Staphylococcus pseudintermedius is a coagulase-positive species that colonizes the nares and anal mucosa of healthy dogs and cats. Human infections with S. pseudintermedius range in severity from bite wounds and rhinosinusitis to endocarditis; historically, these infections were thought to be uncommon, but new laboratory methods suggest that their true incidence is underreported. Oxacillin and ...

OBJECTIVES The anti-inflammatory effect of adenosine is partially mediated via the A3 adenosine receptor (A3AR), a Gi protein associated cell surface receptor. The highly selective A3AR agonist, IB-MECA was earlier shown to prevent the clinical and pathological manifestations of arthritis in experimental animal models of collagen and adjuvant induced arthritis (AIA). In this study we tested the...

Lymphocytes home to peripheral lymph nodes (PLNs) via high endothelial venules (HEVs) in the subcortex and incrementally larger collecting venules in the medulla. HEVs express ligands for L-selectin, which mediates lymphocyte rolling. L-selectin counterreceptors in HEVs are recognized by mAb MECA-79, a surrogate marker for molecularly heterogeneous glycans termed peripheral node addressin. By c...

We previously characterized over 100 Staphylococcus sciuri isolates, mainly of animal origin, and found that they all carried a genetic element (S. sciuri mecA) closely related to the mecA gene of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. We also found a few isolates that carried a second copy of the gene, identical to MRSA mecA. In this work, we analyzed a collection of 28 S....

In a recent article, Hussain et al. evaluated a commercial latex agglutination test (LA), the MRSA-Screen (Denka Seiken Co., Niigata, Japan), for rapid detection of penicillinbinding protein 2a (PBP2a) in mecA-positive and mecA-negative coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) (2). The sensitivity and specificity were 100 and 99.5% (2), respectively, although the MRSA-Screen was initially develop...

The aim of this study was to evaluate methicillin resistance detection methods currently used when studying coagulase-negative staphylococci (CONS). The resistance to oxacillin of 142 strains from seven species of CoNS isolated from the Intensive Care Unit environments was tested. The methods used were: disc diffusion test with cefoxitin (FOX30) and oxacillin (OX1), oxacillin agar screen test w...

In this study, we determined the accuracy of phenotypic tests (cefoxitin agar dilution, 30 microg-cefoxitin and 1 microg-oxacillin disks) to detect the oxacillin resistance/mecA gene among coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) isolates. The presence of the mecA gene was detected by PCR technique (gold standard). A total of 176 CoNS isolates from blood of hospitalized patients were evaluated. ...

A DNA hybridization method with an enzyme-labeled oligonucleotide probe (mecA-ELONP) was developed to detect the methicillin-resistant gene (mecA) in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. For rapid identification, bacterial colonies were transferred from agar plates directly onto nylon membranes. Lysis of cells, denaturation of DNA, and hybridization were performed on the membranes. Thes...

Previous studies on the antimicrobial activity of cold atmospheric pressure argon plasma showed varying effects against mecA+ or mecA-Staphylococcus aureus strains. This observation may have important clinical and epidemiological implications. Here, the antibacterial activity of argon plasma was investigated against 78 genetically different S. aureus strains, stratified by mecA, luk-P, agr1-4, ...

The role of mecA mutations in conferring resistance to ceftobiprole and ceftaroline, cephalosporins with anti-methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) activity, was determined with MRSA strains COL and SF8300. The SF8300 ceftaroline-passaged mutant carried a single mecA mutation, E447K (E-to-K change at position 447), and expressed low-level resistance. This mutation in COL conferred ...