OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the performance of an in-house CIM (iCIM) modification with the CIM and mCIM for the detection of carbapenemase production in 149 well characterised isolates (70 carbapenemase producers and 79 non-carbapenemase producers). METHODS Isolates were tested using the CIM, mCIM and iCIM procedures. The gold standard was genotypic characterisation by PCR. RESULTS For Acinetobacter baumannii, the sensitivity was low (10%) for the mCIM, 70% for the CIM but was 100% for the iCIM, with a specificity of 100% for all three. For Enterobacterales, the sensitivity of all three tests was 100% for Ambler class A and B β-lactamases, while the iCIM also had a sensitivity of 100% for class D β lactamases. The sensitivity in Enterobacterales was highest for the iCIM at 100% (CIM 98.2%, mCIM 96.2%). The specificity was 100% for the mCIM and 98% for the CIM and iCIM. For Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the sensitivity of the CIM (100%) was higher than the iCIM (85.7%) and the mCIM (71.4%). iCIM exhibited excellent sensitivity (100%) and specificity (98%) for carbapenemase detection in Enterobacterales and was able to detect two OXA-232 producers that the mCIM did not detect and an OXA-181 producer that the CIM did not detect. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, iCIM performed better than the CIM and mCIM for carbapenemase detection in A. baumannii and Enterobacterales, however the CIM achieved the highest sensitivity for carbapenemase detection in P. aeruginosa suggesting that different CIM variations should be utilised depending on the organism type. To maximize fitness, parents may trade-off time and energy between parental care and self-maintenance. In vertebrates, prolactin and corticosterone are two important hormones that regulate parental investment because they stimulate parental care and mobilize energy, respectively. Further, concentrations of both hormones change in response to disturbances. One of the most important parental care behaviors in birds is incubation, since small changes in egg temperature have large effects on offspring. We investigated how prolactin and corticosterone may mediate parental incubation constancy (i.e., the daily amount of time spent incubating eggs) and regulation of egg temperature. We collected blood samples from female wood ducks (Aix sponsa) near the start and end of the incubation period to measure baseline and stress-induced (30 min after capture and restraint) hormone concentrations. We also quantified incubation constancy and egg temperature using artificial egg temperature loggers. As expected, prolactin decreased and corticosterone increased after 30 min of capture and restraint. Corticosterone concentrations (baseline and stress-induced) were negatively related to body mass, but were not related to incubation constancy. In contrast, prolactin concentrations (baseline and stress-induced) were higher at the end than the start of the incubation period, and stress-induced prolactin concentrations were positively related to incubation constancy following a nest disturbance (i.e., capture). Further, prolactin (baseline and stress-induced) concentrations were positively related to egg temperatures, but only after the disturbance. These results suggest that prolactin may be associated with the regulation of parental incubation constancy and resulting heat-transfer after a disturbance, which may ultimately affect offspring development. Serum collected across the lifespan of four managed rhino species black (Diceros bicornis, n = 16), white (Ceratotherium simum simum, n = 19), greater one-horned (GOH, Rhinoceros unicornis, n = 11) and Sumatran (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis, n = 6) were validated and analyzed in an anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) enzyme- linked immunoassay. Concentrations of AMH were examined over time, between sexes and throughout different reproductive states which included n = 3 female white rhinos immunocontracepted with porcine zona pellucida (pZP). Across species, males produced higher AMH concentrations compared to females. Among males, AMH concentrations varied by species aside from comparable values secreted between black and white rhinos. The GOH and Sumatran rhino secreted the highest and lowest male AMH concentrations, respectively. However, within each species, AMH concentrations were similar across male age categories. Preliminary insight into male AMH changes from birth to sexual maturity suggest its potential as a marker for onset of testicular maturation. Female black, GOH and Sumatran rhinos secreted comparable AMH concentrations which were higher than those in white rhino. Within each species, inter-individual variation in AMH secretion occurred among females of similar age. https://www.selleckchem.com/CDK.html While AMH secretion did not differ across the ages sampled for female white (4->26 yr) and GOH (4-26 yr) rhinos, black and Sumatran rhinos >26 and less then 4 yr, respectively secreted lower AMH compared to conspecific females 7-26 yr of age. Two idiopathic infertility cases corresponded to low (outside species range) AMH values. The establishment of normative AMH concentrations in managed African and Asian rhinos provides an additional metric beyond traditional sex steroids to assess gonadal function. Further work is needed to determine if AMH can predict fertility potential in rhinos. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the second cause of paraplegia among young adults, after all types of CNS traumatic lesions. In its most frequent relapsing-remitting form, the severity of the disease course is very heterogeneous, and its reliable evaluation remains a key issue for clinicians. Myeloid-Derived sSuppressor Cells (MDSCs) are immature myeloid cells that suppress the inflammatory response, a phenomenon related to the resolution or recovery of the clinical symptoms associated with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the most common model for MS. Here, we establish the severity index as a new parameter for the clinical assessment in EAE. It is derived from the relationship between the maximal clinical score and the time elapsed since disease onset. Moreover, we relate this new index with several histopathological hallmarks in EAE and with the peripheral content of MDSCs. Based on this new parameter, we show that the splenic MDSC content is related to the evolution of the clinical course of EAE, ranging from mild to severe.