Methods for rapid prototyping novel labware: using CAD and desktop 3D printing in the microbiology laboratory.

Although the microbiology laboratory paradigm has increasingly changed from manual to automated procedures, and from functional to molecular methods, traditional culture methods remain vital. Using inexpensive desktop fused filament fabrication 3D printing, we designed, produced and tested rapid prototypes of customised labware for microbial culture namely frames to make dip slides, inoculation loops, multi-pin replicators, and multi-well culture plates for solid medium. These customised components were used to plate out samples onto solid media in various formats, and we illustrate how they can be suitable for many microbiological methods such as minimum inhibitory concentration tests, or for directly detecting pathogens from mastitis samples, illustrating the flexibility of rapid-prototyped culture consumable parts for streamlining microbiological methods. We describe the methodology needed for microbiologists to develop their own novel and unique tools, or to fabricate and customise existing consumables. A workflow is presented for designing and 3D printing labware and quickly producing easy-to-sterilise and re-useable plastic parts of great utility in the microbiology laboratory.

Vibrio cholerae O1 El Tor from southern Vietnam in 2010 was molecularly distinct from that present from 1999 to 2004.

The Vibrio cholerae O1 (VCO1) El Tor biotype appeared during the seventh cholera pandemic starting in 1961, and new variants of this biotype have been identified since the early 1990s. This pandemic has affected Vietnam, and a large outbreak was reported in southern Vietnam in 2010. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and multilocus variable-number tandem-repeat analyses (MLVA) were used to screen 34 VCO1 isolates from the southern Vietnam 2010 outbreak (23 patients, five contact persons, and six environmental isolates) to determine if it was genetically distinct from 18 isolates from outbreaks in southern Vietnam from 1999 to 2004, and two isolates from northern Vietnam (2008). Twenty-seven MLVA types and seven PFGE patterns were identified. Both analyses showed that the 2008 and 2010 isolates were distinctly clustered and separated from the 1999-2004 isolates.

[Smoking cessation practice among Norwegian hospital physicians]. / Norske sykehuslegers praksis ved røykeavvenning.

BACKGROUND: Limited data is available as to what extent Norwegian hospital doctors ask their patients about their smoking habits, and to what extent doctors offer their patients help in smoking cessation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A random sample of 1,025 hospital doctors was mailed a questionnaire. After 14 days a reminder letter was sent to non-responders; 76% of the doctors responded. RESULTS: Altogether 98% of the doctors stated that they asked their patients with smoking-related disease about their smoking habits. In cases of non-smoking related disease, 73% of the doctors stated that they asked about the smoking habits of their patients (83% of female and 69% of male doctors). If doctors knew that a patient wanted to quit smoking, 25% of them stated that they often recommended nicotine replacement therapy. Less than 7% of the doctors regularly offered smoking cessation courses, handed out self-assistant material, or gave the patients other smoking cessation advice. INTERPRETATION: The study indicates that doctors often ask their patients about their smoking habits, but there is clear potential for improvement as to the smoking cessation advice.