Challenges related to the application of analytical methods to control insect meals in the context of European legislation.

Since their approval for use in aquaculture in 2017, processed insect proteins have been extensively studied for their nutritional quality in animal feed. This new type of meal is highly promising but requires, as for other products used in animal feed, strict sanitary control in accordance with European legislation. Within this legal framework, light microscopy and PCR remain the official methods but have some analytical limitations that other methods could overcome. This paper aims to provide an overview of the European legislation concerning use of processed insect proteins, but also to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the official methods for their analysis. It also points out other analytical methods, which have already proved their worth for the analysis of processed animal proteins, which could be used as complementary methods.

Optimized identification of microorganisms directly from positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF to improve antimicrobial treatment / Optimización en el proceso de identificación directamente de hemocultivos positivos por MALDI-TOF para mejorar el tratamiento antimicrobiano

Introduction. Bacteriemia is a major cause of morbidityand mortality among hospitalized patients worldwide. Earlyidentification of microorganisms from blood culture can leadto improvement of treatment and outcomes.Methods. The study was divided into two phases. Thefirst phase when a comparison of the methods was made tocheck the concordance between them, using as a reference thestandard method implemented in the laboratory. In a secondphase, both methods are combined. We used the rapid identification method and when it could not identify we used thestandard method. The microorganisms that were not identifiedby either of the two methods were identified from colony at24 hoursResults. A total of 589 microbial positive blood cultures have been included in the present study. With the rapidmethod we obtained 96% and 88% identification results forGram-negative bacilli (GNB) and Gram-positive cocci (GPC)respectively. In this study we observed that the combinationof the rapid and standard method achieved identifications of98% and 97% for GNB and GPC respectively.Conclusions. The data analysed shows that both methodscombined perform better than individually. We achieved anoptimization of the identification of microorganisms directlyfrom positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF. This combinationidentified 98% of the microorganisms in between ten minutesto one hour and a half since the blood culture flagged positive (AU)

Introducción. La bacteriemia es una de las principalescausas de morbilidad y mortalidad entre los pacientes hospitalizados de todo el mundo. La identificación temprana de losmicroorganismos que están en la sangre, permite optimizar lostratamientos y conseguir mejores resultados.Material y métodos. El estudio se dividió en dos fases. Enla primera fase se realizó una comparación de los dos métodospara comprobar la concordancia entre ambos, tomando comoreferencia el método estándar implementado en el laboratorio.La segunda fase combinó ambos métodos para la identificación de hemocultivos positivos. Se utilizó el método de identificación rápida como primera opción y el método estándarsolo cuando no se consiguió identificar por la primera opción.Los microorganismos que no fueron identificados por ningunode los dos métodos, se identificaron directamente de la coloniacrecida a las 24 horas.Resultados. Se analizaron un total de 589 hemocultivospositivos en este estudio. Con el método rápido obtuvimos un96% y 88% de identificación de bacilos gramnegativos y cocosgrampositivos respectivamente. En este estudio observamosque la combinación del método rápido y el método estándarconsiguió identificaciones del 98% y 97% para bacilos gramnegativos y cocos grampositivos respectivamente.Conclusiones. Los datos analizados muestran que ambosmétodos combinados consiguen mejores resultados que utilizados de forma individual. Logramos una optimización de laidentificación de microorganismos directamente a partir dehemocultivos positivos por MALDI-TOF. Con esta combinaciónse identificó el 98% de los microorganismos entre los primeros10 minutos y hora y media de hemocultivo positivo. (AU)

Optimized identification of microorganisms directly from positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF to improve antimicrobial treatment.

OBJECTIVE: Bacteriemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality among hospitalized patients worldwide. Early identification of microorganisms from blood culture can lead to improvement of treatment and outcomes. METHODS: The study was divided into two phases. The first phase when a comparison of the methods was made to check the concordance between them, using as a reference the standard method implemented in the laboratory. In a second phase, both methods are combined. We used the rapid identification method and when it could not identify we used the standard method. The microorganisms that were not identified by either of the two methods were identified from colony at 24 hours. RESULTS: A total of 589 microbial positive blood cultures have been included in the present study. With the rapid method we obtained 96% and 88% identification results for Gram-negative bacilli (GNB) and Gram-positive cocci (GPC) respectively. In this study we observed that the combination of the rapid and standard method achieved identifications of 98% and 97% for GNB and GPC respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The data analysed shows that both methods combined perform better than individually. We achieved an optimization of the identification of microorganisms directly from positive blood cultures by MALDI-TOF. This combination identified 98% of the microorganisms in between ten minutes to one hour and a half since the blood culture flagged positive.

Coxsackievirus B heart infections and their putative contribution to sudden unexpected death: An 8-year review of patients and victims in the coastal region of Tunisia.

Coxsackieviruses B (CV B) are known as the most common viral cause of human heart infections. Cardiac inflammations contribute to sudden unexpected death (SUD) significantly. The diagnosis remains difficult with the traditional diagnostic tests and must be substantially improved. This has prompted health professionals to seek new diagnostic procedures which may provide important clues regarding underlying etiology. The present study is based on patients with infectious heart diseases and SUD victims with no relevant pathologies. They were investigated for possible CV-B infection. Patients with coronary artery diseases and unnatural road and domestic accident victims served as controls. The samples were studied for CV-B applying PCR. Histopathology for inflammatory markers, immunohistochemistry (IHC) for immune inflammatory cells and the enteroviral VP1-capsid protein were performed. Overall, 102 patients and 87 SUD victims were studied. As controls, 100 patients and 54 SUD unnatural accident victims were enrolled. CV-B were detected in 28 patients and 15 SUD victims. The control group samples were completely virus negative. Compared to controls, IHC revealed a significant presence of T and B lymphocytes within the myocardium. Furthermore, enteroviral VP1-capsid protein were detected from samples by IHC. Applying a comprehensive combination of methods, our results demonstrate the involvement of CV-B in cases of heart infection suggesting they play a significant role in SUD. Our results emphasize the importance of opting for a combination of methods.