Articles: bacteria.
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Oral mannitol has been widely accepted as the bowel preparation of choice for colonoscopy and elective colorectal operation because it is well tolerated by patients. Recent concern has been expressed regarding the risk of explosion and sepsis using oral mannitol because it may provide a nutrient for certain gas-producing bacteria in the colon. ⋯ Significantly higher counts of gas-producing Escherichia coli were recovered from patients prepared with mannitol alone compared with whole bowel irrigation or mannitol preceded by oral antimicrobials. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that fermentation of mannitol by Escherichia coli is responsible for the production of potentially explosive gas mixtures after oral mannitol preparation and may also explain the increased incidence of sepsis when oral mannitol is used for bowel preparation.
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Of 33 pure stains of rumen bacteria from the Lethbridge laboratory collection, 5 degraded both 3-nitropropanol (NPOH) and 3-nitropropionic acid (NPA) under anaerobic conditions, and another 5 strains degraded only NPA. The nitroacid was metabolized at a faster rate than the nitroalcohol by both pure cultures of rumen bacteria and mixed rumen microorganisms. ⋯ Nitrite was metabolized much faster than the nitrotoxins by both pure cultures of rumen bacteria and mixed rumen microorganisms. The results suggest that the nitro moiety of NPA or NPOH is metabolized to inorganic nitrite and nitrite is reduced to ammonia by rumen microorganisms, thereby resulting in its detoxification.
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Am. J. Clin. Pathol. · Apr 1981
An evaluation of burn wound quantitative microbiology. I. Quantitative eschar cultures.
The reliability of quantitative data from burn wound biopsy cultures was investigated. This was done by comparing the recovery of microorganisms from a series of burn wound eschar biopsy specimens that were each divided into two approximately equal portions and cultured in parallel. ⋯ For recovery levels corresponding to quantitative breakpoints that have been proposed to be predictive of burn wound sepsis, only 38% of paired quantitative results agreed within the same log10 unit, and 44% differed by +/- 2 log10 units or more. These findings indicate that quantitative results derived from burn wound biopsy cultures are unreliable and may be significantly misleading when used for decision-making relative to patient care.
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Bacteriologic cultures were performed on the tips of pulmonary artery catheters removed from 153 critically ill patients, who had required pulmonary artery catheterization for management of hypovolemic or septicemic shock or for hemodynamic monitoring during mechanical ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure. Positive results were obtained in 29 (19%) of the cases. ⋯ There were no instances of sepsis definitely attributable to the catheter. Positive catheter-tip culture was associated significantly with known presence of a focus of infection before catheter insertion and with periods exceeding four days that the catheter remained in place.
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Comparative Study
Bacterial flora of the jejunum: a comparison of luminal aspirate and mucosal biopsy.
The aerobic and anaerobic bacterial flora grown from 40 human jejunal aspirates were compared with the flora grown from an intestinal mucosal biopsy obtained simultaneously from the same level. In four paired samples the flora was identical; in nine the flora differed by only one organism. ⋯ In one pair the jejunal aspirate grew organisms, but there was no growth from the biopsy. It is apparent that for adequate bacteriological study of the intestine, the flora at both sites should be investigated.