BACKGROUND Commercial diagnostics are commonly used to identify gram-positive bacteria. Errors have been reported mostly at the species level. We have found certain phenotypic criteria used in API systems which significantly misidentify Leuconostoc, an emerging human pathogen, at the genus level. We also attempt to find practical, conventional phenotypic assays for accurate identification of th...

To understand the dynamics of planktonic prokaryotes in a subtropical lake and its relationship with carbon, we conducted water sampling through four 48-h periods in Peri Lake for 1 year. Planktonic prokaryotes were characterized by the abundance and biomass of heterotrophic bacteria (HB) and of cyanobacteria (coccoid and filamentous cells). During all samplings, we measured wind speed, water t...

BACKGROUND While Helicobacter pylori exists in a bacillary form in both the natural habitat and the human host, detrimental environmental circumstances have been observed to lead to the conversion of H. pylori from the bacillary to the coccoid form. However, the viability or nonviability of coccoid forms remains to be established in H. pylori. The aim of this study was to determine whether the ...

Hodgkin‟s disease (HD) is widely considered a neoplastic disease. However, for more than a century some investigators have considered HD an infectious disease, caused by pleomorphic bacteria closely related to the mycobacteria that cause tuberculosis. A recent report showing “intracellular bacteria” in HD, as well as a previous electron microscopic study showing intraand extracellular “microorg...

2.4 Cyanobacterial Fossils.................................................. 22 2.4.1 Filamentous Cyanobacteria ............................................ 22 2.4.1.1 Oscillatoriaceae .............................................................. 22 2.4.1.2 Nostocaceae .................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Coccoid and Ellipsoid Cyanobacteria ...............

The net benefits of mutualism depend directly on the costs and effectiveness of mutualistic services and indirectly on the interactions that affect those services. We examined interactions among Cordia alliodora myrmecophytic trees, their symbiotic ants Azteca pittieri, coccoid hemipterans, and foliar herbivores in two Neotropical dry forests. The tree makes two investments in symbiotic ants: i...