A new multiplex PCR for easy screening of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus SCCmec types I-V.

A multiplex PCR with four primer-pairs was designed to identify the five main known SCCmec types. A clear and easily discriminated band pattern was obtained for all five types. The SCCmec type was identified for 98% of 312 clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). SCCmec type IV was by far the most common SCCmec type among both hospital- and community-acquired MRSA isolates in Denmark.

Ano-rectal motility responses to pelvic, hypogastric and pudendal nerve stimulation in the Göttingen minipig.

UNLABELLED: We investigated the effect of efferent stimulation of the pelvic (PN), hypogastric (HGN) and pudendal (PuN) nerves on ano-rectal motility in Göttingen minipigs using an impedance planimetry probe. Changes in the rectal cross-sectional area (CSA) at five axial positions and pressures in the rectum and anal canal were investigated simultaneously. Pelvic nerve stimulation elicited a CSA decrease in the proximal part of the rectum and a simultaneous CSA increase in its distal part. Anal pressure also decreased. Hypogastric nerve and PuN stimulation elicited an increase in anal pressure, but no rectal response. Severing the HGN produced a persistent reduction in resting anal pressure, but no change was observed when the PN and the PuN were severed. Stimulation of the distal part of all three nerves produced a persistent response. Administration of phentolamine and pancouronium eliminated the response to stimulation of the HGN and the PuN, respectively. CONCLUSION: Rectal responses to PN stimulation vary more than previously suggested. The HGN has an excitatory effect on the internal anal sphincter, and the PuN on the external anal sphincter. However, the PuN plays no major role in maintaining basal anal pressure.

New probe for the measurement of dynamic changes in the rectum.

Conventional mano-volumetric techniques cannot measure changes in circumferential dimensions at several axial positions within a bowel segment. Our aims were to validate a new impedance planimetry probe for simultaneously measuring the cross-sectional area (CSA) at five axial positions in vitro and in vivo in 10 anesthetized pigs. The day-to-day coefficient of variation (CV) for CSA measured by the probe in cylindrical tubes of known diameter was 0.8-9.5%. The mean from actual diameter deviation ranged from 2.3 to 6.7%. In a conical tube the day-to-day CV was 2.3-8% and mean percentage deviation -2.8 to 1.0. Interposed narrowing sections caused a total CV of 7-13%. In vivo studies revealed variations in CSA, associated with expulsion of flatus. It is concluded that impedance planimetry allows simultaneous measurement of CSA at several levels within the rectum. In vitro validity was acceptable and alterations in lumen diameter were identified in vivo.

Bladder and urethral responses to pelvic nerve stimulation in the pig.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study of the pig was to investigate the responses of smooth muscle of the bladder and the urethral sphincter to preganglionic parasympathetic stimulation, and to assess the effect on the lower urinary tract of IV administration of alpha,beta-methylene-ATP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In seven anaesthetised female pigs, the responses to repeated 20 s pelvic nerve stimulations before and after IV administration of 0.02 mg/kg alpha-beta-methylene-ATP, and the responses to the drug itself, were recorded in the bladder and the urethra separately. RESULTS: In the urethral high-pressure zone, pre-stimulation pressure was a mean of 61+/-11 cmH2O. During pelvic nerve stimulation, urethral pressure declined by 48+/-9 cmH2O, while the bladder pressure increased to 30+/-18 cmH2O. The rate of pressure changes during the first 3 s of stimulation (initiation of voiding) was larger in the urethra than in the bladder (urethral pressure decrease: 13.0+/-3.1 cmH2O/s, bladder pressure increase: 3.2+/-2.5 cmH2O/s). Administration of alpha,beta-methylene-ATP was followed by a significant but temporary enlargement in the bladder response to pelvic nerve stimulation to 36+/-20 cmH2O, p = 0.028, n = 7, but no change in urethral response. CONCLUSIONS: At least 80% of the urethral pre-stimulation pressure was exerted by the smooth muscle. The synergic activation of the detrusor and the urethral smooth muscle in response to preganglionic parasympathetic nerve stimulation was controlled by the peripheral nerves or by the neuromuscular transmission. Administration of alpha,beta-methylene-ATP increased the bladder response to pelvic nerve stimulation without changing the urethral response.

Anorectal motility responses to selective stimulation of the ventral sacral nerve roots in an experimental model.

BACKGROUND: Control of defaecation and continence may be lost in patients with spinal cord injury. Electrical stimulation of sacral nerve roots to promote defaecation simultaneously activates both the rectum and the external anal sphincter (EAS), and may actually obstruct defaecation. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the EAS could be blocked selectively by selective stimulation of the ventral sacral nerve roots, and whether activation of the rectum without activation of the EAS could be obtained by stimulation of the ventral sacral nerve roots. METHODS: Selective electrical stimulation was performed using anodal blocking, a tripolar cuff electrode and monophasic rectangular current pulses applied to the sacral nerve roots in nine Göttingen minipigs. RESULTS: Simultaneous responses in the rectum and the anal canal were observed in five animals, whereas only anal responses were noted in four. Variations in cross-sectional area and an increase in rectal pressure seemed to facilitate defaecation. Without blocking, the increase in anal canal pressure was 16-45 cmH(2)O. With blocking, this increase was abolished in seven and reduced to 3-6 cmH(2)O in two animals. CONCLUSION: Selective activation of the rectum is possible using an anodal block of somatic motor fibres. This technique holds promise in further development of electro-defaecation.