Early diagnosis of Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections is important with regard to patients' health and infectivity. We report the development of a specific and sensitive TaqMan assay for the detection of N. gonorrhoeae in clinical samples. The target sequence is a 76-bp fragment of the 5' untranslated region of the opa genes that encode opacity proteins. A panel of 448 well-defined N. gonorrhoeae...

Escherichia coli O157:H7, an emerging cause of food-borne disease, has now been reported from several countries worlwide. Cattle and sheep are known as a principle reservoir of this agent. It is also prevalent in gastrointestinal tract of other animals like pigs, dogs, cats and birds. This agent can be transmitted to humans by food and water and even person to person contact. The random amplifi...

The diagnostic value of various signs and symptoms (clinical markers) in predicting oropharyngeal aspiration (OPA) or swallowing dysfunction has not been established in children. The present retrospective study was undertaken to: 1) identify specific clinical markers associated with radiographic evidence of OPA, isolated laryngeal penetration (ILP) and post-swallow residue (PSR); 2) determine t...

BACKGROUND Antibiotic resistance and decreased susceptibility to disinfectants are not usually associated in microorganisms, but we have found an exception to this rule: P. aeruginosa versus orthophthalaldehyde (OPA). METHODS Bactericidal effect of OPA was measured at 10 minutes on endodoncy files contaminated with an ATCC strain (control) or 206 strains of P. aeruginosa recently isolated fro...

Neuroimaging studies have identified multiple scene-selective regions in human cortex, but the precise role each region plays in scene processing is not yet clear. It was recently hypothesized that two regions, the occipital place area (OPA) and the retrosplenial complex (RSC), play a direct role in navigation, while a third region, the parahippocampal place area (PPA), does not. Some evidence ...

OBJECTIVE Leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) has considerable benefits for cardiovascular health and longevity, while occupational physical activity (OPA) is associated with an elevated cardiovascular risk. This "health paradox" may be explained by different effects on the autonomic nervous system from OPA and LTPA. Thus, we aimed to investigate whether objectively measured OPA and LTPA are ...

BACKGROUND To be able to draw any conclusions regarding the health effects of occupational physical activity (OPA), more information is needed regarding valid measures to assess OPA. Aims were to compare OPA as assessed with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire long version (IPAQ-L) with OPA assessed with an accelerometer and to assess the contribution of OPA to total PA. METHODS...

We report the enhancement in imaging performance of a spectral-domain optical coherence microscope (OCM) in turbid media by incorporating an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). The OPA provides a high level of optical gain to the sample arm, thereby improving the signal-to-noise ratio of the OCM by a factor of up to 15 dB. A unique nonlinear confocal gate is automatically formed in the OPA, whi...

The opa genes of the Gram negative bacterium Neisseria meningitidis encode Opacity-associated outer membrane proteins whose role is to promote adhesion to the human host tissue during colonisation and invasion. Each meningococcus contains 3-4 opa loci, each of which may be occupied by one of a large number of alleles. We analysed the Opa repertoire structure in a large, well-characterised colle...