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Molecular Test for Rapid and Accurate Detection of Carbapenemase- Producing Gram-Negative Bacteria Released in Europe Cepheid has announced the release of Xpert®
Carba-R, an on-demand molecular
test for rapid and accurate detection of carbapenemase-producing Gram-negative bacteria, to be marketed as a CE IVD product under the European Directive on In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices. The test runs on Cepheid’s GeneXpert®
System,
the world’s leading molecular diagnostic platform. Xpert Carba-R detects and differentiates genes encoding the most prevalent carbapenemases, reporting five gene families that comprise 68 known individual resistance genes, including KPC, NDM, VIM, OXA-48 and IMP-1.
“Carbapenemase-producing organisms were named for their ability to fight off carbapenem antibiotics, the last line of defence in our medical toolbox,” said John Bishop, Cepheid’s Chairman and CEO. “Xpert Carba-R provides healthcare institutions a much needed tool for rapid and accurate detection of patients colonised with these multidrug resistant organisms to help prevent widespread outbreaks and determine the best infection prevention pathways.”
“Detection of patients carrying carbapenemase-producing microorganisms, with differentiation among the five major families of resistance genes, can significantly impact infection control. With results in less than an hour, we have the advantage of rapid implementation of epidemiological measures to control the spread of these microorganisms,” said Dr Rafael Cantón, Professor of Microbiology at the Hospital Universitario Ramón y Cajal, Madrid, Spain.
Carbapenemases of global importance include Klebsiella pneumonia carbapenemase (KPC), New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase (NDM), Verona integron-encoded metallo-β-lactamase (VIM), imipenemase metallo-β-lactamase (IMP), and oxacillinase-48 (OXA-48). As of 2014, KPC is the most widespread carbapenemase in the United States while OXA-48 is becoming the most important one in most European countries.
“Like our other GeneXpert cartridges, Xpert Carba-R can be performed on a STAT basis — no waiting for batched results. Rapid identification of colonised patients allows healthcare institutions to begin immediate implementation of infection control measures to prevent spread in highly susceptible populations,” said David Persing, MD, PhD, Cepheid’s Chief Medical and Technology Officer. “Active screening of high risk patients has the additional benefit of allowing clinicians to optimise isolation decisions and avoid the impact of unnecessary isolations.”
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Report on AFM System use to Study the Properties of Materials on the Nanoscale
Dr Peter Dunstan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Swansea University and a member of the University’s Centre for Nanohealth. His research utilises state of the art techniques and instrumentation to increase the fundamental understanding of the structural, chemical, optical and electronic properties of materials on the nanoscale, and by doing so advance the future application of those materials.
Asked why AFM is an important technique in his research, Dr Dunstan said: “AFM based systems give us the opportunity of generating a clear understanding of the structure of the materials that we investigate. AFM can also offer us the opportunity to correlate this structural measurement with other characteristics. For instance, by coating an AFM probe with gold and utilising the interaction between the metallised tip and a sample, it allows us to exploit an optical antenna effect when the tip is illuminated by an externally focussed laser of a suitable wavelength. This arrangement allows us to simultaneously correlate an enhanced localised spectroscopic response from the sample, along with the normal AFM response, and in doing so advance the application of the AFM instrument in line with our research objectives.”
Dr Dunstan is well placed to comment on the advantages he sees in the NanoWizard® system. “One major aspect of the benefits of
using JPK has been their ability to embrace our own research innovations and hence allow us to integrate our technology advances into the JPK instrument. This has allowed us to retain the advances we have made and integrate them onto the stable JPK AFM platform for improved performance. Also partnership with other companies has been important and is an area where JPK showed tremendous willing for cross-platform integration. Most recently, we published a paper in the Journal of Raman Spectroscopy on the use of TERS, tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, where we combined our JPK AFM and Renishaw Raman spectrometer to enhance lattice defect signatures in graphene.”
”It is important to mention we have benefited from the keen commitment of JPK staff to help us develop specialised adapted software approaches for our instrument when performing tip-enhanced spectroscopies and this has allowed us the precise control in the acquisition parameters that we require.”
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State-of-the-art Laboratory Automation helps to provide Superior Pathology Services in Ipswich
The pathology laboratory at Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust is the first site in the UK to go live with the very latest, high throughput automated workflow solution from Roche, the cobas®
while ensuring rapid and predictable turnaround times and high quality analytical results.
The cobas 8100 provides end-to-end sample processing, with a single point of entry, automated pre- and post-analytics, and state-of-the-art, intelligent sample routing for autonomous workflow management. Its unique 3D transportation system directs samples to and from the analytical modules and keeps empty sample racks on a separate level, preventing bottlenecks and ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow.
“Ipswich Hospital’s pathology services are now part of the Pathology Partnership and Ipswich will become a hub laboratory for our reconfigured services, which will mean a significant increase in workload,” explained Head BMS and Service Manager, Clinical Biochemistry, Dean Braunig. “Our cobas 8100, with two cobas® 8000 modular analytical lines, provides the capacity to increase our throughput, while ensuring same-day, high quality results for routine test requests as well as urgent emergency samples.”
“Rapid turnaround of A&E test requests is essential for the hospital,” he continued. “With the cobas 8100, urgent samples can be prioritised and tracked very easily. Since we began using the cobas 8000 analytical platform a year ago, our test repertoire has increased and our turnaround times have improved significantly. 97% of A&E results are obtained within one hour and, as a result, the hospital was able to close a ward in the last year because fewer patients required a bed while they waited for test results.”
The Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust Chair, Ann Tate, and Chief Operating Officer, Neill Moloney, were present at the official unveiling of the cobas 8100. Ann Tate commented: “At Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust we aim to deliver the best quality of patient care to every patient, every day. This partnership with Roche, bringing cutting edge technology into the Clinical Biochemistry Laboratory, helps to seal this promise by ensuring the delivery of rapid and reliable test results 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”
30785pr@reply-direct.com 8100. This cutting edge technology will allow the clinical biochemistry laboratory to cope with increasing workloads
LABMATE UK & IRELAND - SEPTEMBER 2014
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