CPC C12Q 1/04 (2013.01) | 28 Claims |
1. A method comprising:
(A) incubating, with an incubator, a culture disposed within a vessel during portions of a time interval between a first time point and a second time point, wherein the culture comprises a sample and a culture media;
(B) measuring, with a sensor, a biological state of the culture at a plurality of time points between the first time point and the second time point, wherein the biological state is one of CO2 concentration, O2 concentration, pH, a rate of change in CO2 concentration, a rate of change in O2 concentration, or a rate of change in pH and wherein the sensor is one of a colorimetric sensor, a fluorometric sensor, a nephelometric sensor or an infrared sensor;
(C) determining, with one or more processors, a plurality of rate transformation values, wherein each rate transformation value is derived from a different subset of the measurements of the biological state of the culture within a predetermined time interval;
(D) determining, with the one or more processors, a plurality of measures of central tendency, wherein each measure of central tendency is derived from a different subset of the rate transformation values;
(E) determining, with the one or more processors, whether the culture contains a plurality of microorganisms based on (i) whether at least one measure of central tendency is greater than or less than a first threshold value or (ii) whether an extent of growth exhibited by the culture is greater than or less than a second threshold value, wherein the extent of growth is derived from one or more of the measurements of the biological state of the culture; and
(F) processing the vessel to confirm the presence of the plurality of microorganisms if it is determined in step (E) that the culture contains a plurality of microorganisms.
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