Development of a Latex Agglutination Test for Detecting Pathogenic Burkholderia and its Approbation in the Endemic Regions of Vietnam

The aim of the work was development of a monoclonal antibody-based latex agglutination test to identify the causative agent of melioidosis, and the approbation of a freeze-dried experimental preparation for screening of environmental bacterial isolates in Vietnam.Materials and methods. The carriers of specific antibodies were polyacrolein latex particles with active aldehyde groups on the surface. Typical strains of the causative agents of melioidosis and glanders with a full-fledged antigenic structure, as well as the strains Burkholderia thailandensis, Burkholderia cepacia, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Pseudomonas putida were used to control the test specificity. The latex agglutination reaction was carried out on plastic Petri dishes with daily bacterial cultures, from which suspensions were prepared at a concentration of 1–2·109 m.c./ml. The results of the reaction were registered visually for 5–8 min using a 4-cross system against a dark background under lighting. The reaction to 3–4 crosses was recorded as positive. Colonies suspected of belonging to pathogenic Burkholderia from primary inoculations were transferred to L-agar with polymyxin B and grown for 36 hours at (37±1) °C. The species of the selected suspicious colonies was determined by multiplex PCR.Results and discussion. With collection strains, latex test demonstrated high sensitivity agglutinating 97.7 % of B. pseudomallei and all B. mallei strains. At the same time, it was negative with B. thailandensis, B. cepacia, P. aeruginos and P. putida. In microbiological screening of bacterial cultures isolated from environmental objects, the latex test had a diagnostic sensitivity of 89.4 %. Using the latex test at the stage of primary screening, it is possible to significantly reduce the time when processing a lot of samples received for analysis, as well as to reduce the consumption of reagents used at the subsequent stages of identification

Molecular Detection of Class 1 Integrons in <i>Burkholderia pseudomallei</i>

PCR with primers specific to flanking sequences of gene cassette insertion region and 3'-conservative segment of integrons was used for class 1 integron detection in Burkholderia pseudomallei, B. mallei and B. thailandensis. The sequences of In1 3'-conservative segment were detected in the majority of investigated strains of B. pseudomallei. The length of integron cassette insertion region in B. pseudomallei was estimated as 2300 bp (1 strain), 500 and 900 bp (1 strain) and 120 bp (2 strains). The sequence analysis of 3'-segment amlicons showed the presence of qacEdelta1 and sul1 - the determinants of resistance to quaternary ammonium compounds and sulfonamides, respectively

Satellite mission analysis simulator for Earth Observation

The aim of this final degree project is to study and improve an existing satellite mission simulator software developed using Matlab for Earth observation purposes. Firstly, the characteristics and structure of the existing software is analyzed so that everything is properly understood in order to define appropriate improvements. These improvements are applied to the orbital propagator, the different subsystems of the satellite (power, thermal, data ...), its modes and other important concepts about a satellite mission, so that the simulator is as much approximated as possible to the scenario of a real mission. Once the software improvements are implemented and validated a final satellite mission analysis example is elaborated. This mission consists in observing a geographical zone of the Earth with a real objective and constraints... Finally, the result of the project is a GUIDE application from the Matlab software so that satellite mission analysis simulations can be programmed and studied from it. By analyzing the mission objectives and constraints, the user can try different satellite designs, orbits, modes, ground stations... and realize a comparison between them to obtain the best possible result to achieve their objectives. The methodology used to develop the project is, firstly to develop a study of space mission typical parameters and concepts related to satellites from books and research papers so that a big theoretical background is achieved. With this knowledge acquisition, the existing software can be understand and improved by implementing them to the Matlab Software in the best possible way. The validation of this project is done by comparing the results of every new implementation, by itself and on the whole, with the first version of the simulator and with the theoretical background studied to check its reliability.El principal objectiu d’aquest treball de fi de grau es estudiar i millorar un software de missio espacial amb sat ´ el ` ·lit desenvolupat amb Matlab per a l’observacio de la Terra ´ Primer, las caracteristicas i l’estructra del software existent es analitzat de manera que tot es correctament entes, per tal de definir les millores apropiades. ` Aquestes millores estan aplicades al propagador orbital, als diferents subsistemes del satel ` ·lit com per exemple el de potencia, el t ` ermic o el de dates, als modes i a altres ` conceptes importants sobre una missio amb sat ´ el ` ·lit, de manera que el simulador es el ´ mes aproximat possible a un escenari real de missi ´ o. ´ Un cop s’han implementat i validat les millores de software, un exemple d’analisi de missi ` o´ real amb satel ` ·lit es elaborat. Aquesta missio consisteix a observar una zona geogr ´ afica ` de la Terra amb uns objectius i restriccions... Finalment, el resultat del projecte es una aplicaci ´ o GUIDE a partir del software de Matlab ´ per tal que es puguin programar i estudiar diferents missions. Analitzant els objectius d’una determinada missio juntament amb les restriccions, l’usuari pot provar diferents com- ´ binacions entre el disseny del satel ` ·lit, l’orbita, modes, estacions de terra... i realitzar una ` comparacio entre totes aquestes combinacions per obtenir el millor resultat possible per áconseguir l’objectiu. La metodologia utilitzada per desenvolupar el projecte, primerament es desenvolupar un estudi dels parametres t ` ípics d’una missio espacial i dels conceptes relacionats amb ´ satel ` ·lits a partir de llibres i articles de recerca, per tal d’aconseguir una bona base teorica. ` Amb aquests nous coneixements adquirits, el software existent pot ser entes i millorat ` mitjanc¸ant la implementacio d’aquests nous conceptes, de la millor manera possible. ´ La validacio del projecte es realitza comparant els resultats de cada nova implementaci ´ o,´ tant individualment com en conjunt, amb la primera versio del simulador i la base te ´ orica èstudiada per comprovar la fiabilitat del software