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Biomedical subjects

J M Broughall

Publications and source records attributed to J M Broughall.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1984

An automatic monitoring system for measuring handwashing frequency in hospital wards.

A handwash monitoring system is described which enables accurate measurements to be taken of the frequency of handwashing by nursing and medical staff during the course of their duties. Preliminary studies have demonstrated it can record handwashing frequency with 93 per cent accuracy and, during preliminary ward trials, the measured handwashing frequency was 5-10 washes per nurse per shift. This was far less than the nurses' claimed handwashing frequency.

Cross Infection↗
PubMed1983

Hazard analysis applied to microbial growth in foods: development of mathematical models describing the effect of water activity.

Mathematical models have been developed which describe the effect of lowering the water activity on the growth kinetics of Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhimurium. By treating the lag phase and exponential phase kinetics separately predictions can be made on the extent of microbial growth over successive time/temperature cycles. Staph. aureus was far more tolerant than Salm. typhimurium to lowered water activity and under near growth limiting conditions of water activity and temperature was showing lag periods as long as ca 40 d. The maximum lag period observed for Salm. typhimurium was ca 5 d. Under these conditions the predicted generation times for Staph. aureus were 2-3 d and for Salm. typhimurium.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Comparison of sensititre dried microtitration trays with a standard agar method for determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations of antimicrobial agents.

A total of 222 clinical isolates were used to test the accuracy of Sensititre dried microtitration trays for determining minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of antimicrobial agents. In comparison with an agar dilution technique, 89.5% of all the pairs of results were within one doubling dilution. The 2,420 pairs of MIC results with finite values gave a corresponding figure of 86.8%. Exclusion of sulfisoxazole results, which demonstrated a significant interlaboratory variation in accuracy, raised this value to 89.1%. Very good differentiation of beta-lactamase-producing strains of Staphylococcus aureus (24 of 24 giving an MIC greater than or equal to 0.25 micrograms/ml) and Haemophilus influenzae (3 of 3 giving an MIC greater than or equal to 32 micrograms/ml) was obtained with the Sensititre system. This method also clearly distinguished erythromycin-resistant S. aureus strains (7 of 7 giving an MIC greater than 32 micrograms/ml) from the susceptible strains (26 of 28 giving an MIC less than or equal to 0.5 microgram/ml plus 1 strain at 1.0 microgram/ml and 1 at 2.0 micrograms/ml). Sensititre offers an accurate and convenient method of determining MICs comparable to those obtained with the agar dilution procedure, with the advantage of an extended shelf life when stored at room temperature.

Aminoglycosides↗
PubMed1979

Bactericidal or bacteristatic effects of two sulphonamide plus trimethoprim preparations in human urine.

Rrine collections were made by ten volunteers taking cotrimoxazole and a sulphamoxole/trimethoprim combination on a cross-over basis. The latter was given in approximately half the dose of cotrimoxazole. Following collection of urine and its sterile filtration, the trimethoprim and sulphonamide concentrations were estimated. The urines were then inoculated with various species of Enterobacteriaceae whose minimum inhibitory concentrations had been previously determined. The viable counts in these urines were followed for 24 hours and from these the times to kill 90% of bacteria were calculated. These were very reproducible for any one experiment but showed no correlation with drug concentration, source of the urine or organism sensitivity, except for one organism which had high resistance to both sulphonamide and trimethoprim. When the organism was sensitive to at least trimethoprim a slow bactericidal effect was generally seen with either combination. We concluded that in this type of experiment the higher dosed combination showed no advantage contrary to a previous report, but in agreement with another. This brings into question the current dosage regime of cotrimoxazole when used to treat urinary tract infections in that its higher dosage over certain other sulphonamide/trimethoprim combinations appears to confer no advantage in our experiments.

Bacteriuria↗
PubMed1977

Gentamicin assay.

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Gentamicins↗
PubMed1976

Epidemic infection by a gentamicin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in three hospitals.

A Staphylococcus aureus strain, resistant to aminoglycosides, including gentamicin and tobramycin, and to penicillin, lincomycin, and other antibiotics, caused an outbreak of hospital infection in a surgical ward which spread to the intensive-therapy unit and to two other hospitals. 21 patients were colonised and 9 of these had overt clinical infection. Administration of antibiotics to which the staphylococcus was resistant was associated with colonisation. The use of gentamicin, tobramycin, and lincomycin in these hospitals has increased as has the occurrence of bacterial resistance to these agents. An antibiotic policy to control their use is essential to preserve their value in life-threatening infections by bacteria resistant to other agents.

Acetyltransferases↗
PubMed1976

Interactions between aminoglycoside antibiotics and carbenicillin or ticarillin.

Carbenicillin or ticarcillin were incubated individually with each of the following antibiotics: gentamicin, tobramycin, sisomicin, amikacin. The residual activity of each aminoglycoside in this mixture was assayed enzymatically. Amikacin was inactivated the least of the aminoglycosides. Both penicillins inactivated each aminoglycoside to a similar extent by a degree which varied according to the medium of incubaiton, the least inactivation being seen in pooled human serum and the most in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4.

Amikacin↗
PubMed1975

The acetyltransferase enzyme method for the assay of serum gentamicon concentrations and a comparison with other methods.

The adenylytransferase/acetyltransferase methods of gentamicin assay have been evaluated for accuracy, speed, and cost. For a comparable cost of materials the latter method is more accurate than that using the adenylytransferase enzyme. The acetyltransferase method is much quicker than the adenyltransferase due to the shorter time necessary for radioactive counting. Sonication is an easier method of enzyme preparation than the previously used osmotic shock technique. The acetyltransferase method is reproducible and there was a very good correlation between it and a microbiological agar-plate diffusion method.

Acetyltransferases↗