Agrobacterium tumefaciens C58 grown on acidic medium containing glucose and solidified with bacteriological agar expressed a virB::lacZ fusion. No expression of this fusion was observed on a similar medium which was solidified with purified agarose. The fraction from bacteriological agar which was responsible for vir gene induction was extracted with methanol and partially purified by preparati...

Consumers increasingly use bottled water and home water treatment systems to avoid direct tap water. According to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), an industry trade group, 5 billion gallons of bottled water were consumed by North Americans in 2001. The principal aim of this study was to assess the microbial quality of in-house and imported bottled water for human consumption,...

Background The first clinical trial to evaluate an effective drug for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) conducted in 1946 by the Medical Research Council (MRC) under the direction of Bradford Hill is also widely regarded as the first properly conducted randomised clinical trial in any disease area. This new treatment was shown to significantly reduce the short term risk of death in patients wi...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) transmission is associated with patient-related risk factors. However, DNA fingerprint analysis has provided anecdotal evidence suggesting a role for bacteriological factors. METHODS To examine the importance of the bacteriological component in TB transmission, we investigated the number of tuberculin skin test-positive (TST induration, ≥ 10 mm) contacts and secon...