BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE Metallo beta-lactamase (MBL)-mediated resistance to carbapenems is an emerging threat in hospital isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Though there are several screening methods to detect this enzyme production, the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) does not have performance standards documented so far. There is not enough information from the In...

The gp64 protein of Polysphondylium pallidum has been shown to mediate EDTA-stable cell-cell adhesion. To explore the functional role of gp64, we made an antisense RNA expression construct designed to prevent the gene expression of gp64; the construct was introduced into P. pallidum cells and the transformants were characterised. The antisense RNA-expressing clone L3mc2 which had just been harv...

In i6 workers with lead poisoning of varying degrees, a comparison was made between the therapeutic efficacy of sodium calciumedetate (Ca-EDTA) and penicillamine (PCA), administered intravenously and orally. The question of comparable dosages of ligands, forming metal complexes in different ways, is discussed. With the dosages given, intravenous Ca-EDTA promoted the greatest output of lead in t...

To examine the hypothesis that EDTA increases hatching rates and survival of penaeid shrimp larvae by decreasing the toxicities of heavy metals through chelation, the toxicity of cadmium, a highly toxic metal, was compared to the toxicities of calcium and phenol in both the presence and absence of EDTA. In addition, the toxicity of EDTA at higher concentrations was examined. The toxicities of E...

This study was designed to evaluate the performance of the broth microdilution (BMD) test in detecting the production of Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemases (KPCs) and metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs) in clinical isolates of gram-negative bacilli by using various β-lactamase inhibitors. A carbapenemase detection test, comprised of Mueller-Hinton broth containing serial twofold dilutions of imipenem...

OBJECTIVE Evaluate anticoagulants influence on blood S100B levels. DESIGN AND METHODS Blood from 18 healthy adult subjects were collected using: no anticoagulants; EDTA; heparin; and citrate. S100B levels were determined using LIA-mat assay. RESULTS Heparin and citrate increased S100B levels (p<0.001), whereas EDTA had no effect (p=0.24). Heparin samples were highly (r2=0.97, p<0.001), citr...

May 22, 2006 issue Imagine tears, lots of tears. Imagine a trail of tears trickling across upstate New York. Judie Comerford and her husband, Michael, are in their minivan on a highway somewhere between Potsdam and their home in Buffalo. They've just bid farewell to their oldest child, Meghan, who's starting college. "I cried, and then I cried some more, and then I cried again," Judie recalls. ...

Zinc is concentrated in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and has been proposed to alter excitability of primary afferent C-fibers, structures believed to be important in nociceptive transmission. Based on the inhibitory effect of zinc on the activity of various other neurotransmitters that play a role in nociception, we tested the hypothesis that zinc modulates pain transmission. To test this...

When human platelets in citrated plateletrich plasma (PRP) were incubated for up to 7 mm at 37#{176} C and pH 7.8 with EDTA, they progressively lost their ability to aggregate and, after separation from plasma, were found in progressively greater numbers in the upper phase of a two-phase dextranpolyethylene glycol system (i.e., had a higher partition coefficient). Partition values were also inc...