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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Group B Streptococcus: Molecular Epidemiology, Pathogenic Profiling And Control Strategies, Katherine Mary Hayes
Group B Streptococcus: Molecular Epidemiology, Pathogenic Profiling And Control Strategies, Katherine Mary Hayes
Theses
Group B Streptococcus (GBS) are frequent colonisers of the gastrointestinal tract of healthy adults with worldwide rates of 18% colonisation; however, they are also opportunistic pathogens capable of causing invasive disease, particularly in neonates and adults with underlying conditions. Indeed, GBS is the leading cause of invasive neonatal disease worldwide with a global incidence of 0.49 per 1000 live births and GBS disease in adults is increasing globally, with estimated rates of 10.9 cases per 100,000 people. While GBS remain largely susceptible to penicillin, there have been reports of reduced beta-lactam susceptibility in certain countries and resistance to other antibiotic …
Metabolic Characteristics Of Macrophage Activation With Phenotype Microarrays, Tanya Kathryn D'Souza
Metabolic Characteristics Of Macrophage Activation With Phenotype Microarrays, Tanya Kathryn D'Souza
Theses
Inflammation is a natural protective response and is characterised by the activation of numerous immune cells, including macrophages which can release a variety of inflammatory mediators. Macrophages play a flexible role in the initiation and effector phases of the immune response and change their behaviour to respond to environmental stimuli. The main objectives in this study were to create and characterise different macrophage behaviours and employ a novel metabolic characterisation platform the Phenotype MicroarrayTM to attribute additional characteristics to the currently well recognised phenotypes. Five activated macrophage states were demonstrated and characterised. Unactivated macrophages (MO) demonstrated undetectable levels of …
The Evolution Of Bacteriophages E11/2 And E4/Lc For Control Of Verocytotxigenic E.Coli At Key Stages In The Beef Chain, Bríd Coffey
Theses
The objective of this thesis was lo evaluate the potential of bactcriophages e4/1 c and cl 1/2 ns biocontrol agents for E. coli O157:H7. Initially, e4/lc and el 1/2 were subjected to high-throughput 454 sequencing. The data generated revealed that e4/I c (47,112 bp) is very similar to the lytic E. coli phages RTP and JK06. Interestingly, differences within the tail module led to the identification of a putative site of attachment to E. coli O157:H?. Comparative genomic analysis indicated that el 1/2 (168,470 bp) is a novel member of the T-even group, with high degrees of similarity to T4 …
Clostridium Difficile: Comparative Evaluation Of Two Detection Techniques And Characterisation Of Clinical Isolates., Rebecca Dennehy
Clostridium Difficile: Comparative Evaluation Of Two Detection Techniques And Characterisation Of Clinical Isolates., Rebecca Dennehy
Theses
Clostridium difficile is one of the most common causes of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. The presence of C difficile in stool samples may be detected by a variety of means including enzyme immunoassays and culture. Enzyme immunoassays detect the presence of the toxins produced by the organism, toxin A and/or toxin B, but are known to lack sensitivity. The aim of this study was to compare the commercial ELISA assay currently used for the detection of C difficile toxins in Waterford Regional Hospital to culture for the organism to selective media. To compare the sensitivity of the two methods serial dilutions …