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- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(author)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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In: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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- Iversen, Aina, et al.
(author)
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Evidence for transmission between humans and the environment of a nosocomial strain of Enterococcus faecium.
- 2004
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In: Environ Microbiol. - : Wiley. - 1462-2912. ; 6:1, s. 55-9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- An ampicillin- and ciprofloxacin-resistant Enterococcus faecium (ARE) strain, named FMSE1, with a characteristic biochemical phenotype, was in a recent study found to dominate among faecal ARE isolates from patients in several Swedish hospitals. In the present study, the prevalence of this strain among 9676 enterococcal isolates from healthy children, hospital sewage, urban sewage, surface water, slaughtered animals (broilers, pigs and cattle) and pig faeces and manure was investigated. Enterococcal isolates having the same biochemical phenotype as the FMSE1 were most common in samples of hospital sewage (50%), surface water (35%), treated sewage (28%) and untreated sewage (17%), but rare in samples from healthy children (0.8%) and animals (2%). PFGE typing of FMSE1-like isolates from hospital sewage indicated that they were closely related to the nosocomial FMSE1 strain. Thus, this study indicated a possible transmission route for nosocomial E. faecium from patients in hospitals to hospital sewage and urban sewage, and further via treatment plants to surface water and possibly back to humans. This proposed route of circulation of drug-resistant enterococci might be further amplified by antibiotic usage in human medicine. In contrast, such transmission from food animals seems to play a negligible role in Sweden.
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- Mölstad, Sigvard, et al.
(author)
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Sustained reduction of antibiotic use and low bacterial resistance : 10-year follow-up of the Swedish Strama programme
- 2008
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In: The Lancet - Infectious diseases. - : Institutionen för klinisk och experimentell medicin. - 1473-3099 .- 1474-4457. ; 8:2, s. 125-132
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Increasing use of antibiotics and the spread of resistant pneumococcal clones in the early 1990s alarmed the medical profession and medical authorities in Sweden. Strama (Swedish Strategic Programme for the Rational Use of Antimicrobial Agents and Surveillance of Resistance) was therefore started in 1994 to provide surveillance of antibiotic use and resistance, and to implement the rational use of antibiotics and development of new knowledge. Between 1995 and 2004, antibiotic use for outpatients decreased from 15.7 to 12.6 defined daily doses per 1000 inhabitants per day and from 536 to 410 prescriptions per 1000 inhabitants per year. The reduction was most prominent in children aged 5-14 years (52%) and for macrolides (65%). During this period, the number of hospital admissions for acute mastoiditis, rhinosinusitis, and quinsy (peritonsillar abscess) was stable or declining. Although the epidemic spread in southern Sweden of penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae was curbed, the national frequency increased from 4% to 6%. Resistance remained low in most other bacterial species during this period. This multidisciplinary, coordinated programme has contributed to the reduction of antibiotic use without measurable negative consequences. However, antibiotic resistance in several bacterial species is slowly increasing, which has led to calls for continued sustained efforts to preserve the effectiveness of available antibiotics.
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- Petersen, G., et al.
(author)
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A Raman study of ion-polymer and ion-ion interactions in low molecular weight polyether - LiCF3SO3 complexes
- 1992
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In: Electrochimica Acta. - : Elsevier. - 0013-4686 .- 1873-3859. ; 37:9, s. 1495-1497
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We report Raman scattering investigations of the stability of various ion—polymer interactions from studies of LiCF3SO3—polyethers. New results for endcapped polyethers of different molecular weights in the range of one to eight repeat units are compared with previous data from OH-terminated polyether salt complexes. We conclude that anions coordinated to OH-endgroups are more stable than cations forming crosslinks between oxygens of adjacent polymer chains which in turn are more stable than cations coordinated to single oxygens. It is the weak oxygen—cation bond which is causing the dramatic increase in ion—ion association as tempearature increases. OH—anion bonds are little affected by temperature.
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- Torell, Erik, et al.
(author)
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Clonality among ampicillin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in Sweden and relation to ciprofloxacin resistance
- 2003
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In: Clinical Microbiology and Infection. - : Elsevier BV. - 1198-743X .- 1469-0691. ; 9:10, s. 1011-1019
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective To investigate clonal relationships in a nationwide sample of human Enterococcus faecium isolates. Methods Biochemical fingerprinting (PhP (PhenePlate) typing) was used to compare 180 fecal ampicillin-resistant E. faecium (ARE) isolates with 169 matched fecal ampicillin-susceptible E. faecium (ASE) isolates from patients in 23 hospitals, collected in 1998, and to study 39 fecal ARE isolates from non-hospitalized individuals collected in 1998, and five ARE and 29 ASE isolates from the early 1990s. Representative ARE and ASE isolates were subjected to pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis of genomic DNA and sequencing of the regions encoding the fluoroquinolone targets of the enzymes GyrA and ParC. Results Both PhP and PFGE results showed a higher homogeneity among ARE than among ASE isolates (P < 0.001). One PhP type (FMSE1) comprised 73% of the hospital ARE isolates (53% of ARE isolates from non-hospitalized individuals, and four of five ARE isolates from the early 1990s), but only 1% of the ASE isolates. PFGE of the hospital E. faecium isolates revealed that 23 of the 25 ARE isolates and one of the 22 ASE isolates were of one dominating type. High-level resistance to ciprofloxacin (MIC > 16 mg/L) was present in 91% of ARE isolates, whereas only low-level resistance (MIC 4–16 mg/L; 35% of isolates) was found among ASE isolates. One mutation in parC (codon 80) and one of two mutations in gyrA (codons 83 or 87) were detected in all ARE isolates tested with high-level ciprofloxacin resistance, but were lacking in ARE and ASE isolates with low-level ciprofloxacin resistance. Conclusion Most ARE isolates in Sweden were clonally related. High-level ciprofloxacin resistance was found in ARE isolates of PhP type FMSE1 as well as in other PhP types, but never in ASE isolates.
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