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Biomedical subjects

W C Noble

Publications and source records attributed to W C Noble.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Ecological effects of antibiotic production by dermatophyte fungi.

Antibiotic production by dermatophyte fungi has been demonstrated in vivo in the lesions of patients with dermatomycoses. Patients infected with antibiotic-producing strains more frequently carried cocci resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics than did patients infected with non-producer strains. The total bacterial load was less in lesions caused by producer fungi. In vitro studies demonstrated the selection of penicillin-resistant S. aureus from mixed populations of resistant and sensitive cells.

Anti-Bacterial Agents

Scalp carriage of Pityrosporum species: the effect of physiological maturity, sex and race.

The change in carriage rates of Pilyrosporum sp. over the years before and after puberty were studied in Caucasoid and Negroid children using a semiquantitative cultural technique. Caucasoids yielded yeasts more often than did negroids; older or sexually mature children yielded yeasts more often than did prepubertal children. There appeared to be a decrease in numbers of yeasts isolated a few years after the pubertal peak.

Adolescent

Acquisition of antibiotic resistance by Staphylococcus aureus in skin patients.

Acquisition of resistance to neomycin, gentamicin, fusidic acid, or clindamycin has been observed in three strains of Staphylococcus aureus and data from three patients infected with these strains are presented in detail. Clindamycin resistance followed the expected pattern by appearing in a strain of Staph. aureus with dissociated resistance to erythromycin after treatment with erythromycin and clindamycin. Low-level resistance to fusidic acid appeared in two strains in the apparent absence of exposure to that antibiotic. Labile neomycin resistance was encountered in a previously sensitive strain after topical neomycin therapy. Gentamicin resistance appeared in all three strains after topical therapy. In all three strains, a labile resistance (presumably plasmid-mediated) occurred with minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 64-128 microgram/ml but in one strain a stable resistance with MIC over 3000 microgram/ml appeared.

Anti-Bacterial Agents

Variation in the prevalence of antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus aureus from human skin and nares.

Patients whose skins are colonized with Staphylococcus aureus resistant to penicillin and/or tetracycline may carry variants that are sensitive to these antibiotics. The skin of most individuals yields the fully resistant type as the predominant flora and the nose harbours the sensitive version. This probably represents plasmid loss in vivo. The plasmid-positive cells were not more resistant to desiccation or more deeply pigmented than plasmid-negative cells. The explanation for such distributions is unknown.

Anthralin

The bacteriology of skin cysts.

Thirty-nine clinically uninflamed cysts of the three most common varieties, epidermoid cysts, trichilemmal cysts and steatocystoma multiplex were removed under sterile conditions and the contents cultured under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Seventy-three percent of epidermoid cysts grew significant numbers of organisms whereas none of the trichilemmal cysts did so. The organisms found were the common skin commensals, Staphylococcus epidermidis biotype I, anaerobic Gram positive cocci of the Gaffya type and Corynebacterium acnes Type I. This indicates that cysts which clinically have a punctum, namely epidermoid cysts, may become colonized with surface bacteria under normal circumstances. If they become colonized with pathogenic bacteria they become inflamed, a not uncommon clinical picture. The results from patients with steatocystoma multiplex were difficult to interpret because of the small numbers of patients involved and the unusual clinical appearance they presented.

Adult

Quantitative studies on the dispersal of skin bacteria into the air.

Dispersal of skin micro-organisms into the air during undressing was studied in 72 members of surgical and nursing staff. Few pathogens were found to be dispersed. Males dispersed more normal skin organisms than did females. Males were also more heavily colonised than females, and sex differences in dispersal diminished when allowance was made for the denser colonisation of males. Dispersal was correlated most strongly with the counts on the thighs and abdomen in males but on the shins in females.

Air Microbiology

Endemic infection in surgical wards.

Endemic infection in male surgical wards has been studied during three periods. There was some infection due to gram-negative bacilli, though Staphylococcus aureus remained as the single most important pathogen even in the absence of epidemic spread. Beta haemolytic streptococci were isolated in large numbers from the lesions of four patients with deep wound infection. Changes introduced in the pattern of post-operative care reduced sepsis due to Staph. aureus, reduced the severity of wound infection and apparently decreased the need for antibiotic therapy. Patients who became infected were retained in hospital longer than those who escaped clinically apparent infection.

Anti-Bacterial Agents