Clinical Usefulness of Multiplex PCR Lateral Flow in MRSA Detection: A Novel, Rapid Genetic Testing Method

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with exogenous cassette DNA containing the methicillin-resistant gene mecA (SCCmec) poses a problem as a drug-resistant bacterium responsible for hospital- and community-acquired infections. The frequency of MRSA detection has recently been increasing rapidly in Japan, and SCCmec has also been classified more diversely into types I–V. A rapid test is essential for early diagnosis and treatment of MRSA infections, but detection by conventional methods requires at least two days. The newly developed multiplex PCR lateral flow method allows specific amplification of femA to detect S. aureus, mecA to detect SCCmec, and kdpC to detect SCCmec type II; moreover, PCR products can be evaluated visually in about 3 h. In the present study, we developed a PCR lateral flow method for MRSA using this method and investigated its clinical usefulness in the detection of MRSA. The results showed a diagnostic concordance rate of 91.7% for MRSA and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus between bacteriological examination and PCR lateral flow, and a high level of specificity in PCR lateral flow. In addition, a higher detection rate for S. aureus using the same sample was observed for PCR lateral flow (70.2%) than for bacteriological tests (48.6%). The above results show that PCR lateral flow for MRSA detection has high sensitivity, specificity, and speed, and its clinical application as a method for early diagnosis of MRSA infections appears to be feasible

Wettability of graphene and interfacial water structure

© 2021 Elsevier Inc.Understanding the wettability of graphene is important for various applications, such as water desalination, energy storage, and catalysis. However, the detailed water hydrogen-bonding structure at the water-graphene interface is not yet fully understood. Using vibrational sum-frequency-generation (VSFG) spectroscopy, we elucidate the water structure at a water-graphene interface. As the number of graphene layers increases, water molecules with dangling OH groups become more populated, indicating the transition from transparency to translucency. We compare the water contact angles on the graphene surfaces with VSFG results, showing an excellent correlation between the water adhesion energy of graphene and the fraction of dangling OH groups estimated from the VSFG spectrum. This observation suggests that the VSFG could be an incisive technique for measuring water's adhesion energy on any spatially confined interface where the water contact angle cannot be measured. We anticipate that the VSFG results will help to elucidate the wettability of low-dimensional materials.11Nsciescopu