ABSTRACT
Two strains, Afipia sp. 624S and Diaphorobacter sp. 624L, were isolated from an enrichment culture with 4-aminobenzenesulfonate (4-ABS) as the only carbon source. Strain 624S utilized 4-ABS as the only source of carbon and energy and degraded 3.8 mM 4-ABS in 2 weeks, releasing a small amount of sulfate ions. On the other hand, strain 624L did not utilize 4-ABS. Additionally, a co-culture of strains 624S and 624L resulted in the enhanced degradation of 4-ABS, and no sulfite was accumulated in the degradation of 4-ABS. When incubated in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0) containing 2.2 mM sodium sulfite, strain 624S exhibited no sulfite oxidation; however, strain 624L completely oxidized the sulfite after 2 days. Furthermore, when manganase, which has the ability to oxidize sulfite, was added to the medium, the degradation rate of 4-ABS was increased in comparison with the non-addition control. These results indicate that the sulfite oxidation might stimulate the degradation of 4-ABS by strain 624S, suggesting syntrophic interaction between strains 624S and 624L based on sulfite oxidation.
Subject(s)
Afipia , Comamonadaceae , Biodegradation, Environmental , Coculture Techniques , PhylogenyABSTRACT
A bacterial strain (strain 224), which has the ability to utilize sulfanilic acid as a sole source of carbon, was isolated from soil. 16S rRNA gene sequence obtained from strain 224 exhibited 100% identical to that of species in the genus Bradyrhizobium. Strain 224 degraded 4.7 mM of sulfanilic acid and released almost the same molar concentration of sulfate ion.
Subject(s)
Bradyrhizobium/metabolism , Coloring Agents/metabolism , Soil Microbiology , Soil Pollutants/metabolism , Sulfanilic Acids/metabolism , Biodegradation, Environmental , Bradyrhizobium/classification , Bradyrhizobium/genetics , Kinetics , Phylogeny , RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics , Sulfates/metabolismABSTRACT
Medical expense has grown rapidly in Japan. It could be caused by the increase of the patient number and the increase of medical expense per patient. We studied the latter factor on drug expenditure from 1996 to 2002 using the prescription data stored in the data warehouse of one hospital. We found that the drug expenditure per patient had increased 1.32 times. The mean number of prescriptions per patient increased 1.23 times and the mean expenditure of one medicine increased 1.08 times. These results demonstrated that drug expenditure for one patient had gradually increased. This was caused by both the rise in the number of medicines taken by one patient and the rise in the prices of medicines. The data warehouse in the hospital was useful for the analysis of the trends in medical expenditure for one patient.
Subject(s)
Drug Costs , Drug Utilization/trends , Antihypertensive Agents/economics , Costs and Cost Analysis , Databases, Factual , Drug Prescriptions/economics , Drug Utilization/economics , Health Expenditures , Hospital Information Systems , Hospitals , Humans , Japan , Pharmaceutical Preparations/economics , Programming Languages , Time FactorsABSTRACT
To share healthcare information and to promote cooperation among healthcare providers and customers (patients) under computerized network environment, a non-profit organization (NPO), named as OCHIS, was established at Osaka, Japan in 2003. Since security and confidentiality issues on the Internet have been major concerns in the OCHIS, the system has been based on healthcare public key infrastructure (HPKI), and found that there remained problems to be solved technically and operationally. An experimental study was conducted to elucidate the central and the local function in terms of a registration authority and a time stamp authority by contracting with the Ministry of Economics and Trading Industries in 2003. This paper describes the experimental design with NPO and the results of the study concerning message security and HPKI. The developed system has been operated practically in Osaka urban area.
Subject(s)
Computer Security , Confidentiality , Medical Records Systems, Computerized/standards , Computer Security/standards , Feasibility Studies , Humans , Information Management , Internet , Organizations, Nonprofit , Patient Identification Systems , SoftwareABSTRACT
Poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate) (PBSA)-degrading bacterium, strain 1-A, was isolated from soil. Strain 1-A was identified as Bacillus pumilus on the basis of its physiological properties and partial 16S rRNA gene sequence. Strain 1-A also degraded poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and poly(epsilon-caprolactone). On the other hand, poly(butylene adipate terephthalate) and poly(lactic acid) were minimally degraded by strain 1-A. The NMR spectra of degradation products from PBSA indicated that the adipate units were more rapidly degraded than 1,4-butanediol and succinate units. This seems to be one of the reasons why strain 1-A degraded PBSA faster than PBS.
