80 samples of street-food (40 samples of raw vegetable, 40 samples of cooked food) were examined at 4 places of crowed eating in Hue city. The infection of aerobic bacterium, total coliform, faecal coliform all were at very high concentration, highly-polluted level. 6 species of S.aureus and 3 species of NAG were isolated, 62.5% samples of cooked food and 100% samples of raw food were did not meet the sanitary standards, which leads to high risks of food poisoning due to infection
Hygiene ; Microbiological Techniques

Bacteria ; chemistry ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Microbiological Techniques ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic

Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Microbiological Techniques ; Sepsis ; blood ; microbiology

Child ; Clinical Laboratory Techniques ; Humans ; Microbiological Techniques ; Viral Load ; Virus Cultivation ; Virus Diseases ; diagnosis

Co-culture systems consisted of photosynthetic microorganisms and others heterotrophic microbes have attracted great attention in recent years. These systems show many advantages when compared with single culture grown under autotrophic conditions, such as less vulnerable to pollution and more stability, thus have been applied to wastewater treatment, soil remediation, biodegradable harmful substances, and production of high value-added products. In order to explore basic theory and further applications, we summarize here recent progresses in artificial co-culture systems of using photosynthetic microorganisms, to provide a current scientific understanding for the rational design of the co-culture system based on photosynthetic microorganisms using synthetic biology.
Coculture Techniques ; Heterotrophic Processes ; Microbiological Techniques ; trends ; Microbiota ; physiology ; Photosynthesis ; physiology ; Synthetic Biology ; trends

OBJECTIVEThis research was to establish a method for fast identification of mycobacteria in microtiter liquid culture and to evaluate its clinical value.

METHODS2-thiophenecarboxylic acid hydrazide (TCH) and paranitrobenzoic acid (PNB) at different concentrations were added into liquid culture in 96-well plate. Different mycobacterium standard strains were incubated in liquid culture with PNB and TCH for 7 to 10 days. According to the growth assay for 15 mycobacterium strains and 30 mycobacterium tuberculosis strains, the best PNB and TCH concentration were determined. A total of 424 clinical mycobacterium isolates were identified by microtiter liquid culture at the best PNB and TCH concentration. The results of microtiter liquid culture were compared with those of PCR and DNA sequencing.

RESULTSThe best concentration of PNB was 200 µg/ml in microtiter liquid culture. Compared with the results of PCR, the sensitivity and specificity for identification of mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in microtiter liquid culture were 97.8% (306/313) and 100.0% (107/107) respectively and those for non-tuberculosis mycobacteria in microtiter liquid culture were 100.0% (107/107) and 96.5% (306/317) respectively. The best concentration of TCH was 0.5 µg/ml. Compared with the results of PCR, the sensitivity of mycobacterium tuberculosis in microtiter liquid culture was 100.0% (305/305). The specificity remained under and more studies were needed.

CONCLUSIONIn microtiter liquid culture with PNB and TCH, mycobacteria can be identified in 7 to 10 days. The results were accurate and the process was simple without expensive equipments. This method meets clinical needs and can be used in all level hospitals in China.

OBJECTIVETo compare the detection effect of Legionella pollution in spring water by three methods, namely traditional plating method, fluorescent quantitation PCR method and ethidium monoazide (EMA) fluorescent quantitation PCR method.

METHODSEvery month (except May), we collected 11 water samples from the 5 selected hot spring pools in one hot spring resort in Beijing in 2011. A total of 121 water samples were collected, and then were detected by the above three methods qualitatively and quantitatively.

RESULTSIn our study, the Legionella pollution rate was separately 74.4% (90/121), 100.0% (121/121) and 100.0% (121/121) by the above three methods. The quantitative value of Legionella in the 121 water samples detected by the three methods were around 0.10-216.00 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml, 1.47-1557.75 gene units (GU)/ml and 0.20-301.69 GU/ml, respectively. The median (25th and 75th percentiles) was 75.30 (32.51-192.10) GU/ml, 36.46 (16.08-91.21) GU/ml and 5.30 (0.00-33.70) CFU/ml, respectively. The difference in the quantitative value of Legionella detected by the three methods showed statistical significance (χ(2) = 187.900, P < 0.01). The quantitative value of Legionella detected by fluorescent quantitation PCR method was the highest, followed by the value Legionella detected by EMA-fluorescent quantitation PCR method and traditional plating method.

CONCLUSIONThe sensitivity of the PCR methods was higher than traditional plating method, in detecting Legionella pollution in spring water, especially the EMA- fluorescent quantitation PCR method, which was more suitable for detecting Legionella in water.

A new automatic selection approach of microorganism specific fragment combination is presented in this paper. Genetic algorithm is used to search optimal solution on the basis of classification ability of SNP combination, which is evaluated by the rough set theory. Other related experimental parameters are also been incorporated. Experimental results show that the method can find the best SNP combination pattern efficiently and accurately, which implies that it is a reliable approach to the genechip probe design.
Algorithms ; Microbiological Techniques ; methods ; Models, Genetic ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods

Aptamers are a group of artificial oligonucleotides identified by exponential enrichment system evolution technology (Selective expansion of ligands by exponential enrichment, SELEX). Aptamers have been widely used in basic research, clinical diagnostics, and nano-technology. In this article we will introduce the technology of aptamer and summarize its applications in medical microbiology.
Aptamers, Nucleotide ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Microbiological Techniques ; methods ; Microbiology ; SELEX Aptamer Technique ; methods ; trends

BACKGROUND: In most clinical microbiology laboratories, inoculation of specimens on plates is performed manually and is a time-consuming process. The efficiency of this process can be improved by using an automated instrument. Currently, several automated instruments have been introduced for inoculation of samples. In this study, we have evaluated an automated instrument, PREVI Isola(R) (Biomerieux, France), used for inoculation of body fluids and urine specimens. METHODS: Both manual and automated instrument methods were used to inoculate 74 body fluid and 204 urine samples. Precision was evaluated by testing 3 types of urine samples (A, 6x10(3) colony-forming units (CFU)/mL; B, 3x10(4) CFU/mL; and C, >10(6) CFU/mL) in replicates of 20. Results of the 2 methods were compared by counting the isolated colonies on agar plates after incubation. The time required for both methods was also compared. RESULTS: The coefficient of variation (CV) of samples A, B, and C examined using the automated instrument method was 176.1%, 18.1%, and 12.6%, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of testing body fluid samples were 77% and 100%, respectively, and those of urine samples were 87% each. The time required for testing 15 body fluid specimens and that for inoculation of each specimen was 9.7 min shorter using PREVI Isola(R) than using the manual method. CONCLUSIONS: The results of body fluid and urine culture by inoculation using the automated instrument, PREVI Isola(R), showed relative good agreement with those obtained using the manual method. The use of PREVI Isola(R) would be expected to reduce the time and labor involved in inoculating various kinds of specimens.
Agar ; Automation, Laboratory ; Body Fluids ; Microbiological Techniques ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Stem Cells