Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a widespread disease, and thus, the most common samples tested in diagnostic microbiology laboratories are urine samples. The "gold standard" for diagnosis is still bacterial culture, but a large proportion of samples are negative. Unnecessary culture can be reduced by an effective screening test. We evaluated the performance of a new urine cytometer, the Sysmex UF-1000i (Dasit), on 703 urine samples submitted to our laboratory for culture. We compared bacteria and leukocyte (WBC) counts performed with the Sysmex UF-1000i to CFU-per-milliliter quantification on CPS agar to assess the best cutoff values. Different cutoff values of bacteria/ml and WBC/ml were compared to give the best discrimination. On the basis of the results obtained in this study, we suggest that when the Sysmex UF-1000i analyzer is used as a screening test for UTI the cutoff values should be 65 bacteria/ml and 100 WBC/ml. Diagnostic performance in terms of sensitivity (98.2%), specificity (62.1%), negative predictive value (98.7%), positive predictive value (53.7%), and diagnostic accuracy (73.3%) were satisfactory. Screening with the Sysmex UF-1000i is acceptable for routine use. In our laboratory, we have reduced the number of bacterial cultures by 43%, speeded up their reporting, and decreased the inappropriate use of antibiotics.The urinary tract is the most common site of infection, and urine culture is the standard diagnostic test for urinary tract infection (UTI). The growing need to enhance the performance of urine culture combined with the need to free up resources by rejecting negative samples quickly and economically has drawn attention to solutions that can be used as screening tests to reduce the number of unnecessary culture tests. In this study, we sought to evaluate and optimize the performance of the Sysmex UF-1000i (Dasit) on 703 urine samples submitted at the same time to bacterial culture analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODSA comparison between the Sysmex UF-1000i urinary cytometer and urine culture was conducted on 703 samples, 128 of which (18.2%) were from hospitalized patients and 575 (81.8%) from outpatients. The urine samples were collected in sterile containers using the technique of midstream capture and were processed within 2 h of collection (5, 10). Each sample was divided into two sterile tubes with a vacuum system (Vacutainer; Becton-Dickinson); one tube was used for urine culture and the other for analysis by the Sysmex UF-1000i.The urine culture was performed by sowing 10 l of the urine sample on chromogenic agar plates (CPS agar; bioMérieux) with calibrated loops. CPS agar is a specific medium for isolation of bacteria in urinary samples. It allows identification of several bacteria-Enterobacteriaceae and Gram-positive bacteriaand it contains specific chromogenic substrates for detecting different enzymatic activities. The resulting colonies are well isolated and easily identifiable by differentiating colors (1). All plates were incubated for 24 h at 37°C, and the results were ex...

bWe reviewed results from 12,800 samples tested for hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody detection in our laboratory by screening (Ortho chemiluminescence immunoassay [CIA]) and supplemental tests (Chiron recombinant immunoblot assay [RIBA]). We found that a signal-to-cutoff (S/Co) ratio of 10.3 was, in our setting, the most efficient cutoff point to improve the diagnostic algorithm of HCV infection.

Background: Cardiac troponins (cTns) are the 'gold standard' biomarker for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute coronary syndrome. Analytical performance is critical at low concentrations of cTn, and many of the current assays do not meet the guideline requirement of a 10% coefficient of variation (CV) at the 99th percentile concentrations. The aim of the study was to establish if the newly released Access Õ AccuTnI Õ þ3 (AccuTnIþ3) cardiac troponin I assay (Beckman Coulter Inc., Brea, CA, USA) reached this objective. Methods: All AccuTnIþ3 assays were performed on UniCel Õ DxI800 analyzer (Beckman Coulter Inc). Limit of Blank (LoB), Limit of Detection (LoD) and Limit of Quantitation (LoQ) were determined according to Clinical Laboratory Standard Institute EP17-A and EP5-A2 protocols. The 99th percentile upper reference limit (URL) was determined by analysing serum samples from 330 apparently healthy blood donors (260 men, 70 women, age range 18-70 years, median age 36 years). Results: LoB and LoD values were 2.6 and 12 ng/L, respectively. The 10% CV was at 18 ng/L (95% confidence interval [CI] 8-25). The 99th percentile URL was 22 ng/L (95% CI 11-34). Conclusions: The newly released assay has improved low-end analytical performance and reaches the goal of having a total imprecision 410% at 99th percentile of a healthy reference population (guideline acceptable). With this assay, it is now possible to utilize the 99th percentile as decision level for myocardial injury detection.

The effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation from low-pressure mercury lamp against some pathogenic dermatophytes species such as Epidermophyton floccosum, Trichophyton mentagrophytes, Trichophyton rubrum, Trichophyton schoenleinii, Trichophyton tonsurans and Trichophyton violaceum suspended in thermal water was evaluated in laboratory-scale condition at various times. The main results showed that within 120 s of exposure, all species of dermatophytes are completely inactivated, which was evidenced by the absence of fungal regrowth, while after 60 s only T. tonsurans was recovered, with a reduction of 3.28 log. Shorter exposure times were not enough to completely inactivate all dermatophytes species. The samples treated with UV radiation for 120 s did not give evidence of fungal regrowth indicating that this disinfectant action is persistent over time. In conclusion, UV radiation can be proposed to reduce the risk of infection by dermatophytes eventually present in swimming pools that use thermal water.

This paper reports the first results in the proteome analysis of Tuber borchii Vittad. mycelium, an ectomycorrhizal fungus poorly defined genetically, but known for its generation of edible fruit bodies known as white truffles. Employing isoelectric focusing on immobilized pH gradients, followed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, we obtained an electropherogram presenting over 800 spots within the window of isoelectric points (pI) 3.5-9 and a molecular mass of 10-200 kDa. Different reducing agents were tested in the sample preparation buffers, and the standard lysis buffer plus 2% w/v polyvinylpolypyrrolidone allowed the best solubilization and resolution of the proteins. The T. borchii proteins separated in micropreparative gels were electroblotted onto polyvinylidene difluoride membranes and visualized by Coomassie staining. Twenty-three proteins were excised and analyzed by the combination of amino acid and N-terminal analysis. One protein was identified by matching its amino acid composition, estimated isoelectric point and molecular mass against the SWISS-PROT and EMBL databases. Four spots were successfully tagged by Edman microsequencing but no homologous sequences were found in databases.

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The aim of antimicrobial resistance surveillance is to monitor temporal trends and provide clinicians with data to define empirical treatment protocols. The surveillance methods adopted in different settings can be significantly different and, therefore, no reference can be made to a single set of standards. This paper outlines the main features of analysis and reporting of antimicrobial resistance data according to the guidelines issued by the US Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute, and the surveillance systems adopted in Europe. In this article the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of analyses will be discussed highlighting the critical aspects to be taken into account in surveillance data reporting.

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