Presence of Cell Wall Lytic Enzyme in Stable Staphylococcal L-Form

The stable L-form cells derived from Staphylococcus aureus 209P were examined for the presence of cell wall lytic enzymes. The enzyme preparations from cells and culture fluid of the parent strain lysed both Micrococcus lysodeikticus cells and S. aureus cells, whereas the enzyme preparations from the L-form lysed M. lysodeikticus cells but not S. aureus cells. Lipoteichoic acid, which has been reported to be a regulator of the lytic enzyme, inhibited both enzyme preparations from the parent strain and the L-form. However, the susceptibility of the enzyme preparation from the L-form to lipoteichoic acid was lower than that from the parent strain

Penicillin Resistance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Clinical Isolates from Urinary Tract Infections

One hundred and thirteen clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa from urinary tract infections were tested for their mechanisms of resistance to penicillins. Ninety-eight percent and 100.0% of the strains were resistant (MIC≧100 μg/ml) to ampicillin and penicillin G, respectively, while only 5.3% were resistant to piperacillin. Low permeability of the outer membrane, and penicillinase production were involved in their resistance mechanisms. Peptidoglycan synthesis in ether-treated cells of two representative strains was inhibited by ampicillin and piperacillin at the concentrations markedly lower than that for penicillin G

Frequency and Distribution of Candida Species from Denture Wearers

Species of Candida were isolated from 100 denture wearers, who were examined for grade of denture stomatitis, degree of denture plaque accumulation and other clinical features. Candida albicans was the dominant species isolated from denture surfaces followed by Torulopsis glabrata and Candida tropicalis. Statistical analysis of the results revealed close relationships between the grade of denture stomatitis and the degree of denture plaque accumulation or the fungal concentration on the denture surface, and also between the degree of denture plaque accumulation and fungal concentration on the denture surface. Furthermore, the grade of denture stomatitis correlated with the period of denture wearing but not with the patient's age. The fungal concentration on denture surface also correlated with the patient's age and the period of denture wearing

Effect of Saliva on Candidal Adherence to Polymethyl Methacrylate Resin

The adherence of Candida species to saliva-coated plates of polymethyl methacrylate resin was studied physico-chemically. Saliva-coating of the resin plate caused increasing adherence of C. albicans, whereas it caused decreasing adherence of C. tropicalis. The hydrophobicities of the surfaces of the resin plate and the candidal cells were evaluated by a contact angle method, and surface free energies of these surfaces were calculated. The candidal cell adherence to the saliva-coated plates was highly correlated with the free energy change in hydrophobic interaction

Explaining the causes of cell death in cyanobacteria: what role for asymmetric division?

Cyanobacteria contribute a significant fraction of global primary production and are therefore of great ecological significance. An individual cyanobacteria cell has four potential fates: to divide, perhaps after a dormant period, to be eaten, to undergo viral lysis, or to undergo cell death. In some studies, cyanobacteria cell death has been classified as programmed cell death, borrowing a concept more widely known in metazoan cells, and there are various biochemical parallels to support such a categorisation. However, at the same time there is a growing awareness of asymmetric division as a fundamental process in bacterial division which can result in non-equal daughter cells with differing fitness. Thanks to recent theoretical and experimental advances it is now possible to explore cyanobacteria cell death in the light of asymmetric division and to test hypotheses on the ultimate causes of cyanobacterial cell death. Assessing the degree of protein damage within individual cells during population growth is a sensible initial research target as is the application of techniques which allow the tracking of cell lineages. The existence of asymmetric division in cyanobacteria is likely given its suggested ubiquity across the bacterial domain of life. It will be technically difficult to test the interaction of asymmetric division with environmental variability, and how that leads to individual cell death via differing susceptibilities to environmental stress. However, testing such ideas could confirm asymmetric division as the ultimate cause of cell death in cyanobacteria and thereby allow a better understanding of the patterns of cell death in natural populations

児童養護施設における自立支援計画の全国実態調査 : 日常生活支援への適用に向けて

近年, 児童養護施設では自立支援計画の策定が義務化され，重要視されてきている。支援計臨の策定・確認・評価に関する業務過程の実態を明らかにするために，我々は全国の児童養護施設を対象に質問紙調査を行った。合計470名の職員から回答を得て、統計的分析を実施した。調査の結果，職員は特定の条件で自立支援計画に対して肯定的な評定を示した。1つ目に，多職種から助言を受ける時に職員はより役立っていると評価する傾向が見られた。2つ目に、ケース会議で支援目標を話し合う機会がある隊員はより自立支援計画について肯定的であった。3つ目に， 自立支援計画が高頻度で見返される場合に、職員は自立支援計画が役立っていると考える傾向が見られた。調査の結果から，児童養護施設の生活支援に自立支援計画を活用するためには，児童の支援目標を高頻度で時認して、達成状況を効率的に記録・共有できるような業務環境の整備が重要である可能性が示唆された。In late years it is mandatory for children\u27s homes in Japan to write up an independent living service (ILS) plan for each child in care, which is considered significantly important. To reveal the actual work process of making, monitoring, and evaluating ILS plans for children in care, we conducted a fact-finding survey nationwide. The participants were 470 workers at children\u27s homes, who completed a questionnaire. As a result of statistical analysis, the workers showed positive attitudes toward ILS plans mainly in 3 circumstances. First, they tended to think that ILS plans were more helpful for their work when receiving advice from multidisciplinary professionals. Second, the workers who had opportunities to share their cases with others at case conferences were more positive about ILS plans. Third, the workers tended to consider ILS plans useful when ILS plans were monitored at high frequency, which is once a month. In conclusion, in order to fully utilize ILS plans for children at children\u27s homes, it is suggested that we should prepare a work environment, where we can monitor case goals at high frequency, record, and share case goals with other workers.In conclusion, preparing work environments in that the children\u27s performances were monitored frequently as well as that the staffs were able to efficiently record and share each other\u27s cases were shown to be important when utilizing the self-reliance support plans in residential cares in Japan

Equilibrium conditions for semi-clathrate hydrates formed with CO2, N2 or CH4 in the presence of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide

We measured the thermodynamic stability conditions for the N, CO, or CH semiclathrate hydrate formed from the aqueous solution of tri-n-butylphosphine oxide (TBPO) at 26 wt %, corresponding to the stoichiometric composition for TBPO·34.5HO. The measurements were performed in the temperature range 283.71-300.34 K and pressure range 0.35-19.43 MPa with the use of an isochoric equilibrium step-heating pressure-search method. The results showed that the presence of TBPO made these semiclathrate hydrates much more stable than the corresponding pure N , CO, and CH hydrates. At a given temperature, the semiclathrate hydrate of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, which in turn was more stable than that of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N. We analyzed the phase equilibrium data using the Clausius-Clapeyron equation and found that, in the pressure range 0-20 MPa, the mean dissociation enthalpies for the semiclathrate hydrate systems of 26 wt % TBPO solution + N, 26 wt % TBPO solution + CO, and 26 wt % TBPO solution + CH were 177.75, 206.23, and 159.00 kJ·mol, respectively