27 Isolating and Differentiating Clostridium Difficile
Clostridium difficile remains an extremely important cause of healthcare associated infection (HAI) and its isolation and identification are critical in monitoring and responding to cases of infection. For this purpose, Lab M’s range of culture media for anaerobic organisms includes Brazier CCEY Agar.
Brazier CCEY Agar is the formulation used by the Anaerobe Reference Laboratory for the isolation of C. difficile. Based on the market leading anaerobe medium Fastidious Anaerobe Agar, it incorporates additional ingredients to improve the isolation and differentiation of C. difficile from clinical specimens.
Present in the gut of a small percent of healthy adults and a larger proportion of children,C. difficile is usually kept in check by the normal bacterial population. However, disturbance of the gut flora, through the use of certain antibiotics for example, can result in rapid multiplication and toxin production by C. difficile, leading to illness.
When transmitted to vulnerable patients it produces symptoms of varying severity from diarrhoea to severe inflammation of the bowel, which can be life-threatening. Lab M supplies dehydrated culture media and supplements from its ISO accredited facility in Bury, Greater Manchester at 24 hours notice when required.
Circle no. 84
Automated Solutions Accelerate Crop Improvement
Scientists at the Institute of Plant Breeding at the University of Kiel, Germany, are using a Tecan Freedom EVO® high throughput DNA purification and normalisation, for the development of TILLING®
liquid handling work station to perform
seed and sugar beet. Tecan has worked closely with Macherey-Nagel to develop an automated protocol for the NucleoSpin® kits, helping the Institute achieve high throughput extraction.
(Targeting Induced Local Lesions in Genomes) pro grams for rape 96 Plant DNA extraction
“We chose Tecan’s workstation because we needed an automated, high throughput system to extract and normalise DNA for PCR amplification,” explained Professor Christian Jung, Director of the Institute of Plant Breeding. Using the Freedom EVO platform, in combination with the Macherey-Nagel extraction kits, we can obtain highly purified DNA, able to withstand long-term storage. This is a huge help for our projects, eliminating the need to normalise thousands of DNA samples by hand, and improving the quality of the extracted DNA compared with manual techniques. Although we have huge numbers of DNA extractions to perform, the Freedom EVO has the capacity to cope with these sample numbers.”
Circle no. 85
ADVERTORIAL Solarus® - The Only Solar-Powered Digital Burette in the World
The first and only solar-powered digital burette worldwide. A clean solution in every respect. The electronics and display are power-ed exclusively by the integrated solar cell. Battery charging and replacement, high stand-by costs or tedious and expensive replacement of lithium cells by manufacturers are no longer necessary with Solarus®
. Solarus also sets new standards in
manual titration when it comes to speedier operation with enhanced precision. The clear digital display is easily legible, completely preventing meniscus reading errors.
The standard medium recirculation system facilitates aeration, prevents loss of expensive medium and protects the environment. Valves are easily replaceable, and the simple “QuickCal” customer calibration and manufacturer’s calibration parameters permanently stored in the unit enable adaptation to suit individual requirements. Moreover, the serial, bi-directional interface enables recording of
realised titrations, further processing of titration data and definition of specific customer factors, thus opening up a whole new range of options in laboratory routines. The Solarus®
concept has not only convinced many
customers, but also the “iF Design Award” and “Red Dot Award” juries. These honours are recognised internationally as the premier awards for product design. solarus is also the first titration device to be awarded the “Blue Angel” environmental seal of approval.
Circle no. 86 Ceramus® and Ceramus® -Classic
The bottle top dispenser with ceramic piston. The calibration is, by means of the combination of a micro-step volume adjustment and the step gauge, valid for the device's lifetime; a recalibration is not necessary. All valves and tubes can be disassembled within a few seconds by the user himself and therefore provide the possibility to clean the device easily. The new reagent recirculation system (only ceramus®
) makes priming e.g. when starting on a fresh bottle or after stopping the operation for quite a long time, simple. Almost without loss of reagent and easy on the environment.
Circle no. 87 Glass Capillaries
Hirschmann capillaries are modern and precise pipettes and laboratory equipment in micro litre volumes. These capillaries are mainly made of DURAN glass and convince with their extraordinary chemical and physical characteristics. The accuracy of our production reflects the precision of the volumetric measurement. Volumes down to 0.5 µl or inaccuracies of 0.5 % are no exemptions but rather standard. Well-known brand names like minicaps®
or ringcaps® proof the quality of Hirschmann. Many
OEM products show the flexibility and competence of Hirschmann for individual solutions for your tasks.
Circle no. 88 Circle no. 89
INTERNATIONAL LABMATE - AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2010 - LABORATORY PRODUCTS
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