Search results for "laser"
showing 10 items of 3161 documents
Can MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry Reasonably Type Bacteria?
2017
International audience; Bacterial typing is crucial to tackle the spread of bacterial pathogens but current methods are time-consuming and costly. Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been recently integrated into the microbiology laboratory workflow for a quick and low-cost microbial species identification. Independent research groups have successfully redirected the original function of this technology from their primary purpose to discriminate subgroups within pathogen species. However, identical bacterial subgroups could be identified by unrelated peaks by independent methods, thus limiting their robustness and exportability. We…
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 …
Evaluation of a mass spectrometry and Vitek 2 combined protocol for rapid identification and susceptibility testing of Enterobacterales directly from…
2020
Abstract Objective The aim was to evaluate a rapid method which would combine identification and susceptibility testing directly from positive blood cultures for Gram-negative bacilli of the Enterobacterales. Material and methods Gram-negative rods from blood cultures were directly identified by MALDI-TOF. Samples with Enterobacterales were selected for direct antimicrobial susceptibility testing by Vitek 2. The results were compared to those obtained with our laboratory's standard method. Results MALDI-TOF directly from blood cultures identified correctly 83% of the samples. Enterobacterales (n = 68) were identified at gender and species level in 85% of blood cultures with a score >1.7. In…
Identification of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance markers using bacterial genomics.
2016
International audience; In recent years, the number of multidrug-resistant bacteria has increased rapidly and several epidemics were signaled in different regions of the world. Faced with this situation that presents a major global public health concern, the development and the use of new and rapid technologies is more than urgent. The use of the next-generation sequencing platforms by microbiologists and infectious disease specialists has allowed great progress in the medical field. Here, we review the usefulness of whole-genome sequencing for the detection of virulence and antibiotic resistance associated genes.
Mitochondria during sea urchin oogenesis.
2017
SummarySea urchin represents an ideal model for studies on fertilization and early development, but the achievement of egg competence and mitochondrial behaviour during oogenesis remain to be enlightened. Oocytes of echinoid, such as sea urchin, unlike other echinoderms and other systems, complete meiotic maturation before fertilization. Mitochondria, the powerhouse of eukaryotic cells, contain a multi-copy of the maternally inherited genome, and are involved directly at several levels in the reproductive processes, as their functional status influences the quality of oocytes and contributes to fertilization and embryogenesis. In the present paper, we report our latest data on mitochondrial…
Precision and accuracy of single-molecule FRET measurements-a multi-laboratory benchmark study
2018
Single-molecule Forster resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is increasingly being used to determine distances, structures, and dynamics of biomolecules in vitro and in vivo. However, generalized protocols and FRET standards to ensure the reproducibility and accuracy of measurements of FRET efficiencies are currently lacking. Here we report the results of a comparative blind study in which 20 labs determined the FRET efficiencies (E) of several dye-labeled DNA duplexes. Using a unified, straightforward method, we obtained FRET efficiencies with s.d. between +/- 0.02 and +/- 0.05. We suggest experimental and computational procedures for converting FRET efficiencies into accurate distances, and…
Femtosecond structural dynamics drives the trans/cis isomerization in photoactive yellow protein
2016
Many biological processes depend on detecting and responding to light. The response is often mediated by a structural change in a protein that begins when absorption of a photon causes isomerization of a chromophore bound to the protein. Pande et al. used x-ray pulses emitted by a free electron laser source to conduct time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography in the time range of 100 fs to 3 ms. This allowed for the real-time tracking of the trans-cis isomerization of the chromophore in photoactive yellow protein and the associated structural changes in the protein.Science, this issue p. 725A variety of organisms have evolved mechanisms to detect and respond to light, in which the re…
Ultrafast structural changes within a photosynthetic reaction centre
2021
Nature <London> / Physical science 589, 310 - 314 (2021). doi:10.1038/s41586-020-3000-7
Studies towards a directional polychromatic sodium laser guide star
2018
In this work we discuss a mechanism for generation of a coherent source of light from the mesosphere as a new concept of directional laser guide star. In contrast to the near-isotropic spontaneous emission, nonlinear processes in atomic vapors like amplified spontaneous emission can yield highly directional emission in the forward and backward directions. Along with directional emission, excited sodium atoms also radiate at different wavelength creating a polychromatic laser guide star (PLGS). If feasible, a directional PLGS would provide a net gain in the return flux of several orders of magnitude compared to traditional LGS schemes, making possible laser-guided tip/tilt-correction in adap…
A New Experiment for the Measurement of the g-Factors of 3He+ and 3He2+.
2018
We describe a new experiment that aims at a parts per billion measurement of the nuclear magnetic moment of 3He2+ and a 100 parts per trillion measurement of the Zeeman effect of the ground-state hyperfine splitting of 3He+. To enable ultrafast and efficient experiment cycles the experiment relies on new technologies such as sympathetic laser cooling of single 3He-ions coupled to a cloud of Doppler-cooled 9Be-ions in a Penning trap or a novel spin-state detection scheme.