9 research outputs found
Development of a Real-Time PCR for Identification of Brachyspira Species in Human Colonic Biopsies
Background: Brachyspira species are fastidious anaerobic microorganisms, that infect the colon of various animals. The
genus contains both important pathogens of livestock as well as commensals. Two species are known to infect humans: B.
aalborgi and B. pilosicoli. There is some evidence suggesting that the veterinary pathogenic B. pilosicoli is a potential
zoonotic agent, however, since diagnosis in humans is based on histopathology of colon biopsies, species identification is
not routinely performed in human materials.
Methods: The study population comprised 57 patients with microscopic evidence of Brachyspira infection and 26 patients
with no histopathological evidence of Brachyspira infection. Concomitant faecal samples were available from three infected
patients. Based on publically available 16S rDNA gene sequences of all Brachyspira species, species-specific primer sets were
designed. DNA was extracted and tested by real-time PCR and 16S rDNA was sequenced.
Results: Sensitivity and specificity for identification of Brachyspira species in colon biopsies was 100% and 87.7%
respectively. Sequencing revealed B. pilosicoli in 15.4% of patients, B. aalborgi in 76.9% and a third species, tentatively
named ‘‘Brachyspira hominis’’, in 26.2%. Ten patients (12.3%) had a double and two (3.1%) a triple infection. The presence of
Brachyspira pilosicoli was significantly associated with inflammatory changes in the colon-biopsy (p = 0.028).
Conclusions: This newly designed PCR allows for sub-differentiation of Brachyspira species in patient material and thus
allows large-scaled surveillance studies to elucidate the pathogenicity of human Brachyspira infections. One-third of
affected patients appeared to be infected with a novel species
Intersectionality, rural criminology, and re-imaging the boundaries of critical criminology
One of the significant shortcomings of the criminological canon, including its critical strands – feminist, cultural and green – has been its urbancentric bias. In this theoretical model, rural communities are idealised as conforming to the typical small-scale traditional societies based on cohesive organic forms of solidarity and close density acquaintance networks. This article challenges the myth that rural communities are relatively crime free places of ‘moral virtue’ with no need for a closer scrutiny of rural context, rural places, and rural peoples about crime and other social problems. This challenge is likewise woven into the conceptual and empirical narratives of the other articles in this Special Edition, which we argue constitute an important body of innovative work, not just for reinvigorating debates in rural criminology, but also critical criminology. For without a critical perspective of place, the realities of context are too easily overlooked. A new criminology of crime and place will help keep both critical criminology and rural criminology firmly anchored in the sociological and the criminological imagination. We argue that intersectionality, a framework that resists privileging any particular social structural category of analysis, but is cognisant of the power effects of colonialism, class, race and gender, can provide the theoretical scaffolding to further develop such a project