Blood gas analysis (BGA) is exposed to risks of errors caused by improper sampling, transport and storage conditions. The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) generated documents with recommendations for avoidance of potential errors caused by sample mishandling. Two main documents related to BGA issued by the CLSI are GP43-A4 (former H11-A4) Procedures for the collection of arter...

BACKGROUND In recent years, a large number of studies have been published on the performance of glucose monitors. The quality of these reports is not known. METHODS We searched the PubMed database for performance evaluations of handheld glucose monitors published from August 2002 to November 2006. Relevant articles were compared to 20 recommendations from the Standards for Reporting Diagnosti...

OBJECTIVE Extended-spectrum β-lactamase producing K. pneumoniae is a serious threat to the patients. This manuscript shows the comparison of phenotypic characterization methods used for ESBL K. pneumoniae and frequency distribution of these isolates in various clinical samples. METHODOLOGY Eleven different types of pathological samples collected on various time intervals were analyzed. K. pne...

Methods. From January 2011 to December 2016, inclusive, 12 to 15 sentinel hospitals across Canada submitted clinical isolates from patients attending ERs, medical and surgical wards, hospital clinics, and ICUs (CANWARD). Each center was asked to annually submit clinical isolates (consecutive, one per patient/infection site) from blood (100), respiratory (100), urine (25), and wound (25) infecti...

Within the past 10 years, treatment and diagnostic guidelines for nontuberculous mycobacteria have been recommended by the American Thoracic Society (ATS) and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Moreover, the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has published and recently (in 2011) updated recommendations including suggested antimicrobial and susceptibility breakpoi...

A fully automated, random access method for the determination of cannabinoids (UTHC) was developed for the Dimension AR and XL clinical chemistry systems. The method utilizes Abuscreen ONLINE reagents and a multianalyte liquid calibrator containing 11-nor-Delta(9)-THC-9-carboxylic acid. Within-run and total reproducibility, determined using NCCLS protocol EP5- T2, was less than 0.6% and 1.6% CV...

Methods. From January 2011 to December 2016, inclusive, 12 to 15 sentinel hospitals across Canada submitted clinical isolates from patients attending ERs, medical and surgical wards, hospital clinics, and ICUs (CANWARD). Each center was asked to annually submit clinical isolates (consecutive, one per patient/infection site) from blood (100), respiratory (100), urine (25), and wound (25) infecti...

Methods. From January 2011 to December 2016, inclusive, 12 to 15 sentinel hospitals across Canada submitted clinical isolates from patients attending ERs, medical and surgical wards, hospital clinics, and ICUs (CANWARD). Each center was asked to annually submit clinical isolates (consecutive, one per patient/infection site) from blood (100), respiratory (100), urine (25), and wound (25) infecti...

BACKGROUND We investigated the species distribution and amphotericin B (AMB) susceptibility of Korean clinical Aspergillus isolates by using two Etests and the CLSI broth microdilution method. METHODS A total of 136 Aspergillus isolates obtained from 11 university hospitals were identified by sequencing the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and β-tubulin genomic regions. Minimal inhibitory co...