QUANTITATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE DOMINANT GENOME IN FUSANT CULTURES

ABSTRACT Selection of fusant cultures, producers of bioactive compounds is of significant importanc

Optimizing multiplex SNP-based data analysis for genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.

Contains fulltext : 136441.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

An outbreak of Q fever in Bulgaria

Q fever is an acute febrile illness due to Coxiella burnetii. In the Balkans, Q fever in humans has been reported since World War II, and in countries such as Bulgaria the number of cases has increased since the early 1990s. We report an investigation of an outbreak in the town of Botevgrad, Western Bulgaria. Overall, 220 cases were identified between May 1 and June 9, 2004. Of the cases, 168 were from Botevgrad; the others were from neighbouring towns. This has been the largest outbreak in Bulgaria in the last 20 years. Q fever outbreaks in urban areas are not common. Flocks of sheep and goats were the most likely source of infection, as suggested by the observation that flocks grazed in, or had travelled on, the roads and the gardens of the town, and for the prevalence of anti-C. burnetii antibodies among animals in the area. This large outbreak highlights how zoonoses such as Q fever may represent a public-health threat also for urban populations

NTF-RINT, a new method for the epidemiological surveillance of MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis L2/Beijing strains

The most widely discussed antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis strains ("W" and "B0/W148", "CAO") belong to L2/Beijing Lineage and are characterized by IS6110 insertion sequences at the NTF locus. We present a high-throughput, microbead-based method, called NTF-RINT for detection of IS in NTF and Rifampicin and Isoniazid Typing. This method provides tuberculosis diagnostic confirmation, screens for the so-called modern L2/Beijing sublineage and detects mutations involved in resistance to Rifampicin (RIF) and Isoniazid (INH)

A validated UPLC–MS/MS method for the surveillance of ten aquatic biotoxins in European brackish and freshwater systems

Over the past few decades, there has been an increased frequency and duration of cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) in freshwater systems globally. These can produce secondary metabolites called cyanotoxins, many of which are hepatotoxins, raising concerns about repeated exposure through ingestion of contaminated drinking water or food or through recreational activities such as bathing/swimming. An ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC–MS/MS) multi-toxin method has been developed and validated for freshwater cyanotoxins; microcystins-LR, -YR, -RR, -LA, -LY and -LF, nodularin, cylindrospermopsin, anatoxin-a and the marine diatom toxin domoic acid. Separation was achieved in around 9 min and dual SPE was incorporated providing detection limits of between 0.3 and 5.6 ng/L of original sample. Intra- and inter-day precision analysis showed relative standard deviations (RSD) of 1.2–9.6% and 1.3–12.0% respectively. The method was applied to the analysis of aquatic samples (n = 206) from six European countries. The main class detected were the hepatotoxins; microcystin-YR (n = 22), cylindrospermopsin (n = 25), microcystin-RR (n = 17), micro- cystin-LR (n = 12), microcystin-LY (n = 1), microcystin-LF (n = 1) and nodularin (n = 5). For microcystins, the levels detected ranged from 0.001 to 1.51 mg/L, with two samples showing combined levels above the guideline set by the WHO of 1 mg/L for microcystin-LR. Several samples presented with multiple toxins indicating the potential for synergistic effects and possibly enhanced toxicity. This is the first published pan European survey of freshwater bodies for multiple biotoxins, including two identified for the first time; cylindrospermopsin in Ireland and nodularin in Germany, presenting further incentives for improved monitoring and development of strategies to mitigate human exposure