Paired nasal swab specimens were collected from patients who were undergoing routine methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) screening prior to elective cardiac or orthopedic procedures. Each patient was swabbed using a traditional wound fiber liquid Stuart swab and an ESwab device, a flocked swab with a modified liquid Amies microbiology transport medium. The two specimens were test...

To detect Streptococcus pneumoniae colonization, the nasopharynx is sampled using a swab placed in skim milk-tryptone-glucose-glycerol (STGG) transport medium, and then the swab specimen or STGG medium is cultured or subjected to PCR. We evaluated the effect of swab composition and compared the sensitivities of detection of culture and PCR using swabs and swab-containing medium. Calcium alginat...

BACKGROUND Farm workers and female cotton pickers are exposed to residual impacts of pesticide use in cotton production, in addition to dust, ultraviolet radiation, etc. Cotton picking causes various health hazards among cotton pickers with varied health cost. A soil bacterium known as Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is incorporated in cotton seed through genetic modification and it has resistance ...

OBJECTIVES Swab-based nasal screening is commonly used to identify asymptomatic carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in patients. Bacterial detection depends on the uptake and release capacities of the swabs and on the swabbing technique itself. This study investigates the performance of different swab-types in nasal MRSA-screening by utilizing a unique artificial nose model to provide realistic a...

Wheat–cotton double cropping practices on a large scale in cotton belt of the Yellow RiverValley and the Yangtze River Valley in China. Field experiments were conducted to determinethe effects of wheat–cotton double cropping on cotton biomass accumulation and yieldformation during 2011/12 and 2012/13 growing seasons. Two cotton cultivars, Siza 3 (mid–latematurity) and CCRI 50 (early maturity), ...

To study the role of surface proteins in the adherence of Staphylococcus aureus to fibers that are used in tampon and surgical gauze pad manufacture, we have developed an adherence assay with S. aureus cells and cotton and rayon fibers. Results suggest that staphylococcal adherence is dependent on both the substrate and the material used to coat these fibers. Scanning electron micrographs suppo...

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is a severe disease of cotton that occurs in Africa and Pakistan/northwestern India. The disease is caused by begomoviruses in association with specific betasatellites that differ between Africa and Asia. During survey of symptomatic cotton in Sindh (southern Pakistan) Cotton leaf curl Gezira virus (CLCuGV), the begomovirus associated with CLCuD in Africa, was i...

In the examination of sexual assault cases, DNA typing of vaginal samples mostly occurs after differential DNA extraction. Notwithstanding the differential extraction method, the DNA profiles from the seminal fraction often show the male alleles at low-level in combination with female alleles. This unfavorable ratio male to female DNA is due to a limited amount of sperm cells and an overwhelmin...

This study mathematically correlates incidence of cotton leaf curl virus (CLCuV), environmental factors (i.e., rainfall, humidity and temperature), and silverleaf whitefly population in agricultural system of Pakistan. It has been concluded that the disease is directly linked with rainfall and humidity. The third most influential factor in defining CLCuV incidence is the vector population, whic...