Prevalence of β-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant haemophilus influenzae isolated from patients of a teaching hospital in Thailand.

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of β-lactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant (BLNAR) Haemophilus influenzae isolated from patients of a teaching hospital in Thailand. Eighty-eight isolates of H. influenzae were collected between September 2005 and March 2008.

CMY-2, CMY-8b, and DHA-1 plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamases among clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae from a university hospital, Thailand.

Between February 2005 and January 2006 in Srinagarind Hospital, Thailand, 44 from 1730 isolates (2.5%) of Escherichia coli and 8 from 982 isolates (0.8%) of Klebsiella pneumoniae were found to produce plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamases (pAmpCs) as detected by a cefoxitin-Hodge test followed by a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique.

Antimicrobial activity of Streblus asper leaf extract.

Bactericidal activity was found in the 50% ethanol (v/v) extract of Streblus asper leaves. The extract possessed a selective bactericidal activity towards Streptococcus, especially to Streptococcus mutans which has been shown to be strongly associated with dental caries. The extract had no effect on cultures of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus coagulase positive, Staphylococcus coagulase negative, Serratia marcescens, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Burkholderia pseudomeallei and Candida albicans.

Cells of different ploidy are often present together in Cryptococcus neoformans strains.

We examined the ploidy of C. neoformans strains using both laser scanning cytometry and a fluorescence microscope equipped with a photomultiplier. Haploid strains consisted of normal-sized cells with a haploid DNA amount.

Oxidative stress sensitivity and superoxide dismutase of a wild-type parent strain and a respiratory mutant of Candida albicans.

It is important to know responses of the pathogenic fungi to reactive oxygen species by which hosts protect themselves against fungal infection. In the present study, sensitivities to the superoxide radical (O2-) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) were compared between a wild-type parent strain and a respiration-deficient mutant of Candida albicans. When their survival was examined on an agar medium containing an intracellular O2- generator, paraquat (PQ), the parent strain was selectively killed by increasing the PQ concentration.