Emerg. Infect. Dis

The multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica serotype Newport strain that produces CMY-2 β-lactamase(Newport MDR-AmpC) was the source of sporadic cases and outbreaks in humans in France during 2000–2005. Because this strain was not detected in food animals, it was most likely introduced into France through imported food products

Mitochondrial proteomics: analysis of a whole mitochondrial extract with two-dimensional electrophoresis

Mitochondria are complex organelles, and their proteomics analysis requires a combination of techniques. The emphasis in this chapter is made first on mitochondria preparation from cultured mammalian cells, then on the separation of the mitochondrial proteins with two-dimensional electrophoresis (2DE), showing some adjustment over the classical techniques to improve resolution of the mitochondrial proteins. This covers both the protein solubilization, the electrophoretic part per se, and the protein detection on the gels, which makes the interface with the protein identification part relying on mass spectrometry

Antimicrobial susceptibility of S. aureus strains isolated from a ham plant in France

As MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) were recently isolated from pigs in the Netherlands (1), we were incited to evaluate the resistance gene circulation inside S. aureus strains isolated from swine food products. A study, build in 2002, established the biodiversity of S. aureus isolates originated from a single raw ham industrial unit located in western France. Biotypes and pulsotypes from 106 isolates from raw material ham, end product and plant environment were determined. Isolates split up into 7 biotypes and about forty pulsotypes, which delineated a total of 23 sub-groups with 80% of homology and indicated the presence of numerous S. aureus strains in the plant

2005 French Salmonella Network data on antimicrobial resistance in the swine channels

The Salmonella Network is gathering, on a voluntary participation scheme, from approximately 150 public and private laboratories dissemmated throughout France, Salmonella strains and/or epidemiological information. Those non-human Salmonella strains are isolated either from animal health and production or food, feed and the environment sectors. Thus, in 2005, a total of 527 isolations from the swine channels were reported. The top 5 prevalent serotypes were : Typhimurium, Derby, Manhattan, lnfantis and Kedougou. Two-hundred and ninety five strains were received at the laboratory and, after double clearance, 185 strains were tested for their antimicrobial resistance against 16 antibiotics by the disk diffusion method. Twenty-one strains were associated to the animal health and production sector and 164 to the food sector

J/ψJ/\psi production in PHENIX

Heavy quarkonia production is expected to be sensitive to the formation of a quark gluon plasma (QGP). The PHENIX experiment has measured $J/\psi$ production at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}=$~200 GeV in Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions, as well as in reference p+p and d+Au runs. $J/\psi$'s were measured both at mid ($|y|<0.35$) and forward ($1.2<|y|<2.2$) rapidity. In this letter, we present the A+A preliminary results and compare them to normal cold nuclear matter expectations derived from PHENIX d+Au and p+p measurements as well as to theoretical models including various effects (color screening, recombination, sequential melting...).Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures. To appear in the proceedings of Hot Quarks 2006: Workshop for Young Scientists on the Physics of Ultrarelativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Villasimius, Italy, 15-20 May 200

Integrating Al with NiO nano honeycomb to realize an energetic material on silicon substrate

Nano energetic materials offer improved performance in energy release, ignition, and mechanical properties compared to their bulk or micro counterparts. In this study, the authors propose an approach to synthesize an Al/NiO based nano energetic material which is fully compatible with a microsystem. A two-dimensional NiO nano honeycomb is first realized by thermal oxidation of a Ni thin film deposited onto a silicon substrate by thermal evaporation. Then the NiO nano honeycomb is integrated with an Al that is deposited by thermal evaporation to realize an Al/NiO based nano energetic material. This approach has several advantages over previous investigations, such as lower ignition temperature, enhanced interfacial contact area, reduced impurities and Al oxidation, tailored dimensions, and easier integration into a microsystem to realize functional devices. The synthesized Al/NiO based nano energetic material is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry

PHENIX Highlights

Recent highlights of measurements by the PHENIX experiment at RHIC are presented.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Talk at Quark Matter 200

Status and overview of development of the Silicon Pixel Detector for the PHENIX experiment at the BNL RHIC

We have developed a silicon pixel detector to enhance the physics capabilities of the PHENIX experiment. This detector, consisting of two layers of sensors, will be installed around the beam pipe at the collision point and covers a pseudo-rapidity of | \eta | < 1.2 and an azimuth angle of | \phi | ~ 2{\pi}. The detector uses 200 um thick silicon sensors and readout chips developed for the ALICE experiment. In order to meet the PHENIX DAQ readout requirements, it is necessary to read out 4 readout chips in parallel. The physics goals of PHENIX require that radiation thickness of the detector be minimized. To meet these criteria, the detector has been designed and developed. In this paper, we report the current status of the development, especially the development of the low-mass readout bus and the front-end readout electronics.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures and 1 table in DOCX (Word 2007); PIXEL 2008 workshop proceedings, will be published in the Proceedings Section of JINST(Journal of Instrumentation