Objectives To investigate the reliability of VITEK AMS for the detection of strains of E.coil and K.pneumoniae that produce ESBLs, and to determine the prevalence in our hospital of the two strains producing ESBLs.Method VITEK GNS 506 was used to detect ESBLs, and was compared with double disk synergy test. Results Among 48 strains of K.pneumoniase detected using VITEK GNS 506, 24 strains were found to be ESBLs positive, and 24 strains ESBLs negative. The result was consistent with that of double disk synergy test. Among 102 strains of E.coli detected using VITEK GNS 506, 41 strains were found to be ESBLs positive. The result was consistent with that of double disk synergy tests. 61 strains were found to be ESBLs negative detected using VITEK GNS 506. Among them, 19 strains were found to be ESBLs positive.Conclusion Detection ESBLs using VITEK AMS has some limitations in our area. Simple and reliable method should be used more with indicates for detection of ESBLs suitable for routine screening.

AIM: To explore the serum levels of visfatin (VF) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in the patients with pre-eclampsia (PE) and their correlation with insulin resistance (IR).METHODS: The severe PE pa-tients (n =30), mild PE patients (n =30) and normal pregnant women (n =40) were selected according to the classifica-tion standard of PE.The serum levels of VF and TNF-αwere measured by ELISA.Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and fasting insulin (FIns) were detected by glucose oxidase method and radioimmunoassay, respectively.Triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( HDL-C) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol ( LDL-C) were measured by an automatic biochemical analyzer.According to calculating the mean arterial pressure (MAP), body mass index (BMI) and homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), the correlation between IR and the levels of serum VF as well as TNF-αwere analyzed.RESULTS: The levels of VF and TNF-αin severe PE group and mild PE group were significantly lower than those in normal pregnancy group (P <0.05).In addition, the levels of VF and TNF-αin severe PE group were lower than those in mild PE group (P <0.05).Linear correlation analysis showed that serum VF was positively correlated with TNF-αand HDL-C (P <0.05), and negatively with MAP and FIns (P <0.05). The serum TNF-αwas positively correlated with HDL-C (P <0.05), and negatively with BMI, TG, MAP and FIns (P <0.05).Multiple stepwise regression analysis showed that FBG, FIns and HOMA-IR were relative independent factors of se-
rum VF and TNF-α(P <0.05).CONCLUSION: Serum levels of VF and TNF-αare closely related to IR.