Arcobacter Species in Humans1

During an 8-year study period, Arcobacter butzleri was the fourth most common Campylobacter-like organism isolated from 67,599 stool specimens. Our observations suggest that A. butzleri displays microbiologic and clinical features similar to those of Campylobacter jejuni; however, A. butzleri is more frequently associated with a persistent, watery diarrhea

Deposition of Aluminum-Doped ZnO Films by ICP-Assisted Sputtering

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted DC sputter deposition was used for the deposition of Al-doped ZnO (AZO or ZnO:Al) thin films. With increasing ICP RF power, film properties including deposition rate, crystallinity, transparency, and resistivity were improved. To understand the plasma-surface interaction, several plasma diagnostics were performed. Heat fluxes to the substrate were measured by thermal probes, number densities of sputtered metallic atom species were measured by absorption spectroscopy using hollow cathode lamps (HCL) and light emitting diodes (LEDs), and neutral gas temperatures were measured by external cavity diode laser (ECDL) absorption spectroscopy. As a result, it was revealed that the high-density ICP heated the substrate through a high heat flux to the substrate, resulting in a high-quality film deposition without the need for intentional substrate heating. The heat flux to the substrate was predominantly contributed by the plasma charged species, not by the neutral Ar atoms which were also significantly heated in the ICP. The substrate position where the highest quality films were obtained was found to coincide with the position where the substrate heat flux took the maximum value

Developmental roadmap for antimicrobial susceptibility testing systems

Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) technologies help to accelerate the initiation of targeted antimicrobial therapy for patients with infections and could potentially extend the lifespan of current narrow-spectrum antimicrobials. Although conceptually new and rapid AST technologies have been described, including new phenotyping methods, digital imaging and genomic approaches, there is no single major, or broadly accepted, technological breakthrough that leads the field of rapid AST platform development. This might be owing to several barriers that prevent the timely development and implementation of novel and rapid AST platforms in health-care settings. In this Consensus Statement, we explore such barriers, which include the utility of new methods, the complex process of validating new technology against reference methods beyond the proof-of-concept phase, the legal and regulatory landscapes, costs, the uptake of new tools, reagent stability, optimization of target product profiles, difficulties conducting clinical trials and issues relating to quality and quality control, and present possible solutions