ABSTRACT. From April 1999 to December 2000, a survey was made on the distribution of Staphylococcus species on the skin of 7 kinds of animals and humans. Staphylococci were isolated from 12 (100%) of 12 pigs, 17 (89.5%) of 19 horses, 30 (100%) of 30 cows, 73 (90.1%) of 81 chickens, 10 (40%) of 25 dogs, 23 (76.7%) of 30 laboratory mice, 20 (52.6%) of 38 pigeons, and 80 (88.9%) of 90 human beings. The predominant staphylococci isolated from a variety of animal species were novobiocin-resistant species, S. xylosus and S. sciuri regardless of the animal host species. The novobiocin-resistant species including S. xylosus and S. sciuri were only occasionally isolated from human skin. The predominant staphylococci found on human skin were novobiocin-sensitive species, S. epidermidis (63.8%), followed by S. warneri (28.8%) and S. hominis (13.8%). The results suggest that the staphylococcal flora inhabiting animal skin are different from those of human skin in regard to the predominant species isolated. In this study, we used pulsed-field gel electrophoresis to examine the chromosomal polymorphisms of S. epidermidis isolated most frequently from human skin. Strains of S. epidermidis showed the greatest genomic diversity in their fragment patterns.KEY WORDS: animal and human skin, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, Staphylococcus species.J. Vet. Med. Sci. 64(3): 245-250, 2002 Recently, taxonomic studies have shown that the genus Staphylococcus can be divided into at least 36 species and 17 subspecies, consisting of 6 coagulase-positive or coagulase-variable species and 31 coagulase-negative species.Staphylococci are widespread in nature and commonly found living on the skin, in skin glands, and on mucous membranes of humans and other mammals or birds. They are sometimes found in the mouth, blood, mammary glands, and intestinal, genitourinary, and upper respiratory tracts of these hosts.Knowledge of the distribution of the normal staphylococcal flora on the skin is an important factor in understanding the epidemiology of staphylococcal skin diseases in humans and animals. However, ecological studies on staphylococci inhabiting human [1, 12-14, 19, 21] and animal [6,12,16,26] skin have been reported infrequently in the literature. We [26] previously investigated Staphylococcus species on the skin of animals and humans during the period from 1987 to 1990, and found novobiocin-resistant staphylococci to be the predominant species in animals, whereas novobiocinsensitive staphylococci were abundantly present on human skin.In this report, we re-examined the distribution of Staphylococcus species on the skin of healthy animals and humans. We also compared the present results with those of our previous report [26] in terms of the isolation rate of staphylococci from the skin and the dominant species of staphylococci isolated.Among the coagulase-negative staphylococci species, S. epidermidis has been isolated most frequently from the anterior nares [1,9,13] or the skin [13,14] of healthy humans. Many reports have concerned the p...

Lactobacilli with tannase activity were isolated from human feces and fermented foods. A PCR-based taxonomic assay revealed that the isolates belong to Lactobacillus plantarum, L. paraplantarum, and L. pentosus. Additional studies on a range of Lactobacillus species from established culture collections confirmed that this enzymatic activity is a phenotypic property common to these three species.

ABSTRACT. Two isolates of mecA-positive methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) from retail raw chicken meat were characterized by phenotypic and genotypic methods. One isolate showed the human biovar, coagulase type III, phage group I • III, the lack of production of enterotoxins and TSST-1, and resistance to PCG/ABPC/EM/GM/KM. The other isolate showed the human biovar, coagulase type III, phage group III, production of enterotoxin C and TSST-1, and resistance to PCG/ABPC/CEZ. The biotyping results indicate that the two isolates showed characteristics of human S. aureus. They also harbored SCCmec type IV, which has prevalently been found in community-acquired MRSA isolates. This paper is the first publication regarding MRSA isolates from raw chicken meat in Japan. KEY WORDS: MRSA, raw chicken meat, SCCmec type IV.

The amino acid sequence of the micro, chain of a human IgM immunoglobulin, including the location of all disulfide bridges and oligosaccharides, has been determined. The homology of the constant regions of immunoglobulin micro, gamma, alpha, and epsilon heavy chains reveals evolutionary relationships and suggests that two genes code for each heavy chain.

MDCT with the water-filling method has advantages in acceptable evaluation of depth invasion of gastric carcinomas and in visualization of histologic changes in the tumors. MPR images may be a useful guide for the evaluation of the z-axis extent of tumor.

ABSTRACT. A total of 444 samples of raw chicken meat (thighs, breasts, wings, livers, gizzards, hearts and ovaries) that retailed at 145 different supermarkets in 47 prefectures in Japan were examined for contamination with Staphylococcus aureus in association with its enterotoxigenicity. S. aureus was isolated from 292 (65.8%) of the samples, and from 131 of the 145 supermarkets. There was no significant difference in the detection rate of S. aureus according to the type of meat examined. About 80% of 714 isolates belonged to the poultry (57.1%) and human biotypes (22.1%). Seventy-eight (21.7%) of 360 isolates were enterotoxigenic and isolated from 78 samples in 53 supermarkets in 31 prefectures. Staphylococcal enterotoxins (SEs) produced were SEB (50 isolates), SEA (14), SEC (8), SED (2), SEA+SEB (2), and SEA+SEC (2). Most of the enterotoxigenic isolates belonged to the human and poultry biotypes, coagulase type VII, VIII or IV, and were lysed by phages of group III. Identical SE types, biotypes, coagulase types and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) patterns were shown in isolates from different types of meat at the same supermarket and from samples taken from different supermarkets in the same prefectures or in isolates from samples obtained from several different prefectures. Among the 50 SEB-producing isolates, 27 yielded three similar PFGE patterns that differed by only a few fragments, suggesting that they were closely related genetically. The three patterns were found in isolates of samples that retailed at 17 supermarkets in 11 prefectures, indicating that they may be disseminated among raw chicken meat in Japan. KEY WORDS: biotype, coagulase type, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, Staphylococcus aureus, staphylococcal enterotoxin.

Small early-enhancing hepatic lesions in patients with cirrhosis usually showed no interval growth or disappeared during serial contrast-enhanced dynamic MR imaging. Even though these lesions are round or oval, they may more frequently be pseudolesions than HCCs.

Rapid central washout after the early enhancement of the lesion and coronal enhancement surrounding the lesion are highly specific and diagnostic findings of small hypervascular hepatocellular carcinomas if present at multiarterial phase contrast-enhanced dynamic MRI. Hypervascular pseudolesions tend to show prolonged enhancement during the arterial phase compared with hypervascular hepatocellular carcinomas.