Identification and mechanism determination of the efflux pump subunit amrB gene mutations linked to gentamicin susceptibility in clinical Burkholderia pseudomallei from Malaysian Borneo.

The bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei is typically resistant to gentamicin but rare susceptible strains have been isolated in certain regions, such as Thailand and Sarawak, Malaysia. Recently, several amino acid substitutions have been reported in the amrB gene (a subunit of the amrAB-oprA efflux pump gene) that confer gentamicin susceptibility. However, information regarding the mechanism of the substitutions conferring the susceptibility is lacking.

Improving the clinical recognition, prognosis, and treatment of melioidosis through epidemiology and clinical findings: The Sabah perspective.

Introduction: Melioidosis is a deadly endemic disease in northern Australia and Southeast Asia, including Sabah, Malaysia, which is caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. It contributes to high fatality rates, mainly due to misdiagnosis leading to the wrong treatment being administered to the patients. Local epidemiology and data on clinical features could assist clinicians during diagnosis and treatment.

True-positive reflex threshold value for HCV antibody screening test.

Introduction: The use of a signal-to-cut-off ratio has been recommended by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention to determine the need for further validation using a supplemental test. In this study, we aimed to determine the optimal true-positive signal-to-cut-off ratio for the ABBOTT ARCHITECT i2000SR immunoassay (Abbott Laboratories, Illinois, USA), using the Serodia® HCV particle agglutination (HCV-PA) assay (Fujirebio Inc, Tokyo, Japan) as the reference test for anti-HCV screening.

Methodology: We analysed a total of 13,240 specimens using the ARCHITECT i2000SR immunoassay and subsequently subjected all the reactive specimens with a signal-to-cut-off ratio ≥ 1.

Systematic Optimisation of Microtiter Plate Lectin Assay to Improve Sialic Acid Linkage Detection.

Aims: We aimed to develop a high-throughput lectin assay with minimized background signals to investigate the interactions of lectins and sialic acid glycans, focusing on Prostate- Specific Antigen (PSA).

Background: High background signals resulting from nonspecific binding are a significant concern for microtiter plate-based Enzyme-Linked Lectin Sorbent Assays (ELISAs), as they can mask specific binding signals and cause false-positive results.

Methods: In this study, we constructed an ELISA based on different washing step parameters, including the number of washing cycles, NaCl and Tween-20 concentrations, and the type of blocking agent and evaluated the effects on both specific and nonspecific binding signals.

Phenotypic and genotypic characterization of induced acyclovir-resistant clinical isolates of herpes simplex virus type 1.

Eleven strains of acyclovir (ACV)-resistant herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) were generated from HSV-1 clinical isolates by exposure to ACV. Genotype of the thymidine kinase (TK) and DNA polymerase (pol) genes from these mutants were further analyzed. Genotypic analysis revealed four non-synonymous mutations in TK gene associated with gene polymorphism and two to three non-synonymous mutations in DNA pol gene.