Contrary to the structural aspect of conventional social network analysis, a new method in behavioral analysis is proposed. We define behavioral measures including self-loops and multiple links and illustrate the behavioral analysis with the networks of Wikipedia editing. Behavioral social network analysis provides an explanation of human behavior that may be further extended to the explanation...

Introduction: Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the members of the genus Brucella. This bacterium is transmitted to humans through exposure to infected animals or via consumption of contaminated dairy products. Cultivation of the bacteria or amplification of its DNA using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are conventional diagnostic approaches for definitive identification of Brucella i...

escherichia coli o157:h7 is an important human pathogen causing haemorrhagic colitis, haemolyticuraemic syndrom and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. in this study, 100 ground beef samples were collected randomly from beef markets in june 2004. for isolation of the bacteria, samples were firstly enriched in modified trypticase soy broth, followed by plating onto sorbitol macconkey agar suppl...

BACKGROUND There is no uniform consensus on how to grow fungi from sinus aspirates in the Canadian setting. Protocols vary between institutions, and the positivity rate for fungal cultures ranges between 10 and 20% even when endoscopically obvious allergic mucin is being sent to the laboratory. The aim of this study was to compare the occurrence of positive fungal cultures obtained by our insti...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis remains a global epidemic, especially in developing countries, including Iran. Rapid diagnosis of active Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection plays a critical role in controlling the spread of tuberculosis. Conventional methods may take up to several weeks or longer to produce results. In addition to multiplicity of steps involved in conventional detection, including iso...

INTRODUCTION Clinical samples from 433 patients pre-diagnosed with tuberculosis in Konya, Turkey, were investigated prospectively to compare the GenoType(®) MTBC test (GenoType(®) MTBC) with conventional "gold standard" culture methods. MATERIAL AND METHODS Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) and Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT)-960 culture methods and GenoType(®) MTBC were performed together. ...

PURPOSE To compare the degree of surgical-field contamination in cataract surgeries between a new draping method using a lid speculum with a drape (LiDrape(®)) and a conventional draping method. METHODS Cataract surgery was performed on 21 eyes using LiDrape(®) (LiDrape(®) group) and on 22 eyes using a conventional draping method (conventional group). Contamination was evaluated by bacterial ...

BACKGROUND Group B streptococci (GBS), or Streptococcus agalactiae, are the leading bacterial cause of meningitis and bacterial sepsis in newborns. Currently available rapid methods to detect GBS from clinical specimens are unsuitable for replacement of culture methods, mainly because of their lack of sensitivity. METHODS We have developed a PCR-based assay for the rapid detection of GBS. The...

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conclusions the results of the present study showed that in comparison with previously published primer sets, p. aeruginosa infection can be diagnosed with higher sensitivity and specificity by the conventional pcr assay using the newly designed primers. it was also shown that the results of the pcr assay on clinical samples of severe infections became positive much earlier than the results of ...