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LABORATORY PRODUCTS
Newly Improved Chromogenic Medium for Rapid and Reliable MRSA Screening in Just 18 Hours
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the launch of Brilliance™ MRSA 2 Agar. This newly improved chromogenic medium saves valuable time for infection control teams by allowing rapid and reliable screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). With accurate, easy-to-read results in just 18 hours, Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar enables prompt initiation of appropriate infection control measures to help minimise opportunities for further transmission of MRSA. The enhanced formulation of Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar ensures even easier interpretation of results. New inhibitory components in the medium further reduce the growth of non-target organisms, while a novel pink counter stain ensures that any organisms that do grow are easily distinguished from the distinctive blue MRSA colonies. As a result, Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar is now our most sensitive and selective MRSA formulation, minimising false- positive results, even in low MRSA prevalence settings. This saves time and resources by reducing the need to re-incubate plates and minimising confirmatory testing.
“When screening large numbers of patients, it is really important to be able to detect MRSA quickly and easily,” said James Beaves, Clinical Product Manager, Microbiology Products, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The refined formulation of Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar is more accurate than ever before. The distinctive blue MRSA colonies are quickly identified and easily differentiated from other organisms that might grow. This allows microbiologists to identify positive patient samples quickly and with confidence so that appropriate action can be taken without delay.” Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar is convenient and extremely easy to use. It is suitable for inoculation direct from screening swabs, or it can be used to plate out an isolate or suspension. Results are available in just 18 hours, following incubation at 37°C. In trials, Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar demonstrated improved performance compared to the previous Brilliance MRSA formulation and alternative commercially available chromogenic MRSA media1,2. In a low prevalence setting, it detected more MRSA positive samples than any other medium without a single false positive result, achieving a positive predictive value of 100 percent and a negative predictive value of 99.7%.
Brilliance MRSA 2 Agar is available now in the UK and Germany and will be launched more widely in March 2011. Circle no. 387
Nanoscale Characterisation of Optical Systems and Devices
JPK Instruments reports on the work from the Light Technology Institute at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany where the JPK NanoWizard®
family of AFMs provide the backbone for topographic and optical research activities.
Dr Hans Eisler heads the DFG Heisenberg Nanoscale Science Group in Karlsruhe. It currently focuses on the development, engineering and application of quantum world based proof-of-principle devices such as single photon sources with directional emission properties at room temperature, novel energy harvesting devices comprised of resonant optical antennas, or optical antenna mediated near-field probes for microscopy and spectroscopy. The group utilises so-called top-down nanotechnology approaches such as e-beam lithography to create functional nanodevices. Since Hans Eisler is a chemist by professional training, the DFG Heisenberg Group also uses nanochemistry to meet the requirements for bottom-up nanotechnology in the field of colloidal quantum dot research. In order to study such complex and experimentally demanding devices there is a need to correlate, whenever possible, optical information with topography information. Thus, the optical workhorse is an (inverted) epi-fluore scence microscope combined with an atomic force microscope (AFM). The optical methods include wide- field fluorescence, tip-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (TERS), darkfield microscopy and confocal microscopy under one- photon and multi-photon excitation. The AFM triggers the topography experiments and more recently has helped to create plasmonic architectures such as resonant optical antennas via nanomanipulation schemes.
Speaking about his research goals, Eisler said: "We want to learn about the nanoscale science of matter interacting with light and vice versa to generate new ideas for future technologies based on quantum world language and principles. This includes the whole range of nanoscale fabrication and characterisation."
Continuing, Eisler has positive words of praise for the JPK range of products: "Our JPK package not only includes a very nicely engineered AFM workhorse, but also has the benefit of an open software interface and an easily accessible hardware interface to combine AFM technology with other methods such as time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). Even more importantly for us than just the naked machinery is the outstanding application and service delivered to us in a very short time frame. As we are doing research in a very competitive field, we can thus completely focus on our science and an absolutely reliable workhorse.”
Circle no. 388
A New Era in Ultra-High-Capacity Washing
Lancer introduces the new 1600 LXP. By using innovative techniques, such as a new piping system and a large flexibility in the configuration of loading alternatives for different types of glassware, the new 1600 LXP is well suited to fit the market needs for high-productive labs at the same time combining energy efficiency.
“Thanks to a constant reduction in energy and water consumption levels of our washers, we have achieved one of the lowest water consumptions rates in the industry. We then do help labs to reduce their environmental impact without any compromise of washing efficiency. This is surely one of our main achievement at Lancer,” said Emmanuel Esther, Export and Marketing Manager at Getinge Lancer in Toulouse. A durable and effective design ensures a long lifetime and trouble free ownership.
With four wash levels and a chamber height of 855mm, Lancer 1600 LXP can handle many different types of loads. A wide range of accessories are available and thanks to adjustable height and interchangeable accessories, loading and handling is easy and user-friendly.
Circle no. 390
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Circle no. 389
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