bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The detection of rubella-specific IgM by an immunosorbent assay with solid-phase attachment of red cells (SPARC)
Authors: Sexton S. A. , Hodgson J. , Morgan-Capner P.
Published: March 2010

An immunosorbent assay using solid-phase attachment of red cells (SPARC) was used for the detection of rubella-specific IgM. The method is described and the results compared with those obtained by the IgM antibody capture radioimmunoassay (MACRIA). One hundred and ninety-nine sera were investigated for the presence of rubella-specific IgM and only one discrepant result occurred, namely a false positive obtained by MACRIA in a patient with infectious mononucleosis. Rheumatoid factor, heterophile antibody, and rubella-specific IgG did not interfere with the results obtained by the SPARC technique. Advantages of the SPARC technique include the ease and lack of expense of testing large numbers of sera, the small volume of sample required and the fact that pretreatment of serum is not necessary.
Rabbit nasopharyngeal colonization byBordetella pertussis: the effects of immunization on clearance and on serum and nasal antibody levels
Authors: Ashworth L. A. E. , Fitzgeorge R. B. , Irons L. I. , Morgan C. P. , Robinson A.
Published: March 2010

TwoBordetella pertussisantigen preparations, outer membrane protein (OMP) and filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA), and a standard vaccine were used to immunize rabbits, and the effects on nasopharyngeal colonization by the organism were determined. Antibodies were measured in serum and in nasal washes by ELISA before and after challenge of the rabbits with 106bacteria of strain M2. Recoveries ofB. pertussisin nasal washes were used to assess colonization, which in controls persisted for at least 65 days. Some rabbits of all the immunized groups showed enhanced clearance, but there was no correlation between the elimination ofB. pertussisand serum antibodies to OMP, FHA, lipopolysaccharide, lymphocytosis-promoting factor or agglutinogen 3. In contrast, nasal IgA antibody to FHA showed significant inverse correlation with bacterial persistence. Such antibody was induced by the OMP preparation as well as by FHA, but to different extents depending on the immunization schedule and adjuvant used.
Influenza in the United Kingdom 1977–1981
Authors: Pereira M. S. , Chakraverty P.
Published: March 2010

The laboratory surveillance of influenza in the UK has continued to demonstrate the regularity of influenza outbreaks each winter even in the absence of increase in the other indices which reflect the morbidity and mortality associated with influenza.

The period of five years from 1976 to 1981 has seen the appearance of a second sub-type of influenza A with the return of the historic H1N1 virus; and the continued circulation of H3N2 concurrently with H1N1 virus. Variants of both these influenza A viruses have been demonstrated as well as further changes in the strains of influenza B virus isolated during this time.
Hospital-acquired infections in a burns unit caused by an imported strain of Staphylococcus aureus with unusual multi-resistance
Authors: Espersen F. , Nielsen P. Bo , Lund K. , Sylvest B. , Jensen K.
Published: March 2010

During the past year five patients from countries in the Middle East admitted to a burns unit were found to harbour a strain of Staphylococcus aureus with unusual multi-resistance to antibiotics. The admission of the first patient was followed by an outbreak of infection with this strain involving ten patients in the unit. In addition five staff members were found to be nasal carriers of the strain. As a result of this incident, the following four patients admitted to the unit were isolated on admission and the spread of their strains was thus prevented. It is recommended that patients on admission to burns units, or similar departments with patients very susceptible to infection, are isolated until their bacterial floras have been examined.
The survival of multi-antibacterial drug-resistant Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium in stored static slurry from a veal calf unit
Authors: Hinton M. , Linton A. H.
Published: March 2010

Salmonella typhimurium phage type DT 193 survived in small numbers, in stored static slurry derived from veal calves, for the 7-week period of observation. The viable coliform count fell by 1½ logs during the first 2 weeks of storage, thereafter there were only relatively small fluctuations in the coliform population. In all 735 of 752 Escherichia coli isolates examined from eight samples of slurry were resistant to 3–6 antibacterial drugs. There was no dramatic change in the overall level of drug resistance amongst the E. coli with time. Chloramphenicol resistance was recorded in 400 (55%) of the E. coli. It was always associated with multiple resistance, with 96% of the strains being resistant to 5 or 6 drugs, although the proportion of isolates of each of the ten most prevalent O-serotypes resistant to chloramphenicol was variable and ranged between none and 97·5%. The use of biotyping together with O-serotyping indicated that the E. coli population was extremely complex, although certain components of the population remained relatively stable within the dominant flora with time since several of the more common O-serotype/biotype combinations were isolated from more than half of the eight slurry samples examined.
A large outbreak of streptococcal pyoderma in a military training establishment
Authors: Cruickshank J. G. , Lightfoot N. F. , Sugars K. H. , Colman G. , Simmons M. D. , Tolliday J. , Oakley E. H. N.
Published: March 2010

An outbreak of streptococcal pyoderma in a military institution into which fresh susceptible recruits were regularly introduced involved more than 1300 persons over an eighteen-month period. Two M types were responsible for the great majority of the cases and an attack by one conferred immunity to that strain but not to the other. Lesions varied from trivial to disabling. Epidemiological studies indicated that contact – direct or indirect – through such things as gymnasium equipment and room dust was the means of transmission. The outbreak was eventually controlled by vigorous case finding, thorough treatment of cases and the strict application of hygienic principles to prevent spread. There were no late complications and throat streptococci were not involved. It is possible to control such an outbreak without isolation or the making of any significant concessions in the training programme even when large numbers of persons are living and working at close quarters.
Market fish hygiene in Kenya
Authors: Binta Gorette M. , Tjaberg T. B. , Nyaga P. N. , Valland M.
Published: March 2010

Vibrio parahaemolyticuswas isolated from 53 out of 584 samples (9·1%) of market fish. All strains were Kanagawa negative and were distributed as follows: sea fish 5 out of 370 samples (1·4%), shellfish 48 out of 214 samples (22·4%). Other fish spoilage microflora recovered were:Alcaligenes faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus vulgaris, Aeromonasspp. andVibrio alginolyticus. Total aerobic counts and coliform counts per gram for the lake fish ranged from 2·6 × 102to 6·6 × 107and 10 to 1·0 × 102, respectively. Those from marine fish ranged from 1·0 × 105to 8·8 × 105and 2·0 × 103to 1·6 × 104, respectively. Counts for marine fish gills alone ranged from 1·4 × 105to 3·4 ×108and 7·2 × 102to 1·4 × 107, respectively. No hightemperature (44°) coliforms were recovered from either lake or marine samples.
Hepatitis B virus infection in prisons: A seroepidemiological survey in prisoners and attending staff
Authors: Chiaramonte M. , Trivello R. , Renzulli G. , Zampieri L. , Fanecco A. , Floreani A. , Naccarato R.
Published: March 2010

Prisoners and attending staff from six houses of detention were screened for serum HBsAg, antiHBs, antiHBc and transaminases. Both prisoners and warders showed an increased prevalence of HBV serum markers with respect to age- and sex-matched general population control groups. The HBsAg carrier rate was 6·7% in prisoners and 6·6% in staff. Sixty-five per cent of the HBsAg-positive subjects were antiHBe-positive. When the blood samples were taken, all the HBsAg-positive subjects were asymptomatic; transaminases were normal in 80% and only slightly elevated in 20%.

Illicit drug abuse was found to be a relevant risk factor for HBV infection among prisoners under 35 years of age, but not in the older group, whereas no correlation emerged between presence of HBV serum markers and tattoos or admitted homosexuality. A high prevalence of HBV serum markers was also found among young warders who had been in service for a short time: most of them, however, come from areas of Italy with a particularly elevated HBV circulation.

Although the results suggest that many of the HBV infections are not recently acquired within the institution, this survey confirms that prisons should be regarded as high risk areas for HBV infection, both for prisoners and warders.
The bacterial colonization of the large bowel of pre-term low birth weight neonates
Authors: Stark P. L. , Lee A.
Published: March 2010

The bacterial colonization of the large bowel of 11 pre-term, low birth weight neonates who were nourished by expressed breast milk was examined by culturing serial faecal samples and compared to that observed in eight breast-fed and seven formula-fed full-term neonates.

Pre-term neonates were colonized by high counts of facultatively anaerobic bacteria from the first days of life while bifidobacteria colonized only six babies during the first week and appeared in only one baby before day 5. Bacteroides spp. and clostridia were isolated from seven and six pre-term babies respectively during week 1 and were first observed on day 2.

The intestinal colonization of pre-term infants differed from that in full-term breast-fed infants in the high counts of facultatively anaerobic bacteria and late appearance of bifidobacteria, and from both groups of full-term infants in the early stable colonization by Bacteroides spp.

It is postulated that the composition of the normal intestinal microflora of pre-term low birth weight babies contributes to their predisposition to neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis. Results are discussed in relation to the effect of infant feeding regimens on intestinal microbial populations.
Evaluation of a human diploid cell strain rabies vaccine: final report of a three year study of pre-exposure immunization
Authors: Turner G. S. , Nicholson K. G. , Tyrrell D. A. J. , Aoki F. Y.
Published: March 2010

The antibody responses of 194 volunteers were studied for up to 3 years after primary immunization with one, two or three doses of human diploid cell rabies vaccine, administered either in 0·1 ml volumes intradermally (i.d.) or as 1·0 ml intramuscularly (i.m.). Sero-conversion occurred in 95% of subjects after the first injection and in 100% after the second. The highest titres and most durable antibody responses were induced by three injections of vaccine.

Booster doses were administered either by the subcutaneous (s.c.) or i.d. route, after 6, 12 or 24 months to randomly grouped volunteers; these induced responses ≥ 5·0 i.u. per ml in 95% of subjects. The responses were rapid and were neither influenced by the primary regimen nor by the timing and route of the booster dose.

Antibody titres after i.d. immunization were only two-fold lower than those induced by the larger volume of vaccine. The findings suggest that the i.d. route is both effective and economic.
A comparison of the R25 modification of Rappaport's enrichment medium with strontium chloride B for salmonella isolation from sewage polluted natural water
Authors: Harvey R. W. S. , Price T. H.
Published: March 2010

The relation of salmonella isolation efficiency and the size of inoculum introduced from a buffered peptone water culture of sewage polluted water into strontium chloride B medium was investigated. Two separate studies were made, one using enrichment at 37°C, the other at 43°C. From these trials, two inocula suitable for efficient salmonella isolation were determined. Using this information, strontium chloride B medium was compared with modified Rappaport's broth (R25). The inoculum used with R25 was 0·005 ml, determined in an earlier study. Two incubation temperatures were employed with strontium chloride enrichment (37 and 43°C). Rappaport's medium was incubated at 37°C only. Elevated temperature enrichment at 43°C improved the performance of strontium chloride B, but Rappaport's broth still gave significantly better results. This supports earlier studies on simplification of salmonella isolation and standardization of routine technique on a single enrichment medium: Rappaport broth (R25) incubated at 37°C.
An investigation into the properties of klebsiella strains isolated from ankylosing spondylitis patients
Authors: Pease Phyllis E. , Tyler Ruth A. , England J. R. , Colthorpe Diane , Ebringer A.
Published: March 2010

Thirty-nine strains of klebsiella isolated from ankylosing spondylitis patients were examined by the methods of Cowan & Steel (1974), those described by Edmondson et al. (1980) and by capsular typing. No significant difference was detected by any of these methods between these strains and those examined by other workers from non-ankylosing spondylitis patients and other environments.
Guanidine and heat sensitivity of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) strains
Authors: Nettleton P. F. , Davies Marilyn J. , Rweyemamu M. M.
Published: March 2010

A study of the ability of 49 strains of FMD virus to replicate in BHK-21 monolayer cells maintained under a standard agar overlay containing 5·2 mM guanidine hydrochloride and to withstand heat inactivation at 54°C for 1 h showed that strains belonging to serotypes C, O and Asia 1 were generally more resistant to guanidine and heat stable than the SAT 1, 2 and 3 serotypes. The type A viruses as a whole occupied an intermediate position between these two groups.

In vitro passage in BHK-21 cells influenced the guanidine sensitivity of 3(O, C and SAT 3) of the 7 FMD serotypes suggesting that this is not a stable genetic marker. Heat stability of the FMD viruses, however, did not change on passage, suggesting that this is a stable characteristic inherent in any homogeneous FMD virus population.
Prevalence ofNeisseria meningitidisin family members of patients with meningococcal infection
Authors: Saez-Nieto J. A. , Campos J. , Latorre C. , Juncosa T. , Sierra M. , Garcia-Tornell T. , Garcia-Barreno B. , Lopez-Galindez C. , Casal J.
Published: March 2010

The aim of the study was first, to determine the prevalence ofNeisseria meningitidisamong the family members living with patients suffering from meningococcal infections, and second, to ascertain the distribution among these family members of strains epidemiologically related to those isolated from patients.

Forty-two family groups were studied and 135 nasopharyngeal samples were taken from family members living with patients.

Twenty family groups were found to contain meningococcal carriers, and of these 20, 13 contained a carrier of the strain that caused the infection (65%). Among the family members who were carriers, the mother and father most frequently yielded the strain which caused the illness.

The serotypes most frequently encountered both in patients and carriers were 2 and 8, as well as nontypable strains.

The polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic patterns (PAGE) most frequently found were II and IV. A notable feature of the study is the high resistance of the strains to sulphadiazine, since more than 90% of the strains found in patients and more than 75% of those from carriers possessed a minimum inhibitory concentration greater than or equal to 10μg/ml.
Occurrence of viruses in human stools in the Ahaggar (Algeria)
Authors: Puel J. M. L. , Orillac M. S. , Bauriaud R. M. , Boughermouh R. , Akacem O. , Lefevre-Witier Ph.
Published: March 2010

From October 1977 to May 1980, 243 stools collected in sedentary and semi-nomadic populations of the Ahaggar (Algerian Sahara) were examined using immunoelectronmicroscopy and tissue culture inoculation. Immunoelectron-microscopy revealed the presence of rotaviruses in 8, coronaviruses in 26, adenoviruses in 5 and small round viruses in 4. Enteroviruses were isolated in tissue culture from 24 stools.

Rotaviruses were present in the Ahaggar but were associated with little acute enteric disease. The high frequency of coronaviruses both in gastroenteritis patients and in patients without disease was surprising. The prevalence of enteroviruses in this hyperarid zone was similar to or higher than that found in noticeably more humid countries.

Further systematic bacterial, viral and parasitic examinations are required to clarify the role of the above viruses in the aetiology of gastroenteritis in this region.
Campylobacter enteritis – the first five years
Authors: Skirrow M. B.
Published: March 2010

Five years have passed sinceCampylobacter jejunibecame generally recognized as a common cause of acute diarrhoea (Skirrow, 1977) – although the essential scientific discovery which led to this had been made several years earlier (Butzleret al.1973) – so this is an appropriate time to take stock of what has happened in that time and consider what we might usefully be doing to control the disease.
Bovine tuberculosis in domestic and wild mammals in an area of Dorset. I. Tuberculosis in cattle
Authors: Wilesmith J. W. , Little T. W. A. , Thompson H. V. , Swan C.
Published: March 2010

A major outbreak of tuberculosis occurred in cattle on a farm in Dorset between 1970 and 1976. Six hundred and twenty-six cattle were slaughtered either because they reacted to the tuberculin test or had been exposed to infection. No source of infection was found until 1974 when badgers infected with Mycobacterium bovis were first discovered.

An analysis of the tuberculin test records of this herd and the six surrounding herds indicated that tuberculosis had been a sporadic problem since the early 1960's. Two peaks of infection occurred in the most severely affected herd in 1970 and 1974 when 29·8% and 27·3% of animals, respectively, reacted to the tuberculin test. These figures are exceptionally high. During the last 20 years there have been two periods when all the herds in the area had synchronous outbreaks consistent with a common source.

Analysis indicated that cattle were at greatest risk in April and May and suggest that there was re-exposure to infection at this time each year. In addition the cattle were apparently exposed to M. bovis, at sufficiently high levels for transmission to occur, for only a relatively short period of time.
Subdivision of Mycobacterium tuberculosis into five variants for epidemiological purposes: methods and nomenclature
Authors: Collins C. H. , Yates M. D. , Grange J. M.
Published: March 2010

Virulent strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from humans are divisible into five variants by using four tests: oxygen requirement (aerobic or microaerophilic), nitrate reductase activity, susceptibility to pyrazinamide (60 μg/ml) and susceptibility to thiophene-2-carboxylic acid hydrazide (5 μg/ml). The five variants are referred to as Classical human, Asian human, bovine, African I and African II. The relation of these variants to previously described types is discussed. This simple division has been shown to be useful in epidemiological studies.
Antimicrobial sensitivity patterns of hospital and non-hospital strains ofStaphylococcus aureusisolated from nasal carriers
Authors: Paul M. O. , Aderibigbe D. A. , Sule C. Z. , Lamikanra A.
Published: March 2010

The nasal carriage rate ofStaphylococcus aureuswas significantly higher in hospitalized persons (children, adult females and staff) − 53·8%, – than in similar persons at a local clinic − 29·8% (P< 0·001) – in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. However, unlike studies carried out elsewhere, a higher proportion ofS. aureusstrains obtained from persons at the clinic were resistant to commonly used antimicrobial agents than were strains isolated in the hospital. This has been attributed to the ease at which these drugs can be obtained by the general population and used unsupervised and indiscriminately. Methicillin was the most effective antimicrobial agent against pathogenic staphylococci (2·2% resistance), followed by erythromycin (16·5% resistance), co-trimaxozole (28·0 % resistance), chloramphenicol (76·9 % resistance), tetracycline (78·6% resistance) and penicillin and ampicillin (97·8% resistance). The widespread resistance ofS. aureusto penicillin and ampicillin (and other antimicrobial agents) is of clinical significance in the treatment of post-operative infections, since carriers are reportedly more prone to such infections than are non-carriers.
The persistence of drug resistant Escherichia coli in the intestinal flora of healthy broiler chicks
Authors: Hinton M. , Al-Chalaby Z. A. M. , Allen Vivien , Linton A. H.
Published: March 2010

Antibacterial drugs (oxytetracycline, streptomycin and sulphonamides) were included in the drinking water of healthy broiler chicks from the sixth to the twentieth day of life to select a resistant gut flora. On the twenty-first day the birds were divided into three groups and reared in separate rooms until 100 days of age. One group was housed in cages with wire floors while the others were reared on litter. Faeces from adult hens were added regularly to the litter of one of these groups to determine its effect on the gut flora of the chicks.

The ecology of Escherichia coli was studied using O-serotyping, biotyping and antibacterial drug resistogram typing. The proportion of E. coli in the dominant faecal flora resistant to two to four antibacterial drugs increased with time to reach a peak several days after the drugs were withdrawn. Thereafter, the level of drug resistance in the E. coli declined equally in all three groups. The majority of organisms with multiple resistance were derived from biotypes of O-serotypes initially resistant to only one drug and were identified before the drugs were administered. The decline in the level of resistance in the dominant faecal flora after the fourth week was due to the appearance of either new O-serotypes or new biotypes of O-serotypes previously shown to be multiply resistant, and which were either sensitive or resistant to only one drug. It is probable that these new strains were derived from the food since several O-serotypes appeared simultaneously in all three groups of birds.
Field trials of second-generation anticoagulants against difenacoum-resistant Norway rat populations
Authors: Greaves J. H. , Shepherd D. S. , Quy R.
Published: March 2010

Trials of rodenticidal baits containing 50 p.p.m. difenacoum, 50 p.p.m. bromadiolone or 20 p.p.m. brodifacoum were carried out on farmsteads against populations of Rattus norvegicus containing difenacoum-resistant individuals. Six difenacoum treatments failed in 14–42 days of baiting. Two treatments with bromadiolone succeeded in 23 and 33 days, but four further treatments lasting 35–56 days failed to eradicate the populations. Brodifacoum gave virtually complete control of six populations in 21–73 days and of the ten residual populations left behind by the other two compounds, after baiting for a further 11–85 days. The performance of both bromadiolone and brodifacoum was well below that reported by previous investigators, indicating the possibility of low-grade resistance to these compounds in the difenacoum-resistant strain.
Antibody against viruses in maternal and cord sera: specific antibody is concentrated on the fetal side of the circulation
Authors: Griffiths P. D. , Berney S. I. , Argent S. , Heath R. B.
Published: March 2010

Paired maternal and cord sera from 100 pregnancies were tested for antibodies against herpes simplex virus, measles virus and respiratory syncytial virus by complement fixation and for antibodies against rubella virus, influenza A virus and influenza B virus by haemagglutination-inhibition. For four viruses (herpes simplex, measles, respiratory syncytial and rubella) higher levels of antibody were found in cord than in maternal sera. There was no difference between maternal and cord serum titres against influenza B virus but significantly higher levels of antibody against influenza A virus were found in maternal sera than in cord sera. This discrepancy was investigated by measuring antibodies against the surface antigens of influenza A by a complement fixation technique, and by single radial haemolysis. Both methods showed a preponderance of virus-specific antibody in cord sera. We conclude that IgG antibodies against most, if not all, viruses are concentrated on the fetal side of the circulation, but that conventional haemagglutination-inhibition techniques may fail to detect this difference.
Radial haemolysis for the detection of rubella antibody in acute postnatal rubella
Authors: Morgan-Capner P. , Burgess C. , Fisher-Hoch S.
Published: March 2010

One hundred and forty-eight sera from 101 cases of acute postnatal rubella were examined by the radial haemolysis (RH) technique currently recommended by the Public Health Laboratory Service of the United Kingdom. In 75 cases the date of onset of rash was known. No sera were RH positive until the third day after the onset of rash and one serum was still negative at 9 days. By 10 days all sera gave a zone of at least 10 mm. The antibody response detected by RH appears later than that detected by haemagglutination inhibition (HI). Thirty-nine of the 101 cases could be diagnosed by seroconversion or a significant rise in titre using the HI test (diagnosis of the remainder depending upon rubella-specific IgM tests). Using the RH test this figure rises to 48 but in ten of these cases reliance on RH would have meant a delay in diagnosis. The results also indicate that many more sera would need to be tested for rubella-specific IgM if the RH test was used instead of the HI test for evaluating possible cases and contacts of rubella.
A poxvirus antigen associated with pathogenicity for rabbits
Authors: Rondle C. J. M. , Dumbell K. R.
Published: March 2010

White pock variants of cowpox virus give papular lesions on intradermal inoculation of rabbits, without the necrosis and haemorrhage that are produced by wild type cowpox viruses. Rondle & Dumbell (1962) have shown that white pock variants of cowpox virus fail to produce a specific, precipitating antigen which they called ‘d’ substance. In this paper it is shown that ‘d’ is demonstrable in soluble antigen preparations of rabbitpox virus and of neurovirulent strains of vaccinia virus but not in soluble antigens of variola viruses. Two series of recombinant viruses prepared by Dumbell & Bedson (1964) from variola and cowpox and from variola and rabbitpox viruses were tested for the production of ‘d’ substance. These results were compared with the previously recorded effects of these recombinants when inoculated intradermally in rabbits. It is concluded that functional genes determining the production of ‘d’ and of rabbit skin pathogenicity are closely linked on the pox virus genome, but that there is insufficient evidence to say that the two functions are interdependent.
Stool viruses in babies in Glasgow: 4. Further hospital studies
Authors: Madeley C. R. , Scott T. M. , Campbell Catherine , Miller J.
Published: March 2010

The events occurring during the time in hospital of 24 babies were recorded in detail, particularly those related to bowel function. The babies were admitted to a general paediatric unit with various diagnoses a total of 27 times during a six month period. The purpose of the study was to fill gaps in the records of a previous study (Scott et al. 1979) and to try to relate excretion of viruses detectable by electron microscopy to disturbances of bowel function (diarrhoea and/or vomiting). The results showed that a variety of viruses were associated with gastroenteropathy, that virus excretion could occur without disease and that hospital acquisition of virus is not uncommon. Antiobiotic treatment did not appear to precipitate diarrhoea in this small number of babies.
Legionella infections in Scotland
Authors: Fallon R. J.
Published: March 2010

Four thousand two hundred and thirty-five sera from 2794 patients and 740 sera from 735 tourists domiciled in Scotland recently returned from abroad were examined between 1977 and 1981 for antibodies toLegionella pneumophilaand related organisms. In addition, specimens were examined from some patients for cultural or serological demonstration of these organisms in lung or sputum. One hundred and ten cases were diagnosed, 104 serologically, five by immunofluorescence demonstration of legionellas in lung biopsy or autopsy specimens andL. pneumophilaserogroup 1 was isolated from a further case. Of patients with pneumonia 6·7% showed evidence of legionella infection. Only 0·4% of healthy tourists had antibodies at a level of ⋝ 256. The majority of cases occurred in patients aged 50–69 and in 36 patients the infection was acquired outside the United Kingdom. Males predominated, the male: female ratio being 2:1. Cases were less frequent in the first quarter of the year but those originating in Scotland were equally common in the remaining three quarters. Cases with disease acquired abroad added to indigenous cases resulted in a summer peak occurring in July, August and September. There were no outbreaks of legionellosis in Scotland.
Clostridium botulinum type C in the Mersey estuary
Authors: Smith G. R. , Oliphant Janet C. , White W. R.
Published: March 2010

Nineteen of 98 samples of mud or sand taken from the Mersey estuary in 1981 contained Clostridium botulinum type C, the organism almost always responsible for botulism in water birds. In the Dungeon and Score Bank areas, where many dead and dying birds were found during the period September–December 1979, almost half the samples contained type C. Most of the positive samples were essentially muddy rather than sandy. The findings do not prove that botulism contributed to the 1979 mortality but are nonetheless thought-provoking, particularly because type C – unlike type B – is by no means ubiquitous in Britain. Type B was present in 12·2% of samples from the Mersey estuary.
A comparative clinical study of Adsorbed Tetanus Vaccine and Adult-type Tetanus–Diphtheria Vaccine
Authors: Deacon S. P. , Langford D. T. , Shepherd W. M. , Knight P. A.
Published: March 2010

A limited assessment of immunity to diphtheria revealed that only 44·8 % of adults had protective levels (> 0·01 U/ml) of diphtheria antitoxin in their sera. In the light of this information, it was decided to assess the suitability of Adult-type Tetanus-Diphtheria Vaccine as a replacement for Adsorbed Tetanus Vaccine in occupational health schemes. A comparative study of these vaccines showed that a single dose of each produced an equivalent rate and level of tetanus antitoxin responses. Adult-type Td Vaccine elicited more than fourfold increases of diphtheria antitoxin in 76 % of vaccinees. No statistically significant differences were observed in the clinical reactivity of the vaccines under test. However, the combined vaccine caused a slightly higher incidence of local reactions (pain, redness and swelling) while recipients of Adsorbed Tetanus Vaccine more frequently experienced pain.
Some in-vitro characters of the subspecies of Mycoplasma mycoides
Authors: Smith G. R. , Oliphant Janet C.
Published: March 2010

So-called LC strains of Mycoplasma mycoides subsp. mycoides and, where appropriate, SC strains, were examined, together with M. mycoides subsp. capri strains, by growth, fermentation, and antibiotic-sensitivity tests.

Growth curves in BVF-OS medium showed that, from the 6th until at least the 19th day of incubation, strain Mankefår 2833 had a viable count strikingly higher than that of any other LC strain. Its robust growth properties may explain its ability – unusual among LC strains – to produce mycoplasmaemia readily in mice. Strain 143–A66 Conn, also shown by earlier experiments in mice to possess unusual properties, lost viability more rapidly than any other LC strain between the 13th and 19th days of incubation. The viable count of a subsp. capri strain was considerably lower than that of any LC strain for much of the period between days 6 and 19.

In fermentation tests with 27 substrates and sensitivity tests with 11 antibiotics the strains gave results that, in all but the following respects, were uniform. Sorbitol was fermented to varying degrees by all the LC and subsp. capri strains tested but was unaffected by the SC strains. The LC and subsp. capri strains were in general more resistant than the SC strains to streptomycin. The growth of the LC strains, much more than that of the other strains, was greatly stimulated by the presence of fermentable substrate.
Chimeras occur on the pantropical Lichinomycete Phyllopeltula corticola
Authors: APTROOT André , SCHUMM Felix
Published: March 2010

Chimeras with green algae are reported for the first time from a lichen outside the Peltigerales, viz. the cyanophilous Lichinomycete Phyllopeltula corticola. The species is reported here to be pantropical, based on additional collections from Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Thailand and the Philippines.
A new species of Anomomorpha (Graphidaceae) from India
Authors: SHARMA Bharati , MAKHIJA U. , KHADILKAR Pradnya
Published: March 2010

Anomomorpha elegans, a new species characterized by lirelline ascocarps, dark reddish brown, pruinose disc, bowl shaped exciple composed of elongate hyphae, hymenium inspersed with crystals, muriform ascospores and salazinic acid in the thallus, is described from India.
Convergent evolution in Cladonia gracilis and allies
Authors: FONTAINE Kyle M. , AHTI Teuvo , PIERCEY-NORMORE Michele D.
Published: March 2010

Members of the Cladonia gracilis group of lichen fungi are common terrestrial lichens where morphological features are more similar between members of the C. gracilis species complex and allied species outside the complex than they are between subspecies within the complex. The objectives of this study were to examine whether the Cladonia gracilis species complex is monophyletic, to determine whether morphological similarity is supported by genetic variation, and to examine the utility of the polyketide synthase (PKS) gene for phylogenetic studies among closely related species. Two loci, the ketosynthase region of the PKS gene and the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear ribosomal DNA, were sequenced and analysed by Maximum Parsimony, Bayesian and haplotype network analyses. Functional differences were also inferred through ITS2 RNA secondary structures and non-synonymous changes in translated PKS amino acid sequences. The monophyly of the C. gracilis complex is supported by 71% bootstrap in the ITS phylogeny, and 92% bootstrap with greater than 95% posterior probability in the PKS phylogeny. Morphological similarity is not always supported by genetic similarity. The PKS gene is less variable than the ITS but the PKS supports species hypotheses that are reflected in the ITS2 RNA model. We conclude that monophyly of the C. gracilis complex can be supported if C. cornuta, C. coniocraea and C. ochrochlora are included in the complex. In addition, C. maxima, C. phyllophora and C. subchordalis are supported as monophyletic species outside the C. gracilis complex. Cladonia maxima may form a separate species and variation among podetial morphology may be explained by convergent evolution.
Life history strategy ofLepraria borealisat an Antarctic inland site, Coal Nunatak
Authors: ENGELEN Andreas , CONVEY Peter , OTT Sieglinde
Published: March 2010

Coal Nunatak is an ice-free inland nunatak located on southern Alexander Island, adjacent to the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Situated close to the Antarctic continent, it is characterized by harsh environmental conditions. Macroscopic colonization is restricted to micro-niches offering suitable conditions for a small number of lichens and mosses. The extreme environmental conditions place particular pressures on colonizers.Lepraria borealisis the dominant crustose lichen species present on Coal Nunatak, and shows distinctive features in its life history strategy, in particular expressing unusually low selectivity of the mycobiont towards potential photobionts. To assess selectivity, we measured algal DNA sequence polymorphism in a region of 480–660 bp of the nuclear internal transcribed spacer region of ribosomal DNA. We identified three different photobiont species, belonging to two different genera. We interpret this strategy as being advantageous in facilitating the colonization and community dominance ofL. borealisunder the isolation and extreme environmental conditions of Coal Nunatak.
Lecanora subviridis (Lecanoraceae, Lecanorales), a new corticolous lichen species from south-western Argentina
Authors: de la ROSA I. Nadia , MESSUTI María Inés , LUMBSCH H. Thorsten
Published: March 2010

The corticolous lichen Lecanora subviridis de la Rosa & Messuti is described from temperate forests in south-western Argentina as new to science. It differs from other species of Lecanora occurring on bark and wood by containing usnic or isousnic acid. The relationships with the other taxa are discussed.
Herpothallon biacidum, a new lichen species from tropical Australia
Authors: FRISCH Andreas , ELIX John A. , THOR Göran
Published: March 2010

Herpothallon biacidum Frisch et al. is described from Queensland, tropical Australia. The new species is characterized by a thick byssoid thallus that is loosely attached to the substratum, globular to claviform to short cylindrical pseudoisidia, a brown to brownish black hypothallus, and by the presence of gyrophoric and norstictic acids. This is the first reported co-occurrence of gyrophoric and norstictic acids in the genus. The differences between H. biacidum and other species containing either norstictic acid or gyrophoric acid are discussed. Herpothallon biacidum is also compared with Cryptothecia eungellaeae. Both occur in north Queensland and have the same chemistry, but the latter has a closely adnate thallus and lacks the dark hypothallus and pseudoisidia. The circumscription of Herpothallon and its distinction from Cryptothecia are discussed.
Halecania santessonii, a new lichenicolous lichen from Russia
Authors: ANDREEV Mikhail
Published: March 2010

A new species,Halecania santessoniigrowing onPorpidia albocaerulescens, is described from the Russian Far East. It is the second lichenicolousHalecaniaspecies known.
Acarospora rosulatain Europe, North America and Asia
Authors: KNUDSEN Kerry , REEB Valérie , WESTBERG Martin , SRIKANTHA Rithu , BHATTACHARYA Debashish
Published: March 2010

Acarospora rosulatais revised and reported from North America and Mongolia.Acarospora bullatais not verified as occurring in South and North America and may be conspecific withA. rugulosa.
Unjust, Cruel and Barbarous Proceedings: Japanese Mercenaries and the Amboyna Incident of 1623
Authors: Clulow Adam
Published: March 2010

In 1623, the Dutch governor of Amboyna, an important clove-producing island in modern-day Indonesia, executed a group of English merchants and Japanese mercenaries accused of plotting to seize control of the VOC castle on the island. After news of these events reached Europe, the Amboyna Massacre, as it came to be called in England, rapidly became invested with great consequences as English and Dutch leaders fought over the issues of blame and compensation. This article examines the Japanese mercenaries accused by the VOC, the silent participants whose cause was not taken up by any national government.
Controlling Water, Controlling People: Irrigation Engineering and State Formation in the Dutch East Indies
Authors: Ravesteijn Wim
Published: March 2010

In 1885, the Dutch East Indian state began a huge ‘civilisation offensive’ in the field of irrigation focussed on Java. It comprised creating modern irrigation works, regulating irrigation management and planning construction activities. This paper shows the successes and failures of this irrigation programme, which was part of the Dutch ‘colonial project’ as a whole. Particular attention is given to the question of why the colonial state made irrigation affairs one of its special missions. What emerges is that Dutch exploitation interests (sugar) were dominant, though the welfare interests of the native population (rice) clearly became more prominent. Another question to be dealt with is the issue of how the Dutch East Indian state realized its plans. As this paper argues, the engineers of the Public Works Department played a key part, but only in competition and cooperation with other relevant groups.
Perceptions of Nature in Early Modern Portuguese India
Authors: Smith Stefan Halikowski
Published: March 2010

Portuguese perceptions of nature in the new worlds they encountered in Southeast Asia from the turn of the sixteenth century were a complex amalgam of inherited frameworks and the forging of a new gaze or vision. Grand claims that the Portuguese discoveries amount to the “construction of space” and the “invention of humanity” have been trumpeted, but are too overblown. From another perspective, Portuguese scholars have recently engaged in a philosophical debate aroundexperiencialismo—the distinction between “scientific experience” and the supposedly pre- or non-scientific “lived” experience of the senses (experiência vivencial), suggesting that the Portuguese Discoveries fall at a critical juncture between these two hermeneutic paradigms. But what did this amount to in concrete terms?

I would prefer to turn to other scholars like the Belgian historian Albert Deman, who has stipulated that the perception of Indian nature in the European imaginary, was locked in three unchanging tropes that even first-hand experience could not easily undo. These tropes were exuberance, superabundance and luxury, and go right back to the first encounters between East and West in antiquity, notably Alexander the Great's adventures of the fourth century B.C., which impressed upon Westerners the East's “superior forms of life” and what Pliny, for example, dutifully acknowledged as “the wonder of the victorious expedition of Alexander the Great, when that part of the world was first revealed.” Why wonder, and what does Deman allude to when he writes of “superior forms of life”? The common impression was that everything grew more forcefully, and in greater profusion in the East. There were, for example, two flowerings a year of some plants; the colours and tastes were stronger; the smells were beguiling. What the Portuguese noted as “thefumos da India” merely drew on biblical reference in the Book of Proverbs to the “spicy breezes of the East”. From these basic conceptions had sprung compilations of all the fabulous stories of the East, texts such as those produced by Ktesias the Knidian and Megasthenes whose ideas were passed down through Pliny into the genre of the marvellous, ormirabilia, fanciful speculations and fables developed along the lines of half-truths reported by returning merchants and travellers, and sometimes fictions spread by Arab middlemen keen to retain their long-standing monopoly of purveyance to Christian consumers.
Creating Norms for Indo-Portuguese Architecture: TheLivro de Acordãos e Assentos da Câmara de Goa, 1592–1597
Authors: Carita Helder
Published: March 2010

Architecture is testimony to the passage of time, to social relations and ways of doing things. Architecture is responsible for the morphology of cities; it constitutes a fundamental element in the city's image and of the urban landscape. In the context of Indo-Portuguese culture, architecture—emerging as the sedimentation of different ways of doing things—appears from a research perspective as a particularly delicate issue because of the shortage of specific documentary information. Given the difficulty of access to documentary support, the study of architecture often falls back on the descriptions and accounts of travellers which are almost inevitably constrained by an interpretive vision that speaks more of the observer's own mindset than of the object itself.
Jesuit Missionaries on theCarreira da Índiain the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: A Selection of Contemporary Sources
Authors: Brockey Liam Matthew
Published: March 2010

“It is extraordinary, and almost like a dream”, wrote a Jesuit priest in Macau in 1589, “that a man can be carried for six whole months in a ship, where the accommodations cannot in any way be sufficient and spacious, and many other difficulties must be endured.” Imagining a conversation with the group of Japanese youths who were sent to Europe as the representatives of the “Kings of Japan”, the author made a blunt assessment of the conditions of the passage to India aboard the carracks that plied theCarreira da Índia:Being trapped on ship for so long was tantamount “to being shut in a prison”. Yet, as he contended, “certainly no one who was offered a house, even a regally appointed one, to live shut inside for six months, could stay detained or locked in for so long; much less on a ship replete with so many different kinds of inconveniences”. Anxious lest his readers misunderstand this verdict on the Cape Route, the Jesuit author qualified his judgment in the fictional reply to this assertion: “Indeed, the inconveniences on ship surpass even those of prison.”
The National Archives (Jakarta) and the Writing of Transnational Histories of Indonesia
Authors: Liu Oiyan , Tagliacozzo Eric
Published: March 2010

The Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia, or National Archives of Indonesia (located in South Jakarta), offers some intriguing possibilities for researchers wishing to write transnational histories of the country over a range of time periods. The voluminous materials stretch back to the seventeenth century, and indeed anyone looking for documents or data on the development of the country should really pass through here, though scholars often spend much of their research time in the Netherlands if they have to make a choice. This can be a mistake in some cases: there are real, often undiscovered riches in the Arsip Nasional that make a sustained trip worth the effort. The present article looks at one aspect of these riches—materials usable for writing transnational histories of Indonesia—as a window into this archive. We have divided our discussion into two parts. The first examines some of the sources that can be used for writing transnational Islamic histories of the archipelago, and the second examines documents and collections that can be used for writing about the Chinese diaspora to Indonesia and connections generally between China and the islands. These are only two of the possible approaches to take, but they are two of the main ones. We hope that once informed about these sources, other scholars will make better use of these considerable riches, which shed important light on Indonesian history as a whole.
A Hazardous Item: The International Tobacco Trade of the Red Sea Port of al-Mukhâ, Reflected in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Records
Authors: Brouwer C.G.
Published: March 2010

When, early in August 1538, the lifeless bodies of the Sultan 'Âmir ibn Dâwûd and six of his confidants, by order of Sulaymân Bâshâ al-Khâdim, swung from the mainyard of the Turkish Admiral's galley for three days, not only the fate of the Tâhirid dynasty hung by a thread, but also that of the city of Aden. Afterwards, the Ottoman conquerors transformed this prospering port, a junction in the commercial network encompassing the Indian Ocean, into a military bastion. Merchants were driven away by soldiers. The entry to the Red Sea was cordoned off by guns for Portuguese intruders.