Thesis (Ph.D.)--Virginia Commonwealth University, 2010. / Prepared for: Dept. of Clinical Laboratory Sciences. Title from title-page of electronic thesis. Bibliography: leaves 127-148.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Medicine. / The emergence of strains of S. pneumoniae resistant to penicillin and to other antibiotics, and the spread of that resistance over the world, have become major concerns and increase the need for epidemiological surveillance. The following typing methods have been used to detect strain variability in pneumococci: Serotyping, antibiotic susceptibility profiles, multilocus enzyme electrophoresis (MLEE), penicillin-binding protein (PBP) profiles, pulse-field gel electrophoresis (pFGE), and ribotyping. Serotyping, antibiograms, and MLEE only detect phenotypic variability. PBP gene profiles, PFGE, and ribotyping detect genotypic differences but these techniques are labour intensive and time consuming. Random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) is a new technique that bas proved useful for typing bacteria, fungi, and parasites, but has not been. studied using pneumococci. Unlike conventional polymerase chain reaction (peR), RAPD utilizes single, short primers, usually 10 oligonucleotides in length. As the primer is short and low astringency annealing temperatures are used, there will be many complimentary sites scattered randomly throughout a bacterium's genome, When such sites occur a few hundred base pairs away from each other and on opposite DNA strands, the enclosed region can be amplified by peR This results in numerous discrete target fragments which can be separated by agarose-gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining. RAPD requires no sequence information and it scans the whole genome rather than relying on hypervariability within one specific gene. The aims of this study were: to determine strain variability using RAPD, to determine the reproducibility ofRAPD, and to demonstrate intercontinental spread of a multiresistant pneumococcal strain. The following strains were evaluated: a) 10 strains from a day-care centre (DCC), the index case being a 3 year old girl 'with otitis media. An aunt from Spain had recently been staying with the family. The other strains were isolated from class mates and siblings of the index case.; b) 18 clinical isolates from Seoul, Korea; and c) 11 epidemiologically unrelated isolates from South Africa, including the reference strain, R6. Two DNA extraction methods were used. The first involving lysis with sodmm-dodecyl-sulphaze and proteinase K. Proteins were removed with phenol-chloroform, and the DNA precipitated with ethanol. The second method involved incubating the cells at 95 0C for 15 microlitres, followed by centrifugation. 2 microlitres of the supernatant was then used for each PCR reaction, Three primers were evaluated. After 01uimisation of the RAPDreaction for pneumococci, the final peR mixtures per 50 ul was: primer (4 plY1), template (0.5 ng), nuc1eotides (300 pMeach), magnesium (4 mM~, and Taq polymerase (2 U). 35 cycles were used with an annealing temperature of 35'C. Both DNA extraction methods: gave reproducible results but were not comparable to each other. All 10 strains from the DCC gave the same banding pattern as the Spanish done for all 3 primers. 7 of the Korean strains gave the same banding pattern as the Spanish clone using the first two primers, however one strain showed an additional band using the third primer. Of the remaining 22 strains, 21 different banding patterns were obtained. This study has shown that RAPD is a simple and rapid technique that can distinguish strain variation among pneumococci. The reproducibility is excellent within the same laboratory. Finally using RAPD. this study identified a Spanish multiresistant 23F clone in South Africa and Korea. / Andrew Chakane 2018

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2008. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Qi Wei. / "November 2003." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 158-185). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed Feb. 19, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-44).

Lic.-avh. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2009.

In under a century, melioidosis, the infection due to Burkholderia pseudomallei, has emerged from Whitmore’s series of glanders-like infections amongst the morphia addicts in Burma to a major cause of mortality in northeastern Thailand and northern Australia. Also endemic in other parts of south-east Asia, melioidosis may have varied presentations ranging from severe, overwhelming infection to chronic, low grade disease. Observational evidence had suggested that granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), a naturally occurring substance produced by the body in response to infection, may have been useful in reducing the high mortality associated with the more severe forms of this infection. Other observations linked the occurrence of this disease to various environmental factors, such as contamination of drinking water and the annual rainfall. This thesis explores and attempts to quantify these associations. There are three parts to this thesis. In the first part, I reviewed the epidemiology and management of patients with melioidosis. The use of G-CSF and meropenem was associated with a fall in mortality, although other factors may have at least partially contributed to this effect. In the second part, I progressed towards a clinical trial of G-CSF. There was no other evidence supporting the use of G-CSF in severe sepsis and ethical issues precluded a trial in Darwin. There was not evidence from laboratory models of G-CSF action in melioidosis to support the use of G-CSF in patients, although there remained some doubt regarding the applicability of such models to human disease. I examined clinical methods to identify patients at high risk of death from melioidosis. A simple scoring system based on clinical and laboratory parameters was developed and externally validated. However, clinical definitions of severe sepsis appeared to be better predictors of mortality. A clinical trial based on clinical definitions was commenced in Thailand. In the final part, I explored the question of whether different strains or B. pseudomallei or different environmental conditions caused different patterns of infection. There was no evidence that strain types of this bacterium determine the pattern or severity of disease, but weather conditions appeared to influence the distribution of disease in northern Australia.

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--University of South Florida, 2006. / Title from PDF of title page. Document formatted into pages; contains 117 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.