Distribution of meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus spa types isolated from health-care workers and patients in a Scottish university teaching hospital.

Our study was aimed at comparing the meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains isolated from an anonymous group of health-care workers (HCWs) with those obtained from patient samples during a 3-month time interval. We employed spa typing and virulence gene profiling to characterize the MRSA strains. Our data revealed that a total of 14 discrete spa types were circulating in both patients and HCWs.

Solution structure determination of monomeric human IgA2 by X-ray and neutron scattering, analytical ultracentrifugation and constrained modelling: a comparison with monomeric human IgA1.

Immunoglobulin A (IgA), the most abundant human immunoglobulin, mediates immune protection at mucosal surfaces as well as in plasma. It exists as two subclasses IgA1 and IgA2, and IgA2 is found in at least two allotypic forms, IgA2m(1) or IgA2m(2). Compared to IgA1, IgA2 has a much shorter hinge region, which joins the two Fab and one Fc fragments.