Search results for "Diagnostic Tests"
showing 10 items of 34 documents
Rendimiento de las pruebas complementarias en el estudio de pacientes con dolor abdominal crónico
2021
Resumen: Introducción: El dolor abdominal crónico (DAC) en la infancia es un motivo de consulta frecuente que afecta a la vida familiar, y en ocasiones precisa realización de pruebas complementarias. El objetivo fue realizar el análisis cualitativo, cuantitativo y económico de las pruebas que se solicitan. Pacientes y métodos: Estudio observacional, prospectivo y multicéntrico, incluyendo pacientes entre 4-15 años con DAC. Se diferenciaron 2 grupos: orgánico y funcional. Se recogieron las siguientes variables: clínicas, pruebas complementarias y su coste. Resultados: Se incluyeron 235 niños con DAC (edad media 9,7 ± 2,7 años). Un 79% resultaron trastornos funcionales y un 21% orgánicos. Cas…
One year into the pandemic: Short-term evolution of SARS-CoV-2 and emergence of new lineages.
2021
The COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared on March 11th, 2020. Since the very beginning, the spread of the virus has been tracked nearly in real-time by worldwide genome sequencing efforts. As of March 2021, more than 830,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been uploaded in GISAID and this wealth of data allowed researchers to study the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 during this first pandemic year. In parallel, nomenclatures systems, often with poor consistency among each other, have been developed to designate emerging viral lineages. Despite general fears that the virus might mutate to become more virulent or transmissible, SARS-CoV-2 genetic diversity has remained relatively low during the first ~…
Development of a database for the rapid and accurate routine identification of Achromobacter species by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-t…
2019
International audience; Objectives: Achromobacter spp. are emerging pathogens in respiratory samples from cystic fibrosis patients. The current reference methods (nrdA-sequencing or multilocus sequence typing) can identify 18 species which are often misidentified by conventional techniques as A. xylosoxidans. A few studies have suggested that matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) provides accurate identification of the genus but not of species. The aims of this study were (a) to generate a database for MALDI-TOF/MS Bruker including the 18 species, (b) to evaluate the suitability of the database for routine laboratory identification, and …
Improvement of a rapid direct blood culture microbial identification protocol using MALDI-TOF MS and performance comparison with SepsiTyper kit
2018
Fast diagnosis of pathogens is critical to guarantee the most adequate therapy for infections; bacterial culture methods, which constitute the actual gold standard, are precise and sensitive but rather slow. Today, new methods have been made available to enable faster diagnosis, with the Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time Of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) technique being the most promising. Even if simpler and faster than traditional bacterial culture methods, analysis of positive blood cultures via MALDI-TOF MS requires a preliminary extraction process of samples. In this study, we compared two extraction protocols for bacterial identification directly from positive …
Unconventional diagnostic tests for Lyme borreliosis: a systematic review
2019
Abstract Background Lyme borreliosis (LB) diagnosis currently relies mainly on serological tests and sometimes PCR or culture. However, other biological assays are being developed to try to improve Borrelia-infection diagnosis and/or monitoring. Objectives To analyse available data on these unconventional LB diagnostic assays through a systematic literature review. Methods We searched PubMed and Cochrane Library databases according to the PRISMA-DTA method and the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. We analysed controlled and uncontrolled studies (published 1983–2018) on biological tests for adults to diagnose LB according to the European Study Group for Lyme Borrelio…
Stochastic sampling effects favor manual over digital contact tracing.
2020
Isolation of symptomatic individuals, tracing and testing of their nonsymptomatic contacts are fundamental strategies for mitigating the current COVID-19 pandemic. The breaking of contagion chains relies on two complementary strategies: manual reconstruction of contacts based on interviews and a digital (app-based) privacy-preserving contact tracing. We compare their effectiveness using model parameters tailored to describe SARS-CoV-2 diffusion within the activity-driven model, a general empirically validated framework for network dynamics. We show that, even for equal probability of tracing a contact, manual tracing robustly performs better than the digital protocol, also taking into accou…
Validation and implementation of a commercial real-time PCR assay for direct detection of Candida auris from surveillance samples.
2021
Background Rapid and reliable laboratory methods are required for detecting the nosocomial yeast Candida auris. AurisID® (Olm Diagnostics, England) is a real-time PCR assay approved for detecting C. auris in fungal cultures as well as directly from blood samples, involving a nucleic acid extraction as a prior step. Objectives The purpose of this study is to validate the AurisID® kit for direct detection of C. auris from surveillance samples without prior DNA extraction and to analyze the results of implementing this methodology to our daily laboratory routine protocol for C. auris surveillance studies. Methods Our PCR method using the AurisID® kit was compared with our routine protocol, con…
Field performance of HBsAg rapid diagnostic tests in rural Ethiopia.
2020
Abstract Point-of-care rapid diagnostic tests (POC-RDTs) are widely used to screen and diagnose hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and are often the only available diagnostic tools in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity of three hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) POC-RDTs (Healgen®, Advanced Quality™ and Determine™) in an area with high prevalence of HBV in eastern Ethiopia. Results were compared with a commercial enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) as gold standard. Quantification of HBsAg was performed in false negative samples. A total of 511 subjects were screened, of whom 81 (15.9 %) were HBsAg-positive with the gold standard. All three P…
Fundamentals and implementation of Microbiological Diagnostic Stewardship Programs.
2021
Microbiological diagnostic stewardship programs promote coordinated measures aimed at optimizing the use of diagnostic techniques, thus favouring the adoption of adequate and cost-effective therapeutic, clinical and preventive decisions. The implementation of microbiological diagnostic stewardship relies upon the creation of multidisciplinary committees led by clinical microbiologists for the design of diagnostic algorithms, the adequacy of the laboratory computer system to monitor the relevance of the requested diagnostic tests, the implementation of a quality control system, the design and performance of studies of cost-effectiveness, the training of the petitioner and the technical and n…
Missing Cases of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) Infection of the Central Nervous System When the Reller Criteria Are Applied for HSV PCR Testing: a Multi…
2019
ABSTRACT Previous studies suggested that herpes simplex virus (HSV) PCR testing can be safely deferred in patients with normal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) white blood cell (WBC) counts and protein levels as long as they are older than 2 years of age and are not immunocompromised, the so-called Reller criteria. In this multicenter study, we retrospectively assessed the validity of these screening criteria in our setting. A total of 4,404 CSF specimens submitted for HSV PCR testing to the respective microbiology laboratories at the participating hospitals between 2012 and 2018 were included. Six commercially available HSV PCR assays were used across the participating centers. Ninety-one of the …