scholarly journals Comparative Evaluation of Inoculation of Urine Samples with the Copan WASP and BD Kiestra InoqulA Instruments

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 328-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesper Iversen ◽  
Gitta Stendal ◽  
Cecilie M. Gerdes ◽  
Christian H. Meyer ◽  
Christian Østergaard Andersen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gold Standard ◽  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Urine Samples ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Automated Instruments ◽  
Urine Specimens

This study evaluated the quantitative results from and quality of the inoculation patterns of urine specimens produced by two automated instruments, the Copan WASP and the BD InoqulA. Five hundred twenty-six urine samples submitted in 10-ml canisters containing boric acid were processed within 30 min on an InoqulA instrument plating 10 μl of specimen, and on two WASP instruments, one plating 1 μl of specimen (WASP-1), and the second plating 10 μl of WASP (WASP-10). All samples were incubated, analyzed, and digitally imaged using the BD Kiestra total lab automation system. The results were evaluated using a quantitative protocol and assessed for the presence or absence of ≥5 distinct colonies. Separate studies were conducted using quality control (QC) organisms to determine the relative accuracy of WASP-1, WASP-10, and InoqulA instruments compared to the results obtained with a calibrated pipette. The results with QC organisms were calculated as the ratios of the counts of the automated instruments divided by the counts for the calibrated pipette (the gold standard method). The ratios for the InoqulA instrument were closest to 1.0, with the smallest standard deviations indicating that compared to a calibrated pipette, the InoqulA results were more accurate than those with the WASP instrument. For clinical samples, the WASP instruments produced higher colony counts and more commensals than the InoqulA instrument, with differences most notable for WASP-1. The InoqulA instrument was significantly better at dispersing organisms with counts of ≥105bacteria/ml of urine than were the WASP-1 and WASP-10 instruments (P< 0.05). Our results suggest that the InoqulA quantitative results are more accurate than the WASP results, and, moreover, the number of isolated colonies produced by the InoqulA instrument was significantly greater than that produced by the WASP instrument.

scholarly journals Development and Application of a Multiple Cross Displacement Amplification Combined With Nanoparticle-Based Lateral Flow Biosensor Assay to Detect Candida tropicalis

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Wang ◽  
Xue Zhao ◽  
Jinzhi Cheng ◽  
Xiaomin Tang ◽  
Xu Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Candida Tropicalis ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Color Change ◽  
Lateral Flow ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Reaction Products ◽  
Special Equipment ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Multiple Cross

Candida tropicalis is an increasingly opportunistic pathogen that causes serious invasive candidiasis threatening a patient’s life. Traditional methods to detect C. tropicalis infection depends on time-consuming, culture-based gold-standard methods. So, we sought to establish a new method that could detect target pathogens quickly, accurately, and straightforwardly. Herein, a combination of multiple cross displacement amplification (MCDA) and lateral flow biosensors (LFB) was employed to detect C. tropicalis. In the MCDA system, 10 primers were designed to identify the specific genes of C. tropicalis and amplify the genes in an isothermal amplification device. Then, MCDA amplification reaction products could be identified visibly by color change, and all the amplification products would be tested by LFB with no special equipment. The results demonstrated that the optimal reaction condition of C. tropicalis-MCDA assay was 64°C within 30 min, and only 10 fg DNA was required in each reaction. No cross-reaction was found between C. tropicalis strains and non-C. tropicalis strains. For 300 sputum samples, the results showed that MCDA-LFB assay could rapidly and successfully detect all of the C. tropicalis-positive (28/300) samples detected by the gold-standard method. The entire procedure, including specimen processing (40 min), isothermal reaction (30 min) and result reporting (within 2 min), could be completed within 75 min. Briefly, the study results demonstrated that the detection ability of C. tropicalis-MCDA-LFB assay was better than culture methods with more simplicity, rapidity, sensitivity and specificity. Hence, MCDA-LFB strategy is an effective tool to rapidly detect C. tropicalis in clinical samples, especially in resource-poor areas.

scholarly journals ELPS helps!

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (S1) ◽  
pp. S355-S355
Author(s):  
Rajalakshmi Valaiyapathi ◽  
Ksenia Marjanovic-Deverill ◽  
Kezia Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Outcome Measure ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Good Care ◽  
Liaison Psychiatry ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Mental Health Unit

AimsThis study aimed to identify whether contact with the Ealing Liaison Psychiatry Service (ELPS) improved patients’ mental health using the Clinical Global Impressions (CGI) scale, and to understand the utility of this tool.BackgroundCGI is a frequently used outcome measure in psychiatry and also forms part of the RCPsych Framework for Outcome Measures in Liaison Psychiatry (FROM-LP) across the NHS's LP Services. However, there is minimal literature discussing the meaning of the quantitative results of the questionnaire. What would be a cut-off point associated with the provision of good care? It is not possible to draw conclusions about the quality of service and care based on the proportion of the patients who report an improvement on CGI in the absence of a gold standard.MethodPatients and their ELPS clinicians filled out a CGI questionnaire, rating the patient's mental health condition after contact with the clinician. The 1-7 rated CGI scale indicated the following: 1-3 signified varying degrees of improvement, 4 signified no change and 5-7 signified varying degrees of feeling worse. This study looked at all 205 patients with completed CGI questionnaires who had more than one face-to-face contact with a clinician in 2018 and 2019.Patient and clinician ratings were compared for concordance and patient notes were reviewed to identify potential reasons for patients with low CGI scores.Randomised sampling of patients who scored 1 ‘Very much improved’, 2 ‘Much improved’ and 3 ‘Minimally improved’ was conducted to identify differences in number of face-to-face contacts between the groups.Result59% of patients reported an improvement, 40% felt that there was no change and 1% (3 patients) indicated feeling worse. Of the latter, 2 patients had been admitted to a mental health unit.91% of cases showed concordance between patient and clinician ratings.Randomised sampling identified 9 patients scoring ‘1’, 22 patients scoring ‘2’ and 16 patients scoring ‘3’. The vast majority of patients had only two contacts with ELPS (77%).ConclusionELPS intervention improves patients’ self-reported wellbeing in 59% of patients according to CGI.There was no correlation between number of face-to-face contacts and the degree to which patients felt better. However, in the absence of a nationally-recognised gold standard, it is not possible to draw conclusions about whether care provided by ELPS is good compared to other services. Data from other centres are required to elucidate what constitutes a gold standard to aspire towards.

scholarly journals Management of chronic anal fissures: a narrative review

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1327
Author(s):  
Hariharan Sritharan ◽  
Naren Kumar Ashok Kumar ◽  
Mohamed Ismail Syed Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Compliance Rate ◽  
Surgical Techniques ◽  
Perianal Abscess ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Treatment Methods ◽  
Anal Fissures

Anal fissures are often encountered in surgical practice in both sexes. It is a distressing disease impacting quality of life and causes profound morbidity among those affected. If left untreated, it may lead onto perianal abscess or even malignancy in long standing cases. Surgery is the gold standard management for chronic anal fissures. Recently the widespread use of pharmacologic agents for chronic fissures has increased. The management of chronic anal fissures has migrated to an era of multifaceted approach. This narrative review looks into various studies spanning over a period of 16 years. Various articles were shortlisted and analyzed for efficacy of various treatment methods, their impact in hospital stay, quality of life improvement, recurrence rate and complications among various treatment methods. We concluded from this review, that open lateral internal sphincterotomy is still the gold standard method of treatment for chronic anal fissure. Among pharmacological agents, 2% diltiazem has the best effectiveness with good compliance rate. Modern surgical techniques like VY plasty can be reserved for special situations. We do not recommend the practice of manual anal dilatation.

scholarly journals Performance of Copan WASP for Routine Urine Microbiology

2015 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 585-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chantal Quiblier ◽  
Marion Jetter ◽  
Mark Rominski ◽  
Forouhar Mouttet ◽  
Erik C. Böttger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Excellent Agreement ◽  
Primary Cultures ◽  
Urine Samples ◽  
Second Step ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Sample Processing ◽  
Automated Processing ◽  
Microbiological Analyses

This study compared a manual workup of urine clinical samples with fully automated WASPLab processing. As a first step, two different inocula (1 and 10 μl) and different streaking patterns were compared using WASP and InoqulA BT instrumentation. Significantly more single colonies were produced with the10-μl inoculum than with the 1-μl inoculum, and automated streaking yielded significantly more single colonies than manual streaking on whole plates (P< 0.001). In a second step, 379 clinical urine samples were evaluated using WASP and the manual workup. Average numbers of detected morphologies, recovered species, and CFUs per milliliter of all 379 urine samples showed excellent agreement between WASPLab and the manual workup. The percentage of urine samples clinically categorized as positive or negative did not differ between the automated and manual workflow, but within the positive samples, automated processing by WASPLab resulted in the detection of more potential pathogens. In summary, the present study demonstrates that (i) the streaking pattern, i.e., primarily the number of zigzags/length of streaking lines, is critical for optimizing the number of single colonies yielded from primary cultures of urine samples; (ii) automated streaking by the WASP instrument is superior to manual streaking regarding the number of single colonies yielded (for 32.2% of the samples); and (iii) automated streaking leads to higher numbers of detected morphologies (for 47.5% of the samples), species (for 17.4% of the samples), and pathogens (for 3.4% of the samples). The results of this study point to an improved quality of microbiological analyses and laboratory reports when using automated sample processing by WASP and WASPLab.

SISTEM OTOMASI PENYIRAMAN TANAMAN BERBASIS TELEGRAM

SIGMA TEKNIKA ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Muhammad Irsyam
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Plant Growth ◽  
Water Intake ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Growth Failure ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Notification System ◽  
Efficiency And Effectiveness ◽  
Plant Automation

ABSTRAK           Faktor yang menentukan kegagalan pertumbuhan suatu tanaman hampir dipengaruhi oleh teknik atau cara penyiraman tanaman yang salah. Hal ini disebabkan oleh teknik penyiraman yang dilakukan secara manual sehingga tidak semua tanaman mendapatkan asupan air yang merata untuk menghidari tanaman menjadi layu. Faktor lain yang menyebabkan kegagalan pertumbuhan tanaman adalah kelembaban tanah.          Oleh karena itu, untuk mengurangi permasalahan tersebut dirancanglah “Sistem Otomasi Penyiraman Tanaman Berbasis Telegram”. Adapun sistem ini meliputi penyiraman tanaman secara otomatis berdasarkan kadar kelembaban tanah dengan sistem pemberitahuan atau notifikasi yang akan dikirimkan kepada petani dengan menggunakan aplikasi smart phone Telegram.          Sistem ini telah mampu mengontrol penyiraman sesuai dengan kondisi yang diinginkan. Dengan adanya sistem otomasi penyiraman tanaman berbasis telegram maka dapat meningkatkan efesiensi dan efektivitas petani sehingga kualitas tanaman dapat terjaga dengan baik.Kata kunci -- Penyiraman Tanaman, Penyiraman Secara Otomatis, Telegram.ABSTRACT                Factors that determine the failure of a plant's growth of almost are influenced by incorrect cropping techniques or methods. This is caused by the technique of watering is done manually so that not all plants get a uniform water intake to avoid crops withered. Another factor that causes plant growth failure is soil moisture.          Therefore, to reduce the problem was designed "Telegram Based Water Planting Automation System". The system includes automatic watering of plants based on moisture level of the soil with a notification or notification system that will be sent to farmers using Telegram smart phone applications.          This system has been able to control the watering according to the desired conditions. With the telegraph-based plant watering plant automation system can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of farmers so that the quality of the plant can be maintained properly. Keywords -- Watering Plants, Watering Automatically, Telegram.  

scholarly journals Quantum chemical benchmark databases of gold-standard dimer interaction energies

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander G. Donchev ◽  
Andrew G. Taube ◽  
Elizabeth Decolvenaere ◽  
Cory Hargus ◽  
Robert T. McGibbon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Training Data ◽  
Structure Theory ◽  
Cluster Method ◽  
Coupled Cluster ◽  
Interaction Energies ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Representative Subset ◽  
Semi Empirical

AbstractAdvances in computational chemistry create an ongoing need for larger and higher-quality datasets that characterize noncovalent molecular interactions. We present three benchmark collections of quantum mechanical data, covering approximately 3,700 distinct types of interacting molecule pairs. The first collection, which we refer to as DES370K, contains interaction energies for more than 370,000 dimer geometries. These were computed using the coupled-cluster method with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations [CCSD(T)], which is widely regarded as the gold-standard method in electronic structure theory. Our second benchmark collection, a core representative subset of DES370K called DES15K, is intended for more computationally demanding applications of the data. Finally, DES5M, our third collection, comprises interaction energies for nearly 5,000,000 dimer geometries; these were calculated using SNS-MP2, a machine learning approach that provides results with accuracy comparable to that of our coupled-cluster training data. These datasets may prove useful in the development of density functionals, empirically corrected wavefunction-based approaches, semi-empirical methods, force fields, and models trained using machine learning methods.

scholarly journals Evaluation of four different HPLC devices for hemoglobinopathy screening

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Müjgan Ercan Karadağ ◽  
Emiş Deniz Akbulut ◽  
Esin Avcı ◽  
Esra Fırat Oğuz ◽  
Saadet Kader ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gold Standard ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Reference Value ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
Gold Standard Method ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
Systematic Biases ◽  
Hemoglobin Variants ◽  
Thalassemia Screening

AbstractObjectiveHemoglobinopathies are a common public health problem in Turkey. In the screening of these disorders in population, cation-exchange high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is accepted as the gold standard method. In this study, the aim was to assess four different HPLC devices used in hemoglobinopathy screening.Materials and methodsA total of 58 blood samples were analyzed with four different HPLC methods (Bio-Rad variant II, Agilent 1100, Tosoh G8 and Trinity Ultra2 trademarks).ResultsThe comparison study demonstrated a good correlation between the results of each HPLC analyzer and the reference value obtained by averaging all the HbA2 results belonging to the methods tested in the study [ (Tosoh G8 (r=0.988), Bio-Rad variant II (r=0.993), Agilent 1100 (r=0.98) and Trinity Ultra2 (r=0.992) ]. HbA2 determination in the presence of HbE was interfered in both Bio-Rad variant II and Tosoh G8.ConclusionThe analyzers were found to have compatible HbA2 results but with accompanying different degrees of proportional and systematic biases. HPLC analyzers may be affected by different hemoglobin variants at different HbA2 concentrations, which is an important point to take into consideration during the evaluation of HbA2 results in thalassemia screening.

scholarly journals Detection of Human Polyomaviruses in Urine from Bone Marrow Transplant Patients: Comparison of Electron Microscopy with PCR

2004 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan S Biel ◽  
Andreas Nitsche ◽  
Andreas Kurth ◽  
Wolfgang Siegert ◽  
Muhsin Özel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Bone Marrow ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Bone Marrow Transplant ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Marrow Transplant ◽  
Test System ◽  
Urine Samples ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Transplant Patients

Abstract Background: We studied electron microscopy (EM) as an appropriate test system for the detection of polyomavirus in urine samples from bone marrow transplant patients. Methods: We evaluated direct EM, ultracentrifugation (UC) before EM, and solid-phase immuno-EM (SPIEM). The diagnostic accuracy of EM was studied by comparison with a real-time PCR assay on 531 clinical samples. Results: The detection rate of EM was increased by UC and SPIEM. On 531 clinical urine samples, the diagnostic sensitivity of EM was 47% (70 of 149) with a specificity of 100%. We observed a linear relationship between viral genome concentration and the proportion of urine samples positive by EM, with a 50% probability for a positive EM result for urine samples with a polyomavirus concentration of 106 genome-equivalents (GE)/mL; the probability of a positive EM result was 0% for urine samples with &lt;103 GE/mL and 100% for urine samples containing 109 GE/mL. Conclusions: UC/EM is rapid and highly specific for polyomavirus in urine. Unlike real-time PCR, EM has low sensitivity and cannot quantify the viral load.

scholarly journals Screening for Intermediately Vancomycin-Susceptible and Vancomycin-Heteroresistant Staphylococcus aureus by Use of Vancomycin-Supplemented Brain Heart Infusion Agar Biplates: Defining Growth Interpretation Criteria Based on Gold Standard Confirmation

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (11) ◽  
pp. 3543-3546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riad Khatib ◽  
Kathleen Riederer ◽  
Mamta Sharma ◽  
Stephen Shemes ◽  
Sugantha P. Iyer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Staphylococcus Aureus ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Population Analysis ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Brain Heart Infusion ◽  
Roc Curves ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Interpretation Criteria ◽  
Profile Area

BHI agars supplemented with vancomycin 4 (BHI-V4) and 3 (BHI-V3) mg/liter have been proposed for screening vancomycin intermediately susceptibleStaphylococcus aureus(VISA) and heteroresistant (hVISA) phenotypes, respectively, but growth interpretation criteria have not been established. We reviewed the growth results (CFU) during population analysis profile-area under the curve (PAP-AUC) of consecutive methicillin-resistantStaphylococcus aureus(MRSA) blood isolates, which were saved intermittently between 1996 and 2012. CFU counts on BHI-V4 and BHI-V3 plates were stratified according to PAP-AUC interpretive criteria: <0.90 (susceptible [S-MRSA]), 0.90 to 1.3 (hVISA), and >1.3 (VISA). CFU cutoffs that best predict VISA and hVISA were determined with the use of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Mu3, Mu50, and methicillin-susceptibleS. aureus(MSSA) controls were included. We also prospectively evaluated manufacturer-made BHI-V3/BHI-V4 biplates for screening of 2010-2012 isolates. The PAP-AUC of 616 clinical samples was consistent with S-MRSA, hVISA, and VISA in 550 (89.3%), 48 (7.8%), and 18 (2.9%) instances, respectively. For VISA screening on BHI-V4, a cutoff of 2 CFU/droplet provided 100% sensitivity and 97.7% specificity. To distinguish VISA from hVISA, a cutoff of 16 CFU provided 83.3% sensitivity and 94.7% specificity; the specificity was lowered to 89.5% with a 12-CFU cutoff. For detecting hVISA/VISA on BHI-V3, a 2-CFU/droplet cutoff provided 98.5% sensitivity and 93.8% specificity. These results suggest that 2-CFU/droplet cutoffs on BHI-V4 and BHI-V3 best approximate VISA and hVISA gold standard confirmation, respectively, with minimal overlap in samples with borderline PAP-AUC. Simultaneous screening for VISA/hVISA on manufacturer-made BHI-V4/BHI-V3 biplates is easy to standardize and may reduce the requirement for PAP-AUC confirmation.

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