BACKGROUND Semi-quantitative Gram stain and culture methods are still commonly used for diagnosing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), due to its convenience. Only a few studies, however, have assessed the reliability of these methods when compared with quantitative cultures, a current standard for the diagnosis of VAP. The objective of this study was to assess the utility of semi-quantitati...

in order to evaluate quantity and quality hairy vetch (vicia villosa l.) yield in the pure and mixed cropping with barley (hordeum vulgare l.) and triticale (triticosecale) the experiment was conducted at agricultural research station (khodabande) under dryland conditions during 2006 -2008. field experiments were arranged in a randomized complete blocks design with 9 treatments in four replicat...

A pot culture experiment was conducted to study the effect of biomass power plant effluent on seed germination, seedling growth and chlorophyll content of green gram (variety LGG 460) have been estimated at different effluent concentrations and time intervals. The effluent is alkaline in nature (pH 8.5), odorless, and comprises of heavy metals such as Cr (0.071 mg l(-1)), Cu (0.014 mg l(-1)), M...

Iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized and coated with silica by conventional coprecipitation method. Silica coated iron oxide nanoparticles were surface functionalized with chitosan. Silica coating and chitosan functionalization were confirmed by FTIR and TG-DTA analysis. XRD pattern revealed that the pure phase of Fe3O4 was retained even after coating. Particles of average size 12 nm were ...

A microplate technique was developed to determine the conditions under which pure cultures of algae removed heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Variables investigated included algal species and strain, culture age (11 and 44 days), metal (mercury, lead, cadmium, and zinc), pH, effects of different buffer solutions, and time of exposure. Plastic, U-bottomed microtiter plates were used in conjun...

Gram-negative Pseudomonas and Gram-positive Bacillus are the most common spoilage bacteria in raw and pasteurized milk, respectively. In previous studies, nitrogen (N2) gas flushing treatments of raw and pasteurized milk at cold chain-temperatures inhibited bacterial spoilage and highlighted different susceptibilities to the N2 treatment with the exclusion of certain bacterial types. Here, we i...

beta-carotene is a carotenoid and known as the most famous natural pigment. microalgae are the most important sources for beta-carotene production. due to the high sterilization cost of pure culture, in this study for the first time, growth, amounts of beta-carotene and chlorophyll in caspian sea microalgae under nutrient deficiencies stress, have been measured and compared with pure microalgae...

New antimicrobial properties of products derived from Humulus lupulus L. such as antiadherent and antibiofilm activities were evaluated. The growth of gram-positive but not gram-negative bacteria was inhibited to different extents by these compounds. An extract of hop cones containing 51% xanthohumol was slightly less active against S. aureus strains (MIC range 31.2-125.0  μg/mL) than pure xant...