Fiber Bragg Gratings, IT techniques and strain gauge validation for strain calculation on aged metal specimens.

This paper studies the feasibility of calculating strains in aged F114 steel specimens with Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors and infrared thermography (IT) techniques. Two specimens have been conditioned under extreme temperature and relative humidity conditions making comparative tests of stress before and after aging using different adhesives. Moreover, a comparison has been made with IT techniques and conventional methods for calculating stresses in F114 steel.

[Changes in the epidemiology of fungaemia and fluconazole susceptibility of blood isolates during the last 10 years in Spain: results from the FUNGEMYCA study].

Background: Recent epidemiological surveillance studies have reported an increase in fungaemia caused by non-Candida albicans species, as well as a decrease in fluconazole susceptibility.

Objectives: To evaluate changes in the epidemiology of fungaemia in Spain comparing data from a new surveillance epidemiological study conducted in 2009 with a previous study carried out from 1997 to 1999 (Pemán J, et al. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis.

Potential fungicidal effect of voriconazole against Candida spp.

In vitro fungistatic and fungicidal activities of voriconazole were evaluated against 114 isolates of Candida spp. MICs were determined using the NCCLS M27-A2 broth microdilution method. Minimum fungicidal concentrations (MFCs) were defined as the lowest drug concentrations that yielded < or = 5 colonies (> or = 98% killing activity).

Comparison of results obtained by testing with three different agar media and by the NCCLS M27-A method for in vitro testing of fluconazole against Candida spp.

Fluconazole susceptibilities of 150 Candida isolates were determined by a 25- micro g fluconazole disk diffusion agar test and compared with the microdilution NCCLS M27-A method. The agar test used three different media and was read at 24 and 48 h. When only the susceptible and nonsusceptible categories were used, disk diffusion with Müeller-Hinton agar supplemented with 2% glucose and 0.