Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L G Burman

Publications and source records attributed to L G Burman.

130 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Elongation of the murein sacculus of Escherichia coli.

Elongation is an orderly multisite process in which, at each of about 90 growth points, two strands of murein are concurrently being synthesized, inserted and cross-linked to the sacculus. The enzymes involved move around the circumference of the cytoplasmic membrane at a rate of about 5 nm per second as new strands are being inserted, and this rate is sufficient to double the length of the cell during the cell division cycle.

Cell Division↗

Efficacy of Metronidazole in experimental Bacteroides fragilis otitis media.

The efficacy of metronidazole in otitis media due to Bacteroides fragilis was evaluated in a guinea pig model. Fifty-nine animals received an injection of 10(8) live B. fragilis bacteria through the tympanic membrane into the right middle ear cavity and metronidazole therapy was started 7 days later. On day 14 after challenge the animals were sacrificed and their middle ears analysed. Intraperitoneal injection of 6 mg metronidazole (about 20 mg per kg) once daily, 6 mg twice daily and 15 mg (50 mg per kg) once daily reduced the incidence of culture positive ears from 13/17 among untreated controls to 7/17 (p = 0.08), 3/10 (p = 0.05) and 2/15 (p = 0.001), respectively. The therapeutic efficacy of metronidazole in experimental otitis media was less than that expected from the concentrations of drug recorded in serum and the drug levels presumed to be achieved in the middle ear effusion.

Animals↗

Serum and tissue pharmacokinetics of intravenous metronidazole in surgical patients.

Intravenous administration of 1 g metronidazole during 30 min to 12 patients undergoing colorectal surgery yielded mean serum levels of 20.4 (+/- 4.9 SD) mg/l at 1 h, 15.6 (+/- 4.1) at 4 h and 3.9 (+/- 2.0) at 24 h after infusion. The mean elimination half-life of metronidazole was 8 h and the mean apparent volume of distribution 42 l. At 1-4 h after the infusion the median tissue/serum drug concentration ratio was 0.94 for rectus abdominis muscle and 0.76 for colonic mucosa. For adipose tissue the corresponding ratio was significantly lower (0.21, p less than 0.01) and highly unpredictable. Since in gastrointestinal surgery most wound infections develop in the cut surface of the abdominal fat, failure of metronidazole to reach bactericidal concentrations in adipose tissue could be a risk factor in this respect, contributing to the variable reported results of metronidazole prophylaxis.

Adult↗

Antibiotic consumption and faecal bacterial susceptibility in surgical in-patients.

A one-day prevalence study of resistance of faecal bacteria to 19 antibacterial agents was performed in 144 surgical inpatients. Most of the drug-resistant isolates were of aerobic and anaerobic species commonly seen in infections, which indicates that surveys of faecal flora can yield rapid information on local patterns of drug resistance in pathogens relevant to abdominal infection. In faecal bacteria the drug resistance pattern only weakly reflected the local antibiotic consumption. The amount of administered aminoglycosides was relatively small, and no gentamicin-resistant aerobes were found. Absence of resistance was found also for some of the newer agents not yet in clinical use (aztreonam, latamoxef, norfloxacin), but not for others (ceftazidime, ceftriaxone). Despite heavy use of fosfomycin and metronidazole, resistance had not emerged among aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, respectively. Imipenem was unique in inhibiting growth of all aerobic and anaerobic faecal bacteria, in the studied patients with the single exception of a strain of Enterobacter.

Abdomen↗