To study the demographic changes of yeasts causing invasive infections in Taiwan, especially with respect to species distribution and antifungal susceptibility, we analyzed isolates obtained from four sterile sites of patients in 19 hospitals in 2002 (155 strains) and again from the same hospitals in 2006 (208 strains). Blood was the most common source of the yeasts, accounting for 73.8% of the...

BACKGROUND The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) recently elected to adjust the previous piperacillin susceptibility breakpoint of ≤64 µg/mL against Pseudomonas aeruginosa to ≤16 µg/mL, based largely on pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD) modeling studies. Data on whether PK-PD modeling correlates with clinical outcomes in children are needed before resorting to broader cla...

Acquisition of resistance to neomycin, gentamicin, fusidic acid, or clindamycin has been observed in three strains of Staphylococcus aureus and data from three patients infected with these strains are presented in detail. Clindamycin resistance followed the expected pattern by appearing in a strain of Staph. aureus with dissociated resistance to erythromycin after treatment with erythromycin an...

INTRODUCTION Tigecycline is an antibiotic belonging to the glycylcycline class with in vitro activity against most Gram-negative bacteria, other than Pseudomonas aeruginosa. This study investigated the in vitro activity of tigecycline against multi-resistant isolates of Enterobacteriaceae and Acinetobacter spp. isolated from clinical specimens in Singapore. MATERIALS AND METHODS Minimum inhib...

Fourteen novel silane coupling agents with a quaternary ammonium group introduced into the molecule, [CH(2)=CHCH(2)N(+)(CH(3))(C(n)H(2n+1))(CH(2))(3)Si(OCH(3))(3)]X(-) (n-X, n=10-18, X=Cl, Br, or I), were synthesized with the aim of using these agents to make material surfaces antimicrobial for a long period of time. Measurements of the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) against 12 kinds o...

The hydroxy metabolite of metronidazole was found to be more active against 21 strains of Gardnerella vaginalis than the parent compound and less affected by culture in carbon dioxide. After 400 mg oral metronidazole (Flagyl) plasma concentrations of the two agents were below the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for most G vaginalis strains tested. With 2 g metronidazole the plasma conc...

In the current study, the antibacterial effect of Echinophora platyloba essential oil and common liquid smoke (individually and in combination) against Staphylococcus aureus in beef meat samples is investigated. Using an automated microbiological growth analyser and the turbidimetric technique, the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) and the minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBC) of the ...

INTRODUCTION Rapid dissemination of plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) has been reported in clinical isolates. METHODOLOGY A total of 149 clinical isolates of Enterobacteriaceae were collected in Beijing and screened for PMQR genes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Real-time quantitative PCR was used to study the expression of qnrS. RESULTS The rates of qnr and aac(6')-Ib-cr ...

The research was undertaken to determine the bacteriostatic effects of the concentrate of Japanese apricot juice (bainiku-ekisu), which is a popular health food in Taiwan and Japan, on Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922. The results show that E. faecalis, S. aureus, and E. coli could be killed or inhibited by bainiku-ekisu at conc...

BACKGROUND Antimicrobial susceptibility of Legionella spp. has rarely been studied in Korea. Therefore, we aimed to determine the susceptibility of Legionella spp. to various antibiotics. METHODS We assessed the antimicrobial susceptibility of 66 environmental and clinical Legionella isolates collected between January 2001 and December 2008 from Korea and Japan. The minimum inhibitory concent...