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Background: Semi-quantitative bacterial culture is the reference standard to diagnose urinary tract infection, but culture is time-consuming and can be unreliable if patients are receiving antibiotics. Metagenomics could increase diagnostic accuracy and speed by sequencing the microbiota and resistome directly from urine. We aimed to compare metagenomics to culture for semi-quantitative pathogen and resistome detection from urine., Methods: In this proof-of-concept study, we prospectively included consecutive urine samples from a clinical diagnostic laboratory in Amsterdam. Urine samples were screened by DNA concentration, followed by PCR-free metagenomic sequencing of randomly selected samples with a high concentration of DNA (culture positive and negative). A diagnostic index was calculated as the product of DNA concentration and fraction of pathogen reads. We compared results with semi-quantitative culture using area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) analyses. We used ResFinder and PointFinder for resistance gene detection and compared results to phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing for six antibiotics commonly used for urinary tract infection treatment: nitrofurantoin, ciprofloxacin, fosfomycin, cotrimoxazole, ceftazidime, and ceftriaxone., Findings: We screened 529 urine samples of which 86 were sequenced (43 culture positive and 43 culture negative). The AUROC of the DNA concentration-based screening was 0·85 (95% CI 0·81-0·89). At a cutoff value of 6·0 ng/mL, culture positivity was ruled out with a negative predictive value of 91% (95% CI 87-93; 26 of 297 samples), reducing the number of samples requiring sequencing by 56% (297 of 529 samples). The AUROC of the diagnostic index was 0·87 (95% CI 0·79-0·95). A diagnostic index cutoff value of 17·2 yielded a positive predictive value of 93% (95% CI 85-97) and a negative predictive value of 69% (55-80), correcting for a culture-positive prevalence of 66%. Gram-positive pathogens explained eight (89%) of the nine false-negative metagenomic test results. Agreement of phenotypic and genotypic antimicrobial susceptibility testing varied between 71% (22 of 31 samples) and 100% (six of six samples), depending on the antibiotic tested., Interpretation: This study provides proof-of-concept of metagenomic semi-quantitative pathogen and resistome detection for the diagnosis of urinary tract infection. The findings warrant prospective clinical validation of the value of this approach in informing patient management and care., Funding: EU Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests We declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To investigate the effect of automated testing and retraining on the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) competency level of emergency nurses., Methods: A software program was developed allowing automated testing followed by computer exercises based on the Resusci Anne Skills Station™ (Laerdal, Norway). Using this system, the CPR competencies of 43 emergency nurses (mean age 37 years, SD 11, 53% female) were assessed. Nurses passed the test if they achieved a combined score consisting of ≥70% compressions with depth ≥50 mm and ≥70% compressions with complete release (<5 mm) and a mean compression rate between 100 and 120/min and ≥70% bag-valve-mask ventilations between 400 and 1000 ml. Nurses failing the test received automated feedback and feedforward on how to improve. They could then either practise with computer exercises or take the test again without additional practise. Nurses were expected to demonstrate competency within two months and they were retested 10 months after baseline., Results: At baseline 35/43 nurses failed the test. Seven of them did not attempt further testing/practise and 7 others did not continue until competency, resulting in 14/43 not competent nurses by the end of the training period. After ten months 39 nurses were retested. Twenty-four nurses failed with as most common reason incomplete release., Conclusion: Automated testing with feedback was effective in detecting nurses needing CPR retraining. Automated training and retesting improved skills to a predefined pass level. Since not all nurses trained until success, achieving CPR competence remains an important individual and institutional motivational challenge. Ten months after baseline the combined score showed important decay, highlighting the need for frequent assessments., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)