In conclusion, the presented results indicate that serum sTREM-1 and expression of TREM-1 on neutrophils and monocytes may serve as markers of CAP in patients with pulmonary infiltrates. Concentrations of sTREM-1 in serum are particularly increased in CAP caused by Gram-positive cocci and Haemophilus species. The real clinical value of sTREM-1 assay comes when TREM-1 levels are low, allowing the clinician to withhold empiric antibiotics until culture results are available, and thus eliminating unnecessary antibiotic exposure to the patient. And finally, early serum levels of sTREM-1 greater than 180 pg/ml in CAP are associated with unfavourable prognosis. and Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis Ass. Prof. MD have no conflicts of interest to disclose related to this study. Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis Prof. MD has received reimbursement for attending the 29 th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine where participated as a speaker and unrestricted educational grants from ABBOTT Hellas SA; Wyeth Hellas SA; Sanofi-Aventis Hellas SA. Nodeomics: Pathogen Detection in Vertebrate Lymph Nodes Using Meta-Transcriptomics The ongoing emergence of human infections originating from wildlife highlights the need for better knowledge of the microbial community in wildlife species where traditional diagnostic approaches are limited. Here we evaluate the microbial biota in healthy mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) by analyses of lymph node meta-transcriptomes. cDNA libraries from five individuals and two pools of samples were prepared from retropharyngeal lymph node RNA enriched for polyadenylated RNA and sequenced using Roche-454 Life Sciences technology. Protein-coding and 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences were taxonomically profiled using protein and rRNA specific databases. Representatives of all bacterial phyla were detected in the seven libraries based on protein-coding transcripts indicating that viable microbiota were present in lymph nodes. Residents of skin and rumen, and those ubiquitous in mule deer habitat dominated classifiable bacterial species. Based on detection of both rRNA and protein-coding transcripts, we identified two new proteobacterial species; a Helicobacter closely related to Helicobacter cetorum in the Helicobacter pylori/Helicobacter acinonychis complex and an Acinetobacter related to Acinetobacter schindleri. Among viruses, a novel gamma retrovirus and other members of the Poxviridae and Retroviridae were identified. We additionally evaluated bacterial diversity by amplicon sequencing the hypervariable V6 region of 16S rRNA and demonstrate that overall taxonomic diversity is higher with the meta-transcriptomic approach. These data provide the most complete picture to date of the microbial diversity within a wildlife host. Our research advances the use of meta-transcriptomics to study microbiota in wildlife tissues, which will facilitate detection of novel organisms with pathogenic potential to human and animals. Information about the commensal and pathogenic microbial communities associated with host species, including humans, is limited. The endemic microbial community of a healthy host is important to characterize because its perturbation can be a cause of disease [1, 2] . Pathogenic microbes often escape detection if the clinical consequences of infection are similar to known pathogens or if they infect non-domestic species [3] . The maintenance of unknown pathogens in wildlife species is particularly problematic because many emerging human and livestock infections arise from contact with wild animals [4] [5] [6] [7] .