Thesis (SC. D.)--University OF MICHIGAN.

The quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) are complex organic compounds possessing great surface activity and germicidal properties. At the present time there are hundreds of preparations on the market in the United States and about 100 licensed for sale in Canada which are compounded from or are composed entirely of one of the many QAC available. About 45 per cent of those available in Canada are composed in whole or in part of di-isobutylphenoxyethoxyethyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride which, for brevity, will be referred to as Hyamine 1622, the trade name given this substance by the manufacturers, Rohm and Haas of Philadelphia, Pa.

In this thesis, an attempt was made to demonstrate the possible role of monocytes in producing antibody in vitro. Series of experiments were carried out in vitro, under this line, to confirm previous results obtained in vivo by Girard & Murray (67). These authors observed in rabbits maintained in a state of monocytosis that these animals will give a significantly elevated titer over that of control animals when they are immunized against S. typhosa, staphylococcus toxoid and Horse serum. [...]

Isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from cerebro spinal fluid has been always considered the cardinal point for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis, although in some instances is difficult or impossible and the diagnosis has to rely on the cytological and chemical changes of the fluid and on the patient's symptoms. To better understand the value of the bacteriological findings and or the pathological changes of cerebro spinal fluid in tuberculous meningitis, it seems advisable to us to review briefly the disease and its new aspects since the advent of therapy.

Ever since Koch, in 1882, announced the discovery of the aetiological agent of tuberculosis, which he named the tubercle bacillus, scientists throughout the world have been trying to improve existing methods of the culture or this organism that has been the scourge of mankind for centuries. One of the attempts to achieve rapid and accurate bacteriologic diagnosis has led to the recent development of the slide-culture technique for growing tubercle bacilli.

The true pathogenic yeasts are organisms of much clinical importance. One species, compensating for its relatively rare occurrence by its extreme virulence, produces systemic diseases which are almost always fatal, while most representatives of the group are significant chiefly for their very wide distribution, and frequent isolation as the causative agents of lesions of the skin, nails, and mucous membranes in man and animals. They are imperfect fungi, lacking any sexual conjugation or spores, and they reproduce by simple budding or the formation of asexual conidia.

Microorganisms play a major role in the decomposition of complex organic materials formed in the course of the development of higher plants and animals. Even complex high polymers that are products of the modern synthetic laboratory are known to serve as microbial substrates under appropriate test conditions (Zobell, 1946; Quastel, 1959). The failure of the accumulation of organic materials, except under conditions not favourable for decomposition, is ample evidence for the turnover of elemental substances. Thus the occurrence of an organic material either in a natural or synthetic condition of necessity makes it subject to biological transformations for an effective balance of the world’s supply of available elements.

Penicillium cyaneo-fulvum, which was found growing as a contaminant on a Lowenstein slope in the Clinical Laboratories of the Department of Bacteriology, McGill University, by Denton (1947), has been shown to produce at least three distinct substances. The mould produces an antibiotic, probably penicillin, a toxin neutralizing substance, noxiversin (Diena, 1954, 1956; Murray, Denton, Stevenson and Diena, 1958) and an antiviral factor (Diena, 1956; Cooke, 1958, 1960). Noxiversin, studied in some detail by Diena and others (Ajemian, 1957; Diena, 1954, 1956; Murray et al., 1958; Tanner, 1956, 1957), was found to possess, in addition to its antitoxic properties, some activity against influenza virus (Diena, 1956).

In the early period of microbiology, little attention was paid to marine microorganisms. In spite of the knowledge that life originated in the sea which covers the greater part of the earth's surface, little or no attempt was made to study the nature and activity of bacteria in the oceans. It was the end of the 19th century when Ehrenberg, Certes, Fischer and Russel, pioneer workers of marine bacteriology, published their studies in this field. Although marine bacteriology received more and more attention following the days of the pioneers, the research was mostly limited to general observations such as taxonomy, distribution, cultural characteristics, enumeration, etc., consequently very little information became available on the biochemistry of marine bacteria.

Scopulariopsis brevicaulis (Saccardo) Bainier is a member of the Fungi Imperfecti. It is a mould which, like many species of Fungi Imperfecti, is widely distributed throughout the world. Of the many species in the genus Scopulariopsis, this organism has attracted the most attention. A review of the literature shows that it is important not only as a saprophyte but also as a parasite. As a human parasite it is most commonly encountered as a dermatophyte. Reviews by Dodge (1935), Raper and Thom (1949), Conant et al. (1954) and more recent reports such as Fischer's review of clinical cases (1960) and a report from Poland by Kapica (1960) indicate that S. brevicaulis is isolated from clinical material more frequently than any other recognized species belonging to this genus.