Elastically driven ferromagnetic resonance in nickel thin films.

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) in the GHz frequency range are exploited for the all-elastic excitation and detection of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in a ferromagnetic-ferroelectric (Ni/LiNbO(3)) hybrid device. We measure the SAW magnetotransmission at room temperature as a function of frequency, external magnetic field magnitude, and orientation. Our data are well described by a modified Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert approach, in which a virtual, strain-induced tickle field drives the magnetization precession. This causes a distinct magnetic field orientation dependence of elastically driven FMR that we observe in both model and experiment.

Risk factor analysis for pneumococcal meningitis in adults with invasive pneumococcal infection.

Pneumococcal meningitis is a subgroup of invasive pneumococcal disease with a case-fatality rate of up to 30% and long-term sequelae in more than 50% of cases in adults in developed countries. We aimed to determine risk factors for this particular form of pneumococcal disease. We conducted a prospective population-based laboratory study of invasive pneumococcal disease in adults in North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from February 2001 to August 2006. All isolates underwent serotyping and susceptibility testing at the National Reference Centre for Streptococci in Aachen, Germany. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression. A total of 1043 isolates from bacteraemia and 131 isolates from meningitis were included into the study. Serotype 23F and being female were independent risk factors for pneumococcal meningitis. Being 60 years and serotype 1 were associated with a reduced odds ratio. Season, penicillin and macrolide resistance were not statistically associated with CNS involvement.

Invasive pneumococcal disease in adults in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany, 2001-2003.

A population-based survey of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) was conducted among adults in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany. The study included 202 of the 386 hospitals in the region, together with the 27 microbiological laboratories that submitted reports of IPD in these hospitals to the National Reference Centre for Streptococci. The reports of 16 laboratories were comprehensively reviewed. Most (95.8%) IPD isolates were susceptible to penicillin G, but 14.5% were resistant to clarithromycin. Serotypes 14 (15.6%), 3 (9.3%), 4 (7.1%) and 7F (7.9%) were the most common. The serotype coverage of the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine was 80.8%. During 2001-2003, the annual incidence of IPD, after correcting for laboratory and hospital under-reporting, was 16.2/100 000 in individuals aged >or= 65 years. In three university hospitals, blood cultures were obtained for only 37% of patients with community-acquired pneumonia, and fewer than one-third of such cultures were obtained in one hospital before antibiotics were prescribed, suggesting that the true incidence of IPD was closer to 50/100 000.

Distribution of emm types among group A streptococcal isolates from Serbia.

This is the first study concerning the molecular epidemiology of group A streptococcus in Serbia and includes 145 isolates from patients with various infections during the period 2001-2007. The emm types, superantigen profile and susceptibility pattern were determined. Among 31 emm types identified, the most prevalent were emm 6, emm 12, emm 1, and emm 58. All isolates showed uniform antimicrobial susceptibility to all tested antibiotics, with the exception of tetracycline and erythromycin (41% and 0.7% resistant strains, respectively). Significant heterogeneity of emm types was found, with a high frequency of emm 6 and emm 58, as well as a considerable prevalence of tetracycline resistance, and a low level of macrolide resistance.

Globicatella sanguinis is an etiological agent of ventriculoperitoneal shunt-associated meningitis.

Globicatella sanguinis is a very rare isolate in clinical samples. We present a case of meningitis in a 69-year-old female patient after implantation of an external left ventricular drainage due to a hydrocephalus. She recovered after antibiotic treatment with ceftriaxone.

Comparative immunoglobulin G antibody profiles between mother and child (CGMC test) for early diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis.

Early diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis is rendered difficult when specific immunoglobulin M (IgM) and/or IgA antibodies are absent in the blood of the newborn infant. Since maternal IgG antibodies can cross the placenta, determination of IgG antibodies in newborn infants has hitherto not been used routinely for the diagnosis of congenital infection. The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic usefulness of an immunoblot assay which compares the early IgG profiles between the mother and her child (comparative IgG profile between mother and child; CGMC test) directed against a total cell lysate of Toxoplasma gondii tachyzoites. Serum samples from 97 newborn infants at risk of toxoplasma infection were obtained from umbilical cord blood at birth or postnatally until 3 months of life and were directly compared with serum samples from the respective mothers. Congenital toxoplasmosis was diagnosed only when IgG-reactive protein bands that were present in any newborn serum samples were absent in the corresponding maternal serum sample. Congenital infection was defined by conventional serological assays when IgM and/or IgA antibodies were present in newborn infant blood or when IgG titers rose within the first 12 months or were persistently stable for more than 8 months. Using these criteria, congenital infection was definitely confirmed in 11 cases. Three additional cases were diagnosed based on indicative data. The CGMC test, which was performed without knowledge of the results of conventional serologal assays, had sensitivity and specificity of 82.4 and 93.0%, respectively, and positive and negative predictive values of 73.7 and 95.7%, respectively. When true positives and true negatives were considered, the comparative IgG profile had a ratio of 90.9% true results. The CGMC test thus is useful as an additional assay for the rapid diagnosis of congenital toxoplasmosis when paired serum samples from mother and child are available.