PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M Enright

Publications and source records attributed to M Enright.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Characteristics of a new epidemic MRSA in Germany ancestral to United Kingdom EMRSA 15.

In 1996 a new epidemic MRSA emerged in three hospitals North of Berlin. This strain, Barnim epidemic MRSA, was isolated in 15 hospitals in Northern Germany in 1997 and 29 hospitals throughout Germany in 1998. Isolates of this clone are non-typeable by phages, its resistance phenotype is PEN, OXA, ERY, CLI, CIP (genotype: mecA, ermC, mutations in grlA and gyrA). The Sma I macrorestriction pattern corresponds to particular phage group II strains which is confirmed by the 16S-23S rRNA gene spacer pattern. Isolates of this clone differ by less than three Sma I macrorestriction fragments from isolates of the EMRSA15 clone from the United Kingdom, the most common epidemic MRSA isolates in the United Kingdom in recent years. Both epidemic strains produce enterotoxin C and possess the sec determinant for this toxin, the configuration of the mec regulon is mecI-, mecRB+, mecRC+. Both share the same Alu I pattern of PCR amplimers of the 3' end region of the coagulase gene. EMRSA 15 and Barnim EMRSA share a common multilocus sequence type indicating a recent, shared evolutionary origin.

Bacterial Typing Techniques↗
PubMed2000

New C=C bond formation via nonstoichiometric titanium(IV) halide mediated vicinal difunctionalization of alpha,beta-unsaturated acyclic ketones

[reaction: see text] Highly stereoselective vicinal difuctionalization of alpha,beta-unsaturated ketones for the synthesis of multifunctionalized trisubstituted alkenes is described. The new reaction employs titanium(IV) halides (0.5 equiv) as promoters and inexpensive commercial chemicals as starting materials. The reaction can be performed at room temperature in a convenient vial without the protection of inert gases. Good to excellent yields and high Z/E stereoselectivity have been realized in most cases presented (16 examples).

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Molecular evolution of rifampicin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Rifampicin resistance has arisen in several different species of bacteria because of alterations to one or more regions in the target of the antibiotic, the beta-subunit of RNA polymerase encoded by rpoB. Nucleotide sequence analysis of a 270 bp fragment of rpoB from 16 clinical rifampicin-susceptible isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, 8 clinical rifampicin-resistant isolates, and 3 spontaneous rifampicin-resistant mutants, has revealed that, as with previously examined species, point mutations within the cluster I region of rpoB, at sites encoding Asp516 and HiS526, also confer resistance to rifampicin in this important human pathogen. Moreover, the residues within cluster I, that were altered within the rifampicin-resistant mutants of S. pneumoniae, were in the same position as those previously found to alter in resistant isolates of Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sequence analysis of rpoB, both from these isolates of S. pneumoniae and from two strains of S. mitis, reveals that, among a number of clinical isolates, resistance to rifampicin in S. pneumoniae has arisen by point mutation. However, the nucleotide sequence of rpoB from one isolate examined suggests that interspecies gene transfer may also have played a role in the evolution of rifampicin-resistance in S. pneumoniae.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Citrobacter diversus brain abscess: case reports and molecular epidemiology.

Citrobacter diversus brain abscess occurred in two infants in Aberdeen, 5 months apart. These are the first reported cases of this condition in the UK since 1976. Restriction endonuclease analysis with SacI enzyme showed blood and CSF isolates from both patients to be identical and different from 10 other clinical isolates of C. diversus and one C. amalonaticus strain. Furthermore, isolates of C. diversus from patients belonged to biotype "d" whereas control isolates were of biotypes "a" or "e". Because both infants attended the same central and peripheral maternity units, this raised suspicions of long term contamination of the hospital environment by this organism. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) patterns of whole-cell proteins and immunoblotting with normal human serum were remarkably homogeneous for all 13 C. diversus strains and thus were not useful for typing. However, the only C. amalonaticus strain was clearly differentiated from C. diversus strains by SDS-PAGE. Management of the infants included multiple intravenous antibiotic therapy for 4-6 weeks and repeated computerised tomography (CT) scanning and drainage of the abscess cavity. Both children survived albeit with some minor degree of brain damage.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1980

Reactivation of infant memory.

Three-month-old infants learned to activate a crib mobile by means of operant footkicks. Retention of the conditioned response was assessed during a cued recall test with the nonmoving mobile. Although forgetting is typically complete after an 8-day retention interval, infants who received a reactivation treatment--a brief exposure to the reinforcer 24 hours before retention testing--showed no forgetting after retention intervals of either 2 or 4 weeks. Further, the forgetting function after a reactivation treatment did not differ from the original forgetting function. These experiments demonstrate that (i) "reactivation" or "reinstatement" is an effective mechanism by which early experiences can continue to influence behavior over lengthy intervals and (ii) memory deficits in young infants are best viewed as retrieval deficits.

Behavior↗