Comparative detection and recovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by membrane filtration and a Most Probable Number technique.

Two reference membrane filtration methods (Standard Methods: SM 9213E and U.S.EPA), the Most Probable Number method (Pseudalert®) and a membrane filtration method currently used by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) Laboratory Services Branch Etobicoke, Canada (Method E3371) were compared for the detection and recovery of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in sterile phosphate buffered dilution water (PBDW), un-spiked and spiked environmental water samples. The confirmation of presumptive-positive P. aeruginosa colonies was performed by API®20NE and on Milk Agar. Detection and recoveries were compared by determining the sensitivity and specificity of the methods and the performance of the methods was evaluated for statistical differences using ANOVA. The recovery of P. aeruginosa from PBDW spiked at a level of 100CFU/100mL was significantly higher (p<0.05) with Pseudalert® compared to the other methods. However, there were no significant differences (p>0.5) between all four methods when spiked at 5 and 40CFU/100mL. In the analysis of 61 environmental surface water samples, the MPN method (Pseudalert®) demonstrated the highest sensitivity (100%) while the Standard Method-SM9213E had the lowest sensitivity (3%). The U.S.EPA method and SM9213E demonstrated the highest specificity (100%) while Pseudalert® had the lowest (71.0%). Pseudalert® was able to detect P. aeruginosa in samples with higher amount of suspended solids as compared to other MF methods. Analysis of 24 environmental surface water samples (previously found to be negative for P. aeruginosa), which were spiked with P. aeruginosa at 5CFU/100mL, showed different sensitivities in recovery including Pseudalert® (100%), MOECC E3371 (92%), U.S.EPA (33%) and SM 9213E (33%). The highest mean recovery was observed with Pseudalert® (5.3 MPN/100mL) and the least with the U.S.EPA method (0.4CFU/100mL). Pseudalert® demonstrated improved performance in the detection and recovery of P. aeruginosa over SM9213E, U.S.EPA and MOECC E3371 in terms of sensitivity. However, Pseudalert® reported the highest amount of false positive results compared to the other three MF methods. The addition of a confirmation step with Milk Agar eliminated the false positive results. Therefore, this confirmatory step is recommended in order to increase the specificity of the Pseudalert® method.

Detection and enumeration of E. coli O157:H7 in water samples by culture and molecular methods.

The performances of three chromogenic agars were evaluated for the recovery of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from spiked dechlorinated tap, ground and surface water, and treated drinking water samples. The chromogenic agars: ChromAgar O157 (CHROM), Rainbow Agar O157 (RB) and HiCrome EC O157 (HC) were compared to cefixime-tellurite Sorbitol MacConkey (CT-SMAC), commonly used for the isolation of E. coli O157:H7. Confirmation of suspect E. coli O157:H7 colonies were performed by colony real-time PCR (C-RTi-PCR) based on the presence of Shiga-toxin genes (stx1 and stx2). Recovery of inoculated E. coli O157:H7 from dechlorinated tap water indicated that RB and CHROM agars demonstrated improved recovery when compared to HC or CT-SMAC. There was a significant drop in recovery on all agars tested after 120h (day 5). Twenty dechlorinated tap and/or treated drinking water samples were inoculated with a pure culture of E. coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43894), and a mixed culture of E. coli O157:H7 (ATCC 43894), E. coli strain K-12, and Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 063589). After a 48-hour holding time, the recovery using CHROM (99%) and HC (12%) from samples contaminated with the pure culture were found to be significantly different (p<0.05). Recovery results using CHROM (39%) and CT-SMAC (32%) from samples contaminated with the mixed culture after a 48-hour holding time were not significantly different (p>0.05). Analysis by C-RTi-PCR of forty five environmental water samples (surface, sewage, and final effluents) which were negative for E. coli O157:H7 showed an incidence of false suspect positive colonies of 38% (CHROM), 53% (RB), 58% (HC), and 91% (CT-SMAC). Further analysis of eight of the environmental samples inoculated with E. coli (ATCC 43894) showed 100% recovery when utilizing CHROM, 50% when using RB and 40% when using HC. In addition, the C-RTi-PCR positive confirmation rate was 100% for CHROM and HC and 65% for RB. CHROM demonstrated improved recovery of E. coli O157:H7 over RB, HC, and CT-SMAC in terms of sensitivity and specificity.

Spatio-temporal patterns in a mechanical model for mesenchymal morphogenesis.

We present an in-depth study of spatio-temporal patterns in a simplified version of a mechanical model for pattern formation in mesenchymal morphogenesis. We briefly motivate the derivation of the model and show how to choose realistic boundary conditions to make the system well-posed. We firstly consider one-dimensional patterns and carry out a nonlinear perturbation analysis for the case where the uniform steady state is linearly unstable to a single mode. In two-dimensions, we show that if the displacement field in the model is represented as a sum of orthogonal parts, then the model can be decomposed into two sub-models, only one of which is capable of generating pattern. We thus focus on this particular sub-model. We present a nonlinear analysis of spatio-temporal patterns exhibited by the sub-model on a square domain and discuss mode interaction. Our analysis show that when a two-dimensional mode number admits two or more degenerate mode pairs, the solution of the full nonlinear system of partial differential equations is a mixed mode solution in which all the degenerate mode pairs are represented in a frequency locked oscillation.