Clostridium is a genus of Gram-positive, spore-forming, anaerobic bacteria comprising approximately 100 species. Some Clostridium spp. (C. botulinum, C. perfringens, C. tetani and C. difficile) were ...recognized to cause acute food poisoning, botulism, tetanus, and diarrheal illness in humans. Thus, rapid identification of Clostridium spp. is critical for source tracking of contaminated food and to understand the transmission dynamics of these foodborne pathogens.
This study was carried out to rapidly identify Clostridium-like isolates by MALDI-TOF MS and rRNA sequencing methods.
Thirty-three Clostridium-like isolates were recovered from various baby food and surveillance samples. Species identification of these isolates was accomplished using VITEK MS system. Sequence characterization of the 16S rRNA region was done on an ABI 3500XL Genetic Analyzer.
The VITEK MS system identified 28 of the 33 Clostridium-like isolates with a high confidence value (99.9%); no ID was observed for the rest of the five isolates. Nucleotide sequencing of 16S rRNA region identified all 33 Clostridium-like isolates. Furthermore, while characterizing the 16S rRNA gene, eleven distinct Clostridium spp. (Clostridium aciditolerans, Clostridium aerotolerans, Clostridium argentinense, Clostridium beijerinckii, Clostridium bifermentans, Clostridium butyricum, Clostridium cochlearium, Clostridium difficile, Clostridium perfringens, Clostridium sporogenes, and Clostridium subterminale) were recognized among the 33 Clostridium-like isolates. One of the Clostridium-like isolate was identified as the Citrobacter amalonaticus by both diagnostic methods. The generated 16S rRNA sequences matched completely (100%) with sequences available in GenBank for Clostridium and Citrobacter species. Species identification attained by the VITEK MS for the Clostridium-like isolates was comparable to the 16S rRNA sequencing based data.
MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and 16S rRNA sequencing can be used in the species identification of Clostridium species.
Pseudoaneurysm of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), post repair for tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), is a rare occurrence with few cases reported in literature. TOF with single pulmonary artery ...is in itself a rare occurrence. RVOT pseudoaneurysm in a case of TOF with single pulmonary artery has not been reported to the best of our knowledge. RVOT pseudoaneurysm is a catastrophic complication which has very few symptoms and has to be picked up early to avoid dire consequences. We have reported such a rare occurrence to highlight the importance of looking out for such complications in rare presentations where anatomy is altered.
Abstract
Background
In September 2012, a multistate fungal meningitis outbreak started across 20 states in the United States. It affected 753 individuals and caused 64 deaths who received ...contaminated spinal injections. In a previous study, we analyzed 26 environmental samples collected from the manufacturing premises of a compounding company to determine the possible cause of an outbreak and identified 14 distinct fungal species.
Objectives
In this follow-up study, we have analyzed 198 environmental samples collected from three additional compounding company premises located in the United States for the presence of pathogenic fungi.
Methods
Environmental swab samples were initially examined by standard microbiological methods. Subsequently, DNA sequencing was performed on all of the 25 recovered fungal isolates at the D1–D2 domain of the large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions.
Results
Sequence analysis of the ITS1, ITS2, and LSU rRNA regions confirmed the presence of the following fungal species in the environmental samples analyzed: (i) Pestalotiopsis cocculi from the region Ia; (ii) Epicoccum nigrum and Trichaptum biforme from the region Ib; (iii) Nigrospora sphaerica and Fusarium sp. from the region II; and (iv) Curvularia sp., Fusarium sp., Penicillium sp., and Preussia sp. from the region III. Species identification of 25 recovered fungal isolates matched, in most cases, at 3 sequenced loci (ITS1, ITS2, and LSU).
Highlights
DNA sequencing of ITS1, ITS2, and LSU D1–D2 regions can be used to perform fungal typing and in implementing effective environmental monitoring programs of public health importance.
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Polymer membranes play a critical role in water treatment, chemical industry, and medicine. Unfortunately, the current standard for polymer membrane production requires unsustainable ...and harmful organic solvents. Aqueous phase separation (APS) has recently been proposed as a method to produce membranes in a more sustainable manner through induced polyelectrolyte complexation in aqueous solutions.
We demonstrate that APS has another natural advantage that goes beyond sustainability: the easy incorporation of enzymes in the membrane structure. Biocatalytic membranes hold great promise in for example biorefinery, but the most common current post-production processes to immobilize enzymes on the membrane surface are complicated and expensive.
In this study we demonstrated the first biocatalytic membrane produced via APS. We demonstrate an easy procedure to incorporate lysozyme in polyelectrolyte complex membranes made via APS. Our functionalized membranes have the same structure, water permeability (in the range of high nanofiltration, low ultrafiltration), and retention as membranes without lysozyme. Lysozyme is antibacterial by catalysing the hydrolysis of specific peptidoglycan bonds in bacteria walls. We demonstrate that the functionalized membranes are also capable of catalysing this reaction. The membranes remain enzymatically active for a period of at least one week. This opens new routes to produce polymer membranes with added biological function.
Environment-friendly and cost-effective remediation strategies are highly needed to reclaim the lead (Pb) contaminated soils. The present study evaluated the efficacy of novel magnetic wood-modified ...biochar (MWB) and pristine wood biochar (WB) at different application rates (0.5–1.75%) for remediation of Pb-contaminated soil. Both MWB and WB amendments effectively reduced the transfer and bioavailability of Pb in the soil. MWB (1.75%) amendment remarkably influenced rice plant growth in terms of improved biochemical and physiological attributes. The amendment of Pb-contaminated soil with MWB also proved beneficial in reducing oxidative stress in rice plants. A significant increase in root iron plaque (Fe-plaque) formation was also observed with 1.75% MWB treatment. The sequential extraction results demonstrated the increased transformation of exchangeable Pb fractions to non-exchangeable Pb fractions. Application of 1.75% MWB reduced the Pb content in roots and shoots by 48.6% and 60.2%, respectively. Present findings clearly validated the usefulness of MWB as a cost-effective remediation strategy for Pb-contaminated soil.
Dispensing errors, known to result in significant patient harm, are preventable if their nature is known and recognized. However, there is a scarcity of such data on dispensing errors particularly in ...resource poor settings, where healthcare is provided free-of-charge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the types, and prevalence of dispensing errors in a selected group of hospitals in Sri Lanka.
A prospective, cross sectional, multi-center study on dispensing errors was conducted, in a single tertiary care, and two secondary care hospitals, in a cohort of 420 patients attending medical, surgical, diabetic and pediatric clinics. The patients were selected according to the population size, through consecutive sampling. The prescription audit was conducted in terms of dispensing errors which were categorized as i) content, ii) labelling, iii) documentation, iv) concomitant, and v) other errors based on in-house developed definitions.
A total of 420 prescriptions (1849 medicines) were analyzed (Hospital-I, 248 prescriptions-1010 medicines; Hospital-II, 84 prescriptions-400 medicines; Hospital-III, 88 prescriptions-439 medicines), and a cumulative total of 16,689 dispensing errors (at least one dispensing error in a prescription) were detected. Labelling errors were the most frequent dispensing error (63.1%; N = 10,523; Mostly missing information on the dispensing label), followed by concomitant prescribing and dispensing errors (20.5%; N = 3425; Missing prescribing information overlooked by the pharmacist), documentation errors (10.6%; N = 1772 Missing identification of pharmacist on dispensing label), clinically significant medication interactions overlooked by pharmacists (0.5%; N = 82), content errors (4.9%; N = 812; Discrepancies between medication dispensed and prescription order), medications dispensed in unsuitable packaging (0.4%; N = 74), and lastly medication dispensed to the wrong patient (0.01%; N = 1).
Dispensing errors are frequent in Sri Lankan hospitals which operate with limited resources and provide free healthcare to all citizenry. Over one half of the errors were labeling errors with minimal content errors. Awareness on common types of dispensing errors and emphasis on detecting them could improve medication safety in Sri Lankan hospitals.
Di Crescenzo and Longobardi (J Appl Prob 39, 434–440, 2002), introduced the concept of past entropy for measuring uncertainty contained in past lifetime of random variables. By analogous to past ...entropy, Krishnan et al. (J Korean Stat Soc, 49, 457–474, 2020) defined the concept of past extropy. In this work, we propose nonparametric estimator for the past extropy, where the observations under consideration exhibit
α
-mixing dependence. Asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator are derived under suitable regularity conditions. A Monte–Carlo simulation study is carried out to compare the performance of the estimators using the mean squared error.
When two Newtonian liquid droplets are brought into contact on a solid substrate, a highly curved meniscus neck is established between the two which transforms the bihemispherically shaped fluid ...domain to a hemispherically shaped domain. The rate at which such topological transformation, called coalescence phenomenon, evolves results from a competition between the inertial force which resists the transformation, the interfacial force which promotes the rate, and the viscous force which arrests it. Depending on the behaviour of these forces, different scaling laws describing the neck growth can be observed, predicted theoretically, and proved numerically. The twofold objective of the present contribution is to propose a simple theoretical framework which leads to an Ordinary Differential Equation, the solution of which predicts the different scaling laws in various limits, and to validate these theoretical predictions numerically by modelling the phenomenon in the commercial Finite Element software COMSOL Multiphysics.
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