Typing of Thai clinical isolates of Mycobacterium leprae and analysis of leprosy transmission by polymorphism of tandem repeats

Mycobacterium leprae isolates from Thai leprosy patients were typed for strain differentiation and analysis of leprosy transmission using the six base tandem repeat, GACATC, in rpoT gene and TTC repeat as genetic markers. M. leprae DNA was isolated from skin biopsies of new untreated leprosy patients living in remote areas or in suburban regions of Thailand where leprosy is in low prevalence. In M. leprae strains of 100 patients, TTC alleles exhibited variations in length with 10 to 30, 33 and 35 repeats, the most common alleles being 15, 16, 17 and 19 repeats. All isolates contained three copies of the six base repeat in rpoT gene. Application of TTC repeats in tracking leprosy transmission in two families with multi-cases identified a single (but different) strain of M. leprae in each family.     

Tensile strength of bilayered ceramics and corresponding glass veneers

PURPOSE

To investigate the microtensile bond strength between two all-ceramic systems; lithium disilicate glass ceramic and zirconia core ceramics bonded with their corresponding glass veneers.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Blocks of core ceramics (IPS e.max® Press and Lava™ Frame) were fabricated and veneered with their corresponding glass veneers. The bilayered blocks were cut into microbars; 8 mm in length and 1 mm² in cross-sectional area (n = 30/group). Additionally, monolithic microbars of these two veneers (IPS e.max® Ceram and Lava™ Ceram; n = 30/group) were also prepared. The obtained microbars were tested in tension until fracture, and the fracture surfaces of the microbars were examined with fluorescent black light and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to identify the mode of failure. One-way ANOVA and the Dunnett''s T3 test were performed to determine significant differences of the mean microtensile bond strength at a significance level of 0.05.

RESULTS

The mean microtensile bond strength of IPS e.max® Press/IPS e.max® Ceram (43.40 ± 5.51 MPa) was significantly greater than that of Lava™ Frame/Lava™ Ceram (31.71 ± 7.03 MPa)(P<.001). Fluorescent black light and SEM analysis showed that most of the tested microbars failed cohesively in the veneer layer. Furthermore, the bond strength of Lava™ Frame/Lava™ Ceram was comparable to the tensile strength of monolithic glass veneer of Lava™ Ceram, while the bond strength of bilayered IPS e.max® Press/IPS e.max® Ceram was significantly greater than tensile strength of monolithic IPS e.max® Ceram.

CONCLUSION

Because fracture site occurred mostly in the glass veneer and most failures were away from the interfacial zone, microtensile bond test may not be a suitable test for bonding integrity. Fracture mechanics approach such as fracture toughness of the interface may be more appropriate to represent the bonding quality between two materials.     

Outbreak of postoperative endophthalmitis in a Thai tertiary care center.

We performed a study with a 1:3 ratio of case patients (n = 11) to control patients (n = 33) to evaluate risk factors for postoperative endophthalmitis in a Thai tertiary care center. Multivariate analysis revealed that diabetes mellitus and surgeon A were associated risk factors. Preoperative diabetes mellitus control and the improvement of infection control practices led to the termination of the outbreak.