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Editor-in-chief
Maria Stella Graziani

Deputy Director
Martina Zaninotto

Associate Editors
Ferruccio Ceriotti
Davide Giavarina
Bruna Lo Sasso
Giampaolo Merlini
Martina Montagnana
Andrea Mosca
Paola Pezzati
Rossella Tomaiuolo
Matteo Vidali

EIC Assistant
Francesco Busardò

International Advisory Board Khosrow Adeli Canada
Sergio Bernardini Italy
Marcello Ciaccio Italy
Eleftherios Diamandis Canada
Philippe Gillery France
Kjell Grankvist Sweden
Hans Jacobs The Netherlands
Eric Kilpatrick UK
Magdalena Krintus Poland
Giuseppe Lippi Italy
Mario Plebani Italy
Sverre Sandberg Norway
Ana-Maria Simundic Croatia
Tommaso Trenti Italy
Cas Weykamp The Netherlands
Maria Willrich USA
Paul Yip Canada


Publisher
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano

Responsible Editor
Giuseppe Agosta

Editorial Secretary
Chiara Riva
Biomedia srl
Via L. Temolo 4, 20126 Milano
Tel. 0245498282
email: biochimica.clinica@sibioc.it

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ISSN print: 0393 – 0564
ISSN digital: 0392- 7091



BC: Articoli scritti da A. Bartolini

Impatto dell’emergenza COVID-19 nei laboratori: esperienze e opinioni dei SIBioC Young Scientists
The impact of COVID-19 emergency in clinical laboratories: experiences and opinions of SIBioC Young Scientists
<p>The recent pandemic status declared worldwide for the spreading of the new coronavirus-SARS-CoV-2 has emphasized the key role of the Laboratory Medicine in the health care process. In this context, the clinical laboratories needed to rapidly reorganize the internal workflow to face the emergency and to continue ensuring rapid and accurate responses. This has been possible only thanks to the contribution of all the personal working in the laboratory, including administrative staff, nurses, technical staff, and clinical chemists. The competence and the commitment of the Young Scientists (YS), can be considered an essential contribution to the efficient and successful management of the pandemic in clinical laboratories.<br />This paper reports the experiences and the opinions of some of the members of the SIBioC YS Study Group, who have been involved in the clinical laboratory management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is focused to present and discuss the use of the molecular and serological tests for the screening and diagnosis of COVID-19, the reorganization of laboratories, the development of panels of biochemical markers for organ damage and cardiovascular involvement diagnosis. Finally, issues are addressed regarding the importance of safety procedures for biohazard containment, and of future research and development perspectives, thanks to the availability of biological specimens from patients affected by COVID-19, safely and correctly stored in biobanks, together with the associated clinical data.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 44(4) 021-022
COVID-19 - COVID-19
 
Evaluation of a multiplex immunochromatographic assay for the rapid detection of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceaefrom culture colonies
<p>Introduction: the increasing worldwide spread of multidrug resistant bacteria, in particular of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae(CPE), represents a serious clinical and public health concern. An accurate and fast detection of infected patients or colonized carriers is thus mandatory.<br />Aim of this study was to assess the performance of a multiplex immunochromatographic assay (NG-Test CARBA 5, NG Biotech, Guipry, France) for the rapid detection of carbapenemases directly from pure bacterial colonies.<br />Methods: seventy-five non-replicated Enterobacteralesisolates with decreased susceptibility to carbapenems, including 71 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 3Escherichia coli and1Enterobacter cloacae, were analysed with NG-Test CARBA 5. At the same time the combination disk test (CDT) was performed according to the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) indications, while confirmation of carbapenemase production was achieved by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).<br />Results: PCR assay could find 66 CPE strains, including 64 Klebsiella pneumoniae[53 producing Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase (KPC), 5 New Delhi metallo-&beta;-lactamase (NDM), 2 class D oxacillinases (OXA-48), 1 Verona integron-encoded metallo-&beta;-lactamase (VIM) and 3 co-producing NDM and OXA-48] and 2 Escherichia coli (2 NDM+OXA-48) while 9 isolates were found as non-carbapenemase producing: 7 Klebsiella pneumoniae, 1 Escherichia coli, 1 Enterobacter cloacae. CDT allowed us to consider those 9 strains as extended spectrum &beta;-lactamase (ESBL) or AmpC &beta;-lactamase producers. NG-Test CARBA 5 successfully identified 66/66 CPE showing 100% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Unlike NG-Test CARBA 5, CDT was not able to correctly identify 5 strains co-producing NDM and OXA-48 carbapenemases.<br />Conclusion: NG-Test CARBA 5 is a reliable assay that can be useful in settings requiring a rapid identification of CPE directly from culture colonies. Moreover, this test is an easy-to-use option that could avoid misidentification of carbapenemases co-producers strains.</p>
Biochimica Clinica ; 43(4) 394-398
Contributi Scientifici - Scientific Papers