Melioidosis in Singapore: Clinical, Veterinary, and Environmental Perspectives.

Melioidosis is a notifiable infectious disease registered with the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA), Singapore. From a clinical perspective, increased awareness of the disease has led to early detection and treatment initiation, thus resulting in decreasing mortality rates in recent years. However, the disease still poses a threat to local pet, zoo and farm animals, where early diagnosis is a challenge.

Presence of in Soil and Paddy Rice Water in a Rice Field in Northeast Thailand, but Not in Air and Rainwater.

Environmental has been postulated to be aerosolized during ploughing and heavy rain, and could result in inhalational melioidosis. Here, we determined the presence of in soil, paddy field water (PFW), air, and rainwater samples in a single rice paddy field in Ubon Ratchathani, northeast Thailand. In 2012, we collected 100 soil samples during the dry season, 10 PFW samples during the monsoon season, 77 air samples during ploughing ( = 31) and heavy rains ( = 46), and 60 rainwater samples during 12 rain events.

Cryopreservation of neurospheres derived from human glioblastoma multiforme.

Cancer stem cells have been shown to initiate and sustain tumor growth. In many instances, clinical material is limited, compounded by a lack of methods to preserve such cells at convenient time points. Although brain tumor-initiating cells grown in a spheroid manner have been shown to maintain their integrity through serial transplantation in immune-compromised animals, practically, it is not always possible to have access to animals of suitable ages to continuously maintain these cells.