In Vitro Studies of Xylitol and Erythritol Inhibition of Streptococcus Mutans and Streptococcus Sobrinus Growth and Biofilm Production.

The aim of this study was to evaluate synergy and inhibitory effects of xylitol and erythritol on Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus growth and biomass production on a polystyrene plastic surface. Study design; S. mutans and sobrinus strains (American Type Culture Collection reference strains 31341, 35668, 25175, sobrinus 33478) were cultivated in media (Todd Hewitt Broth with 1% sucrose or heart-brain infusion broth with 1% sucrose) at differing concentrations of xylitol or erythritol in microtiter assay plates incubated for 48 hours.

Differences in SpeB protease activity among group A streptococci associated with superficial, invasive, and autoimmune disease.

The secreted cysteine proteinase SpeB is an important virulence factor of group A streptococci (GAS), whereby SpeB activity varies widely among strains. To establish the degree to which SpeB activity correlates with disease, GAS organisms were recovered from patients with pharyngitis, impetigo, invasive disease or acute rheumatic fever (ARF), and selected for analysis using rigorous sampling criteria; >300 GAS isolates were tested for SpeB activity by casein digestion assays, and each GAS isolate was scored as a SpeB-producer or non-producer. Highly significant statistical differences (p < 0.

Long-term highly suppressed HIV-infected children and adolescents with negative rapid HIV tests due to significant antibody loss.

Background: Rapid HIV test devices are widely used throughout the world and are important as diagnostic tools with relatively high sensitivity and specificity. Loss of HIV specific antibodies in late-stage AIDS patients has previously been reported in patients with advanced disease (i.e.

Higher incidence of perineal community acquired MRSA infections among toddlers.

Background: A six-fold increase in pediatric MRSA infections, prompted us to examine the clinical profile of children with MRSA infections seen at Mercy Children's Hospital, Toledo, Ohio and to characterize the responsible strains.

Methods: Records were reviewed of pediatric patients who cultured positive for MRSA from June 1 to December 31, 2007. Strain typing by pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFT) and DiversiLab, SCCmec typing, and PCR-based lukSF-PV gene (encodes Panton-Valentine leukocidin), arginine catabolic mobile element (ACME) and cap5 gene detection was performed.