le site moustérien de la grotte du noisetier, Pyrénées centrales françaises: une bilan interdisciplinaire après dix ans de fouille.

International audienc

La grotte du Gardon (Ain), volume I : le site et la séquence néolithique des couches 60 à 47

La grotte du Gardon à Ambérieu-en-Bugey (Ain), au sud du Jura, a fait l'objet, durant plus de quinze années, d'une importante fouille programmée afin d'établir une nouvelle séquence chrono-culturelle de référence pour la Préhistoire récente du haut Bassin rhodanien. Ce volume constitue le premier volet d'une trilogie présentant les résultats de ces recherches qui documentent les occupations humaines depuis la fin du sixième millénaire jusqu'au XVIIe siècle de notre ère. La première partie de l'ouvrage présente le gisement dans son contexte géographique et géologique, les résultats des fouilles anciennes, la stratigraphie, les datations absolues et les facteurs de remplissage. Il est notamment possible de mettre en évidence une alternance de couches d'occupation et de niveaux d'inondation du trop-plein karstique, en lien avec les variations paléo-climatiques reconnues dans le Jura. La seconde partie traite de l'environnement du gisement, qu'il soit archéologique ou naturel (anthracologie, carpologie, paléoenvironnement, microfaune, ressources lithiques). En dernier lieu est abordée la question de la néolithisation de cette région par la présentation des couches 60 à 47. Durant le Néolithique ancien, entre 5300 et 4800 avant notre ère, la grotte est occupée à plusieurs reprises, soit par des éleveurs d'origine méridionale, soit par des chasseurs autochtones dont les pratiques renvoient pour l'essentiel aux traditions mésolithiques locales. Le début du Néolithique moyen, entre 4700 et 4250 avant notre ère, correspond à des occupations semi-permanentes (habitats ou bergeries). Ces niveaux, riches en matériaux archéologiques, ont contribué à la définition des ensembles culturels de cette période, et notamment du style de Saint-Uze

NAVIRe, French real-life observatory of efficacy and resistance to anti CMV molecules in stem cell recipients. First data analysis

Meeting abstract issu du 49th Annual Meeting of the European-Society-for-Blood-and-Marrow-Transplantation, Paris hybrid, 23-26 avril 2023International audienc