The aim of this study was to perform SCCmec typing in Staphylococcus aureus isolates and to characterize the clonal profile of these isolates. Forty-six mecA gene-positive strains isolated between 2002 and 2006 were submitted to antimicrobial resistance testing by the E-test, SCCmec typing by multiplex PCR, and clonal profile analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Forty-one (89.1%) isola...

Objective(s): Infections due to carbapenemase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae are associated with high morbidity and mortality. In this study, we report a hospital outbreak due to co-producing OXA-48 and NDM-1 K. pneumoniae clone. The aim of the study is to investigate the clonal relationship of strains, risk factors of outbreak and infection control measures.<em...

Enterococci often acquire antimicrobial resistance through horizontal gene transfer. Relatedness between enterococci with high level resistance to gentamicin and vancomycin isolated from humans, food and hospital environment in Tandil County (Argentina) was investigated. PCR amplification for species determination was carried out. Resistance to seven antimicrobials was studied; virulence genes ...

XML-based Selective Dissemination of Information (SDI) systems aims to quickly deliver useful information to the users based on their profiles or user subscriptions. These subscriptions are specified in the form of XML queries. This paper investigates how clustering and aggregation of user queries can help scale SDI systems by reducing the number of document-subscription matchings required. We ...

Despite its importance as a human pathogen, information on population structure and global epidemiology of Staphylococcus epidermidis is scarce and the relative importance of the mechanisms contributing to clonal diversification is unknown. In this study, we addressed these issues by analyzing a representative collection of S. epidermidis isolates from diverse geographic and clinical origins us...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the diversity of Enterococcus faecalis populations recovered in different regions of Portugal during the last decade (1996-2007) and to analyse their genetic elements associated with vancomycin resistance. METHODS Forty E. faecalis isolates (22 vancomycin-susceptible and 18 vancomycin-resistant) representing disseminated and/or multiresistant str...

BACKGROUND The malignant nature of Hodgkin-Reed Sternberg (H-RS) cells has been questioned due to their scarcity in lymphoma tissues. Recently, using micromanipulation of H-RS cells and single cell PCR evidence was obtained that H-RS cells represent a clonal B-cell population. In these studies H-RS cells were isolated from each one lymph node for a given case. In classical Hodgkin's disease (HD...