Innovative and rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing systems

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to human health worldwide, and the rapid detection and quantification of resistance, combined with antimicrobial stewardship, are key interventions to combat the spread and emergence of AMR. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) systems are the collective set of diagnostic processes that facilitate the phenotypic and genotypic assessment of AMR and antibiotic susceptibility. Over the past 30 years, only a few high-throughput AST methods have been developed and widely implemented. By contrast, several studies have established proof of principle for various innovative AST methods, including both molecular-based and genome-based methods, which await clinical trials and regulatory review. In this Review, we discuss the current state of AST systems in the broadest technical, translational and implementation-related scope

Business intelligence and strategic decisions : the case of a health company

La théorie qui postule le lien entre l’information et la prise de décision a été fréquemment présentée dans la littérature académique comme étant un élément essentiel du fonctionnement et de la performance de l’entreprise.Cette théorie est parfois contredite par la pratique.Cela questionne le postulat selon lequel la veille stratégique est utile à la décision stratégique, dans les groupes industriels notamment.Notre recherche a pour objet de comprendre comment ceux qui produisent de la veille et ceux qui l’exploitent interagissent et quels sont les éléments qui améliorent ou empêchent chez les dirigeants, la prise de décision. Elle repose principalement sur une étude de cas dans un groupe industriel du secteur de la santé.Les principaux résultats de ce travail montrent que les veilleurs ont une influence marginale sur la prise de décision stratégique. Ils montrent également un décalage entre les objectifs poursuivis par le dirigeant et les informations qu’il reçoit des veilleurs.Le dirigeant prend la décision stratégique tout en subissant l’influence d’autres déterminants qui limitent son utilisation de l’information reçue. Ces déterminants sont la place du veilleur stratégique dans la hiérarchie et dans le processus de création de sens ; les caractéristiques de l’information et l’organisation du circuit de l’information ; ceux qui informent le dirigeant, les informations recherchées par le dirigeant et le degré d’acceptation par ce dernier du signal faible.Notre travail propose enfin des axes d’amélioration possibles à mettre en œuvre en entreprise.The theory that postulates the link between information and decision-making has been frequently presented in the academic literature as an essential element of the functioning and performance of the enterprise.This theory is sometimes contradicted by the practice.This questions the assumption that strategic intelligence is useful for the strategic decision-making, especially in industrial groups.Our research aims to understand how those who produce the watch and those who exploit it interact and what are the elements that improve or prevent the decision-makers. It is based primarily on a case study in an industry group in the health sector.The main results of this work show that watchmen have a marginal influence on strategic decision-making. They also show a gap between the objectives pursued by the leader and the information he receives from the watchers.The leader makes the strategic decision while being influenced by other determinants that limit his or her use of the information received. These determinants are the place of the strategic veil in the hierarchy and in the process of creation of meaning; the characteristics of information and the organization of the information circuit; those who inform the leader, the information sought by the leader and the degree of acceptance by the latter of the weak signal.Finally, our work proposes possible areas for improvement to be implemented in companies

Considerations for diagnostic COVID-19 tests

During the early phase of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, design, development, validation, verification and implementation of diagnostic tests were actively addressed by a large number of diagnostic test manufacturers. Hundreds of molecular tests and immunoassays were rapidly developed, albeit many still await clinical validation and formal approval. In this Review, we summarize the crucial role of diagnostic tests during the first global wave of COVID-19. We explore the technical and implementation problems encountered during this early phase in the pandemic, and try to define future directions for the progressive and better use of (syndromic) diagnostics during a possible resurgence of COVID-19 in future global waves or regional outbreaks. Continuous global improvement in diagnostic test preparedness is essential for more rapid detection of patients, possibly at the point of care, and for optimized prevention and treatment, in both industrialized countries and low-resource settings.SCOPUS: re.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Novel strategies to diagnose prosthetic or native bone and joint infections

Introduction: Bone and Joint Infections (BJI) are medically important, costly and occur in native and prosthetic joints. Arthroplasties will increase significantly in absolute numbers over time as well as the incidence of Prosthetic Joint Infections (PJI). Diagnosis of BJI and PJI is sub-optimal. The available diagnostic tests have variable effectiveness, are often below standard in sensitivity and/or specificity, and carry significant contamination risks during the collection of clinical samples. Improvement of diagnostics is urgently needed.Areas covered We provide a narrative review on current and future diagnostic microbiology technologies. Pathogen identification, antibiotic resistance detection, and assessment of the epidemiology of infections via bacterial typing are considered useful for improved patient management. We confirm the continuing importance of culture methods and successful introduction of molecular, mass spectrometry-mediated and next-generation genome sequencing technologies. The diagnostic algorithms for BJI must be better defined, especially in the context of diversity of both disease phenotypes and clinical specimens rendered available.Expert opinion Whether interventions in BJI or PJI are surgical or chemo-therapeutic (antibiotics and bacteriophages included), prior sensitive and specific pathogen detection remains a therapy-substantiating necessity. Innovative tests for earlier and more sensitive and specific detection of bacterial pathogens in BJI are urgently needed

DLS and SAXS investigations of organic gels and aerogels

6th International Symposium on Aerogels (ISA-6) Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 08-11, 2000International audienceRecent investigations have shown that the structure of organic aerogels can be significantly modified by changing the precursors, the solvent and the nature of the catalyst involved in the sol-gel reaction. It is therefore highly desirable to investigate the sol-gel mechanism. For this purpose, dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements have been performed at different stages of the reaction for base- or acid-catalyzed gelation of resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) using water or acetone as solvents. The structure of aged gels was investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and compared to that of the aerogels obtained after exchange of solvent by supercritical CO2 and drying of the aged gels. It is shown that acid-catalyzed gelation of RF in acetone can be described by percolation, which explains that this series of aerogels consists of mass fractal aggregates (Dm = 2.5). The partial collapse of this polymeric gel yielding colloidal particles in the aerogel can be attributed to deswelling in supercritical CO2. DLS indicates that gelation of RF with a base catalyst yields a colloidal gel whose structure remains practically unchanged in the aerogel, as shown by SAXS

Investigation of the multi-scale structure of silica aerogels by SAXS

International audienceAn investigation is described into polyethoxydisiloxane (PEDS-Px) silica precursors of aerogels prepared in ethylacetoacetate (etac) under HF conditions and dried under CO2 supercritical conditions. The influence upon the internal nanostructure of aerogels of the number of water molecules (n*) used to synthesize the precursors is studied, as well as that of their volume fraction (xPrec) in solution during the second catalytic step. Correlation between structure and optical transmission (%TR) is necessary to improve optical behavior of monolithic silica aerogels for double-window applications. For this reason, small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) was performed to characterize the nanostructural silica skeleton, and especially to investigate particle and cluster properties. Optical transmission was also measured to estimate visible optical quality of the samples (%TR). Among other results, it is shown in this study that increasing n* and xPrec contributes to the decrease of the particle and cluster sizes, which indirectly improves %TR in the visible range. These observations confirm and help to explain previously published results

Radiation-induced alteration of apatite on the surface of Mars: first in situ observations with SuperCam Raman onboard Perseverance

International audiencePlanetary exploration relies considerably on mineral characterization to advance our understanding of the solar system, the planets and their evolution. Thus, we must understand past and present processes that can alter materials exposed on the surface, affecting space mission data. Here, we analyze the first dataset monitoring the evolution of a known mineral target in situ on the Martian surface, brought there as a SuperCam calibration target onboard the Perseverance rover. We used Raman spectroscopy to monitor the crystalline state of a synthetic apatite sample over the first 950 Martian days (sols) of the Mars2020 mission. We note significant variations in the Raman spectra acquired on this target, specifically a decrease in the relative contribution of the Raman signal to the total signal. These observations are consistent with the results of a UV‑irradiation test performed in the laboratory under conditions mimicking ambient Martian conditions. We conclude that theobserved evolution reflects an alteration of the material, specifically the creation of electronic defects, due to its exposure to the Martian environment and, in particular, UV irradiation. This ongoing process of alteration of the Martian surface needs to be taken into account for mineralogical space mission data analysis