The short time antibacterial effect of tetracaine hydrochloride was studied. S. aureus, Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus and P. aeruginosa were each incubated with tetracaine hydrochloride(preservative free) for 18 hours or for 2 minutes and then diluted and cultured on nutrient agar plate. Colony counts were done after 18 hours. In cases of 18 hours incubation, there was no growth of microbials in 0.5%, 0.1% tetracaine hydrochloride, but there was no inhibitory effect of 0.02% of tetracaine hydrochloride on growth of microbials, irrespective of inoculum amount. In cases of 2 minutes incubation with 0.5% tetracaine hydrochloride, there was no difference between the amount of microbial inoculum and colony count. Above in vitro study indicates that tetracaine hydrochloride has no inhibitory effect on bacterial growth in short time exposure less than 2 minutes.
Agar ; Coagulase ; Staphylococcus ; Tetracaine*

The short time antibacterial effect of tetracaine hydrochloride was studied. S. aureus, Coagulase Negative Staphylococcus and P. aeruginosa were each incubated with tetracaine hydrochloride(preservative free) for 18 hours or for 2 minutes and then diluted and cultured on nutrient agar plate. Colony counts were done after 18 hours. In cases of 18 hours incubation, there was no growth of microbials in 0.5%, 0.1% tetracaine hydrochloride, but there was no inhibitory effect of 0.02% of tetracaine hydrochloride on growth of microbials, irrespective of inoculum amount. In cases of 2 minutes incubation with 0.5% tetracaine hydrochloride, there was no difference between the amount of microbial inoculum and colony count. Above in vitro study indicates that tetracaine hydrochloride has no inhibitory effect on bacterial growth in short time exposure less than 2 minutes.
Agar ; Coagulase ; Staphylococcus ; Tetracaine*

KOH examination is a simple, rapid and diagnostic procedure to confirm dermatophytic infections. It is important to select a proper examination site of the lesion. To determinate the proper examination site of the lesion, mycologic studies were done with multiple specimens collected from the center, margin and out of margin of the ring-shaped dermatophytic skin lesion on the 58 patients. The results were as follows. Positive rate of KOH wet smear was 94.8% at the center and 100% at the margin of the lesions, 22.4% at the 1 cm and 5.2% at the 2 cm out of the lesions. The more hyphae were found in the lesion, the more hyphae were found out of the lesion. Culture was done on the Sabouraud's glucose agar from the highest KOH positive area and the positive culture was 48 strains (82.8%) of 58 patients. These findings suggested that the ring-shaped active margin was the best site to examine mycologic studies.
Agar ; Glucose ; Humans ; Hyphae ; Skin*

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of automated ozonated water endoscopic reprocessing system (AORS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty cases were collected and randomly assigned to 3 groups according to the disinfection methods (Group A, AORS for 5 minutes; Group B, AORS for 10 minutes; Group C, automated disinfection with superoxidized water for 3 minutes 30 seconds). After disinfection was finished, samples were collected from the tip of scopes (Site 1, S1) and rinsing water through biopsy channel (Site 2, S2). Samples were inoculated in blood agar plate for 48 hrs, and then colony count was evaluated. RESULTS: Culture positive rate of S1 was 0% in all three groups. Culture positive rates of S2 were 70% (7/10), 70% (7/10) and 90% (9/10) in group A, group B and group C, respectively. High culture rate group (> or = 1 CFU/ml rinsing water) was 0% (0/10), 30% (3/10) and 70% (7/10) in group A, group B and group C, respectively. Disinfection efficacy between group A and C showed a significant difference in high culture rate (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: AORS for 5min was at least equally effective in endoscopic reprocessing compared with the conventional superoxidized water system.
Agar ; Biopsy ; Disinfection* ; Endoscopes ; Water*

BACKGROUND: Early and appropriate antibiotic treatment improves the clinical outcome of patients with septicemia; therefore, reducing the turn-around time for identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) results is essential. We established a method for rapid ID and AST using short-term incubation of positive blood culture broth samples on solid media, and evaluated its performance relative to that of the conventional method using two rapid ID systems and a rapid AST method. METHODS: A total of 254 mono-microbial samples were included. Positive blood culture samples were incubated on blood agar plates for six hours and identified by the MicroFlex LT (Bruker Daltonics) and Vitek-MS (bioMeriéux) systems, followed by AST using the Vitek2 System (bioMeriéux). RESULTS: The correct species-level ID rates were 82.3% (209/254) and 78.3% (199/254) for the MicroFlex LT and Vitek-MS platforms, respectively. For the 1,174 microorganism/antimicrobial agent combinations tested, the rapid AST method showed total concordance of 97.8% (1,148/1,174) with the conventional method, with a very major error rate of 0.5%, major error rate of 0.7%, and minor error rate of 1.0%. CONCLUSIONS: Routine implementation of this short-term incubation method could provide ID results on the day of blood culture-positivity detection and one day earlier than the conventional AST method. This simple method will be very useful for rapid ID and AST of bacteria from positive blood culture bottles in routine clinical practice.
Agar ; Bacteria* ; Humans ; Methods ; Sepsis

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of automated ozonated water endoscopic reprocessing system (AORS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty cases were collected and randomly assigned to 3 groups according to the disinfection methods (Group A, AORS for 5 minutes; Group B, AORS for 10 minutes; Group C, automated disinfection with superoxidized water for 3 minutes 30 seconds). After disinfection was finished, samples were collected from the tip of scopes (Site 1, S1) and rinsing water through biopsy channel (Site 2, S2). Samples were inoculated in blood agar plate for 48 hrs, and then colony count was evaluated. RESULTS: Culture positive rate of S1 was 0% in all three groups. Culture positive rates of S2 were 70% (7/10), 70% (7/10) and 90% (9/10) in group A, group B and group C, respectively. High culture rate group (> or = 1 CFU/ml rinsing water) was 0% (0/10), 30% (3/10) and 70% (7/10) in group A, group B and group C, respectively. Disinfection efficacy between group A and C showed a significant difference in high culture rate (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: AORS for 5min was at least equally effective in endoscopic reprocessing compared with the conventional superoxidized water system.
Agar ; Biopsy ; Disinfection* ; Endoscopes ; Water*

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cytotoxicity and mutagenicity of denture ase resins. According to manufacturer's instructions, resin specimens were made. Group 1: heat-polymerizing acrylic resin (Luciton 199(R)). Group 2: heat-polymerizing acrylic resin containing polyhedraloligosilsesquioxane(POSS esin). Group 3: auto-polymerizing acrylic resin (Repair Acrylic(R)). Group 4: direct relining auto-polymerizing acrylic resin (Tokuso Rebase(R)). Fresh specimens, 24 hrs. and 72 hrs. soaked specimens in distilled water were made. Responses with metabolic assay and mutagenesis assay to eluates from resin specimens were measured. Cultures with medium alone provided controls. Cytotoxicity was assessed with agar overlay test. The results were as follows: 1. Group 4 showed higher cytotoxicity than Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 in fresh, 24-and 72-hour immersion cases (p<.05). Group 3 showed higher cytotoxicity than Group 2 in fresh cases and showed higher cytotoxicity than Group 1 and Group 2 in 24-and 72-hour immersion cases (p<.05). Group 1 and Group 2 showed no significant difference. 2. All acrylic denture base resins showed significant increase of cell activity as immersion time increased (p<.05). 3. Auto-polymerizing acrylic denture base resins showed higher cytotoxicity than heat-polymerizing acrylic denture base resins (p<.05). 4. All acrylic denture base resins showed lower mutagenicity than controls (p<.05).
Agar ; Denture Bases* ; Dentures* ; Immersion ; Mutagenesis ; Water

BACKGROUND: Rapid species identification of enterococci is necessary for optimal treatment of infected patients as they are frequently resistant to various antimicrobial agents. Minimal identification scheme is necessary to cut the laboratory cost. In this study, a minimal identification system was modified to expand the identifiable species. METHODS: Performance of MGP test was compared to that of MIO motility test. Colonies on blood agar were used to inoculate primary identification media: SFA, BEAA, mannitol agar, tellurite agar, sorbose agar and MGP agar, which were prepared in biplates. Pigment production was tested when necessary using colonies on a blood agar. Isolates, which were not identifiable by the primary test, were inoculated to secondary test media: ADH, and arabinose-, raffinose- and sucrose-containing CTA. Vitek GPI cards were used to test isolates with a doubtful identification or no identification. RESULTS: MGP test was selected for the modified scheme, as it was more rapid and accurate than motility test. Among the 879 clinical isolates of enterococci, 462 (52.6%) and 3 (0.3%) were identified as E. faecalis and E. casseliflavus, respectively, by the primary test only. With the additional secondary tests, 379 (43.1%) isolates were identified as E. faecium. Vitek test showed the identification of 4 isolates with atypical test results and 5 isolates of rare species by modified scheme were correct. Nine isolates (1.0 %) were not identifiable by the modified scheme. CONCLUSIONS: The modified minimal identification scheme which included MGP test identified most E. faecalis isolates rapidly and accurately. Most of E. faecium isolates were identified with the additional secondary tests. In conclusion, the system is useful for the identification of commonly isolated species of enterococci.
Agar ; Anti-Infective Agents ; Humans ; Mannitol ; Sorbose

No abstract available.
Agar* ; Diffusion* ; Phenol* ; Vibrio vulnificus* ; Vibrio*

BACKGROUNDS: The emergence of resistant strains to glycopeptide in enterococci(GRE) is increasingly serious problem in the worldwide. Automated methods and disk diffusion test have difficulties in detecting vancomycin resistance of some strains of vancomycin-resistant enterococci(VRE), especially having vanC genotypes. And a few studies have been done assessing the ability of antimicrobial susceptibility testing methods to detect teicoplanin resistance in enterococci. METHODS: We evaluated the abilities of two commercial kits including Vitek GPS-IZ(BioMerieux, Vitek, Inc., USA) and E-test(AB Biodisk, USA), and disk diffusion test to detect glycopeptide resistance using 34 strains of vanA and 15 strains of vanC1/C2 VRE. We compared the results with those of standard agar dilution test. RESULTS: In detecting vancomycin resistance, no very major or major errors were seen, and minor error rates were observed with disk diffusion(25%), Vitek GPS-IZ(20%) and E-test(8%). Overall sensitivities of all three methods in detecting vancomycin resistance of vanA VRE were 97-100%, but sensitivities in detecting vancomycin resistance of vanC VRE were 20% in disk diffusion, 87% in E-test and 87% in Vitek GPS-IZ. In detecting teicoplanin resistance, very major error rate was high in Vitek GPS-IZ(47%), but no very major or major errors were seen in disk diffusion and E-test; minor error rates of 2% and 6% were seen in Vitek GPS-IZ and E-test, respectively. CONCLUSION: All three methods detect vancomycin resistance of vanA VRE, but they continue to demonstrate problems in detecting low-level vancomycin resistance and the Vitek GPS-IZ is difficult to detect teicoplanin resistance in enterococci.
Agar* ; Diffusion* ; Genotype ; Teicoplanin ; Vancomycin Resistance