Association between SCCmec types and antimicrobial resistance in clinical MRSA isolates

Background: Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is the causative agent of serious infections. MRSA isolates carry mecA gene which confers resistance to all β-lactams, markedly limiting the therapeutic options. Staphylococcal Chromosomal Cassette mec (SCCmec) typing enables strain-based MRSA identification.  Aim: This study aimed to identify the prevalent SCCmec types among clinical MRSA isolates in Alexandria, Egypt, and their association with antibiotic resistance. Methods: One hundred MRSA clinical isolates were phenotypically and genotypically identified and tested for susceptibility to different classes of antibiotics. Subsequently, SCCmec typing was done using both conventional and SYBR Green PCR. Results: Typeability was 75 %, SCCmec type V was the most predominant (45.3%), with significant association with pyogenic lesions (53%, MCp <0.001).  Staphylococcal Chromosomal Cassette mec type IV was significantly associated with nasal colonizers (50%, MCp < /em> 0.049).  Staphylococcal Chromosomal Cassette mec type II was the most prominent in blood stream infection (33 %). Various antibiotic resistance patterns were detected. SCCmec types II and III displayed the highest resistance, while SCCmec type IV showed the least resistance. There was a significant association between SCCmec types and antibiotic resistance (p < /em> = 0.02-0.001). Conclusions: The only SCCmec types detected by PCR were SCCmec II-VI, with high resistance to gentamicin among all types. SCCmec type V was the most prevalent and was of relatively low resistance to antibiotics. SCCmec type IV was the least prevalent and showed the least resistance to antibiotics. There was a significant association between SCCmec types II and III and resistance to fluoroquinolones. Macrolides resistance was significantly associated with SCCmec type II. Tetracyclines resistance was significantly associated with SCCmec type III

Stock and flow models for the Sudanese educational system.

The thesis examines the possibility of applying a Markov planning model to the Sudanese educational system. The limitations of the available data published by the Sudanese Ministry of Education is examined and the quality of the data discussed. Study of the system establishes the presence of a bottleneck between secondary and higher education due to shortages of places in the latter. Two adaptations of the simple Markov model are proposed in which the flow of students into higher education is determined by the number of vacancies. The first model considers the case when a capacity constraint exists in the first grade of a particular higher education institute. In the second model it is the total size of higher education which is assumed to be fixed and expansion or contraction of the capacity constraints is allowed. For both models, it is shown that a steady-state exists and can be evaluated. A serious limitation of the available data is the lack of flow rates which therefore must be estimated. The estimation methods available assume a system that is constant over time. As the Sudanese educational system is expanding an extension of the original regression method was developed to account for growth. The procedure was used to obtain estimates of the transition rates of students in different parts of the Sudan. The fit of the model was good in the majority of the cases and validating the prediction of the model with newly published data was successful. Lastly, a simulation program, was developed which generated artificial data sets from which transition rates were estimated. Sampling distributions of these estimates were then obtained by repetitive simulations. Studying these distributions showed the estimation technique to be effective in terms of ability to estimate the true transition rates and make reasonable predictions

Environmental Hazards in the El-Temsah Lake, Suez Canal District, Egypt

Chemical and biological analyses were integrated using remote sensing GIS techniques to evaluate the environmental pollution of El-Temsah Lake, in the Suez Canal, in order to provide critical data to enhance development planning and economic projects within the study area. Fifty-six samples were collected from seven sites in the lake from July 2005 to May 2006. Samples were collected in each of four seasons, and included 28 surface sediment samples and 28 water samples. Sediment samples were analyzed for Fe, Pb, Ni, Co, Cu, Mg, K and Na. The results showed an increase in beach sediment pollution from summer to winter. Taxonomic analysis of phytoplankton samples revealed 102 taxa, including 56 Bacillariophyceae, 8 Chlorophyceae, 18 Dinophyceae and 20 Cyanophyceae. Chlorophyll a concentrations ranged from 0.3 to 26 µg l-1, with the highest values during the winter and lowest values during the summer. These results suggest that beach sediment pollution is highest in the winter and, at the same time, the water quality conditions in El-Temsah lake favor oxidation conditions which maximize phytoplankton productivity. In contrast, sediment pollution and phytoplankton productivity are lowest during summer, which also corresponds to more alkaline water conditions. The images were rectified and analyzed by ERDAS IMAGINE 8.9. A 1968 topographic map and enhanced 2005 Landsat Thematic Mapper images (30 m resolution) were utilized to determine the coastline positions using ERDAS Imagine 8.9. Image processing techniques were applied using ENVI 4.2 to analyze the ETM+ image data. Image enhancement was applied. Image data was enhanced spectrally to verify surface water pollution detected from chemical and biological analyses and to detect the sources of untreated domestic, industrial and agricultural waste water. In general, the lake has been subjected to successive shrinking due to human activities, primarily through extensive building along the shoreline. The uncontrolled growth of cities is associated with seismic hazards, affecting on buildings and infrastructures, mostly due to insufficient knowledge of earthquakes activity. Seismic epicentres were recorded along the Suez Canal from 1904 to 2006. Widespread moderate to micro earthquakes were identified around the western side of the lake, with scattered events along the eastern side. In general, water pollution in El-Temsah Lake has been mitigated over the last decade due to successive dredging and improved water treatment. Most of untreated water was discharged along the western side of the lake. The eastern part of the lake is less polluted and is, therefore, more suited for fishing, tourism, urban planning and navigation activities, although higher use of eastern portion of the lake could accelerate water and sediment quality deterioration in that region

New hosts and diagnostic characteristics of Orobanche crenata (Orobanchaceae) in Egypt

The holo-parasitic weed Orobanche crenata Forrsk. is a threat to economically important legumes and vegetables in Mediterranean countries, including Egypt. The crenate broomrape attacks several wild and cultivated plant species, and documentation of new hosts of the parasite is always required. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first report of parasitism of the crenate broomrape on two ornamental species, Arctotis fastuosa Jacq. and Callistephus chinensis (L.) Nees. (Asteraceae). We also recorded for the first time its parasitism on the wild weeds (Ammi majus L., Lactuca serriola L., and Melilotus indicus (L.) All.) and the cultivated plant species (Carthamus tinctorius L. and Tropaeolum majus L.) from Egypt. The occurrence of O. crenata parasitism was confirmed by the attachment of its haustoria to the roots of host plants. The incidence of crenate broomrape disease was estimated for the seven species. The study also provides a morphological description of the polymorphic O. crenata on the samples from Egypt and determines the most useful characteristics for its easier identification in the field

Optofluidique : études expérimentales, théoriques et de modélisation

This work focuses on the study of optical properties of fluids at the micrometer scale. To this end, we designed, implemented and studied different types of optofluidic micro- resonators in the Lab-on-Chip format. Our analysis is based on analytical and numerical modeling, as well as experimental measurements conducted on optical microcavities; we use one of them for refractometry applications on homogeneous fluids and on complex fluids, as well as for the localization of solid microparticles by optical trapping. We first focused on the study of a new form of Fabry-Perot micro-cavity based on curved mirrors between which a capillary tube is inserted for injecting a fluidic solution. Experimental results demonstrated the ability of this device to be used as a refractometer with a detection limit of 1.9 × 10-4 RIU for homogeneous liquids. Furthermore, for liquid containing solid particles, the ability to control the microparticles position either by optical trapping or optical binding effects has been successfully demonstrated. In a second step, an optical resonator is simply formed from a liquid droplet placed on top of a superhydrophobe surface. The resulting quasi-spherical shape supports resonant whispering gallery modes. It is shown that, up to millimeter size droplets, the proposed technique of free-space coupling of light is still able to access these modes with very low evanescent tail interaction, contrary to what was indicated in the literature so far. Such optofluidic droplet resonators are expected to find their applications for environmental air quality monitoring, as well as for incubator of living micro-organisms that can be monitored opticallyCe travail porte sur l'étude de propriétés optiques des fluides à échelle micrométrique. A cet effet, nous avons conçu, réalisé et étudié différents types de micro-résonateurs optofluidiques, sous forme de laboratoires sur puce. Notre analyse est fondée sur la modélisation analytique et numérique, ainsi que sur des mesures expérimentales menées sur des micro-cavités optiques; nous utilisons l'une d'entre elles pour des applications de réfractométrie de fluides homogènes et de fluides complexes ainsi que pour la localisation par piégeage optique de microparticules solides. Nous nous sommes d'abord concentrés sur l'étude d'une nouvelle forme de micro-cavité Fabry-Pérot basée sur des miroirs courbes entre lesquels est inséré un tube capillaire permettant la circulation d'une solution liquide. Les résultats expérimentaux ont démontré la capacité de ce dispositif à être utilisé comme réfractomètre avec un seuil de détection de 1,9 × 10-4 RIU pour des liquides homogènes. De plus, pour un liquide contenant des particules solides, la capacité de contrôler la position des microparticules, par des effets de piégeage optique ou de liaison optique, a été démontrée avec succès. Dans un second temps, un résonateur optique est formé simplement à partir d'une goutte de liquide disposée sur une surface super-hydrophobe. La forme quasi-sphérique résultante est propice à des modes de galerie. Il est démontré que, jusqu'à des tailles de gouttelettes millimétriques, la technique de couplage en espace libre est toujours en mesure d'accéder à ces modes à très faible queue évanescente d'interaction, contrairement à ce qu'indiquait jusqu'ici la littérature. De tels résonateurs optofluidiques à gouttelette devraient trouver leur application notamment comme capteur d'environnement de l'air ambiant ou encore comme incubateur de micro-organismes vivants pouvant être suivis par voie optiqu

Living between languages: The politics of translation in Leila Aboulela’s Minaret and Xiaolu Guo’s A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers

This is the author's final draft post-refereeing as published in The Journal of Commonwealth Literature 2012 47: 207 DOI:10.1177/0021989412440433. The online version of this article can be found at: http://jcl.sagepub.com/content/47/2/20

Assessment of hepatitis B virus immune status among hepatitis B virus vaccinated children.

Background:: Vaccination compared to other measures is considered the most efficient and cost-effective strategy against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection which decreases the incidence of both HBV infection and hepatocellular carcinoma. This study involved 179 children vaccinated against HBV during infancy, and aimed to assess the immune status against HBV among HBV vaccinated children in different age groups. Methods: Participants were chosen according to previously settled inclusion and exclusion criteria. Recruited participants’ ages ranged from 9 months till 10 years who had received the full routine infancy vaccination course. Participants were divided according to age into three groups: group A ages from 9 months to less than 2 years of age (41 children 22.9%), group B ages from 2 years to less than 5 years (64 children 35.8%), and group C ages from 6 years to 10 years (74 children 41.3%). Serum levels of antiHBs were measured. Results: Out of 179 participants, there were 154 children (86%) seroprotected, while 25 children (14%) were not. Moreover, 100% of children under 3 years were seroprotected. Seroprotection rate under 5 years was 95.2%. While in group C seroprotection rate was 73%. Males showed a slightly higher seroprotection rate than females although statically insignificant. Conclusion: Universal hepatitis B vaccination shows excellent effectiveness in Egypt. Total seroprotection rate (86%) is higher than in previous local and global studies that may return to the recent implementation of birth dose in Egypt

Seismicity and Geologic Structures Indubitable in Wadi Hagul, North Eastern Desert, Egypt

Abstract Paleo and recent earthquakes have been recorded in Wadi Hagul area and its environs, which have left behind geologic structures of deformation preserved in exposed sedimentary rocks. To evaluate such deformation and surface break, different techniques and data types are used compromising image processing techniques, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), seismicity data, as well as, field investigation. The field investigation clarified that the study area is enriched with soft-sediment deformation structures encompassing two types of geologic structures; brittle and viscoplastic structures. The analysis of the various types of data elucidate that, the earthquakes of Wadi Hagul are frequently distributed at an average depth ranging from (1 to 35 km) within the top of the Earth's crust which are mainly controlled by existing Hagul fault zone. The study gives new insight for a better understanding of the seismic activity in the study area which helps in the seismic hazard assessment