Search

Strain KYPW7T, isolated from the Funglin Stream in Taiwan, was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Cells of strain KYPW7T were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, non-spore forming, non-motile rods and formed white colonies. Growth occurred at 15–30 °C (optimum 25 °C), at pH 6–8 (optimum pH 6.5) and with 0–1% NaCl (optimum 0%). Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA and coding sequences of 92 protein clusters showed that strain KYPW7T represents a novel genus in the family Flavobacteriaceae. The 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain KYPW7T was related to the species of the genera Chryseobacterium (91.8–96.0% sequence similarity), Bergeyella (95.1–95.8%), Cloacibacterium (94.5–95.7%), Daejeonia (95.6%) and Riemerella (94.0–95.0%). Strain KYPW7T showed less than 72% average nucleotide identity and less than 24% digital DNA–DNA hybridization identity compared to the type strains of related genera within the family Flavobacteriaceae. The predominant fatty acids were iso-C15:0 and iso-C17:0 3-OH. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-6 and the DNA G + C content was 36.8 mol%. The polar lipids had phosphatidylethanolamine, three uncharacterized aminophospholipids and an uncharacterized phospholipid. The polyamines contained homospermidine, putrescine and spermidine. On the basis of the genotypic and phenotypic data, strain KYPW7T represents a novel species of a new genus in the family Flavobacteriaceae, for which the name Amniculibacterium aquaticum gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is KYPW7T (= BCRC 81123T = LMG 30598T = KCTC 62512T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Purpose: Current guidelines recommend that hypospadias repair should be performed before age 18 months. This study aims to investigate the trends of surgical timing and to determine what factors are associated with age at surgery. Methods: The present study utilized a subset of the National Health Insurance Research Database, known as Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005, which contains the data of all paid medical benefit claims over the period from 1997 to 2007 for a subset of one million beneficiaries randomly drawn from the population of 22.72 million individuals in NHI program during any part of calendar year 2005. We analyzed claims data for all subjects with the diagnoses of hypospadias. Results: Among 52,705 live male newborns, 218 were diagnosed with hypospadias and thus were included as subjects in our study. Among them, 89 received repair surgery. Approximately 60.6% of the study subjects received repair after the age of 18 months. Multivariate analysis showed that several factors were significantly associated with age at hypospadias surgery: specialty of clinics where first diagnosis was made; specialty of physician making the first diagnosis, age of physician making the first diagnosis; specialty of surgeon performing the surgery; number of years since surgeon''s board certification; urbanization level of subject''s residence; modality of surgery; concomitant cryptorchidism; concomitant prematurity and low birth weight; age at diagnosis; and number of well-baby clinic visits. Conclusion: This study addresses an important issue of delayed hypospadias surgery in Taiwan, which provides a potential opportunity for improvement in quality of care. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose: We investigated the rate of diagnosis and treatment trends of hypospadias in Taiwan within the first 3 years of life. Materials and Methods: We used a subset of the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, which contains data on all inpatient and outpatient medical benefit claims, for the period 1997 through 2008 for a sample of 1 million individuals randomly drawn from the population of 25.68 million who held membership in the National Health Insurance program during any part of the calendar year 2005. We analyzed claims data for all subjects who were diagnosed with hypospadias through age 3 years. Results: Among 52,705 newborns (individuals whose claims included live birth) 178 were diagnosed with hypospadias within 3 years of birth. Thus, mean incidence was 33.8 per 10,000 live male births. The hypospadias repair rate was 14.3 per 10,000 live male births. There was no significant tendency toward increase or decrease in rates of diagnoses or repairs, or proportion of severe hypospadias. There were significant associations between rates of hypospadias diagnoses and urbanization level of the community where the diagnosis was made. Approximately 54% of patients who underwent surgical repair did so after age 18 months. Conclusions: The nationwide incidence of hypospadias in children younger than 3 years in Taiwan is similar to that reported in previous studies. Delayed diagnosis and treatment of hypospadias are important clinical concerns that warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped, non-motile, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-accumulating and aerobic bacterial strain, designated CHR27 T , was isolated and characterized by using the polyphasic taxonomy approach. The results of phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and coding sequences of an up-to-date bacterial core gene set (92 protein clusters) indicated that strain CHR27 T is affiliated with species in the genus Sphingobium . 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity results indicated that strain CHR27 T was closely related to species of the genus Sphingobium (94.3-97.0 %), and had the highest sequence similarity to Sphingobium qiguonii X23 T (97.0 %). Strain CHR27 T showed 19.4-22.1 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization values and 73.2-74.8 % average nucleotide identity values with the strains of other Sphingobium species. Optimal growth occurred at 25 °C, pH 7.5 and in the absence of NaCl. The major fatty acids of strain CHR27 T were C 18 : 1 ω7 c and summed feature 3 (C 16 : 1 ω7 c and/or C 16 : 1 ω6 c ). The predominant hydroxy fatty acid was C 14 : 0 2-OH. The polar lipid profile consisted of a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylmonomethylethanolamine, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, two unidentified sphingoglycolipids and an unidentified aminophospholipid. Strain CHR27 T contained spermidine as the major polyamine and putrescine as a minor component. The only isoprenoid quinone was ubiquinone-10. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain CHR27 T was 61.8 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic inference and phenotypic data, strain CHR27 T was considered a representative of a novel species within the genus Sphingobium . The name Sphingobium fluviale sp. nov. is proposed, with strain CHR27 T (=BCRC 81121 T =LMG 30596 T =KCTC 62510 T ) as the type strain.

Strain TLA-22 T , isolated from a cold spring in Taiwan, was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, aerobic, poly-β-hydroxybutyrate-accumulating, motile by means of a single polar flagellum, rod-shaped and formed bright yellow colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 20-25 °C, pH 6-6.5, and in the presence of 0.5 % NaCl. The major fatty acids of TLA-22 T were C 18 : 1 ω7 c and C 17 : 1 ω6 c . The predominant hydroxy fatty acids were C 15 : 0 2-OH and C 14 : 0 2-OH. The polar lipid profile consisted of a mixture of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, diphosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidyldimethylethanolamine, sphingoglycolipid, an unidentified aminophospholipid, an unidentified phospholipid and three unidentified lipids. TLA-22 T contained spermidine as the major polyamine and putrescine as the minor component. The only isoprenoid quinone was Q-10. The genomic DNA G+C content of TLA-22 T was 63.2 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and coding sequences of 92 protein clusters indicated that TLA-22 T was a mem,ber of a phylogenetic lineage including members of the genus Sphingobium . TLA-22 T was most closely related to Sphingobium aromaticiconvertens RW16 T , with a 97.4 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. TLA-22 T showed 74.8-75.7 % average nucleotide identity and 20.1-22.0 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization identity with the strains of other species of the genus Sphingobium . On the basis of phenotypic and genotypic properties and phylogenetic inference, strain TLA-22 T should be classified as representing a novel species of the genus Sphingobium , for which the name Sphingobium algorifonticola sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is TLA-22 T (=BCRC 81097 T =LMG 30309 T =KCTC 62189 T ).

Strain LLJ-11 T , isolated from water sampled from a freshwater stream in Taiwan, was characterized using a polyphasic taxonomy approach. Cells of strain LLJ-11 T were Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, motile by gliding, rod-shaped and formed translucent yellow colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 25 °C, pH 7 and 0 % NaCl. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and coding sequences of 92 protein clusters indicated that strain LLJ-11 T is affiliated with species in the genus Flavobacterium. Strain LLJ-11 T was most closely related to Flavobacterium amniphilum KYPY10 T with 98.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence identity. The DNA-DNA relatedness of strain LLJ-11 T with respect to Flavobacterium species was less than 35 %. Average nucleotide identity and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strain LLJ-11 T and the type strains of other closely related Flavobacterium species were 70.0-76.3 % and 21.1-23.9 %, respectively. Strain LLJ-11 T contained iso-C15 : 0, iso-C15 : 1 G, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, iso-C15 : 0 3-OH, summed feature 3 (C16 : 1ω6c and/or C16 : 1ω7c) and summed feature 9 (iso-C17 : 1ω9c and/or 10-methyl C16 : 0) as the predominant fatty acids. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-6. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, three uncharacterized aminophospholipids and two uncharacterized phospholipids. The major polyamine was homospermidine. The DNA G+C content was 34.8 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic inference and phenotypic data, strain LLJ-11 T is considered a representative of a novel species within the genus Flavobacterium. The name Flavobacterium amnicola sp. nov. is proposed, with strain LLJ-11 T (=BCRC 81124 T =LMG 30599 T =KCTC 62514 T ) as the type strain.

Strain WWJ-16 T was isolated from a freshwater reservoir in Taiwan. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and an up-to-date bacterial core gene set (92 protein clusters) indicated that strain WWJ-16 T is affiliated with the species in the genus Flavobacterium. Strain WWJ-16 T was most closely related to Flavobacterium fontis MIC3010 T (97.9 % 16S rRNA gene sequence identity) and Flavobacterium squillarum CMJ-5 T (97.6 %). Strain WWJ-16 T showed 77.4 % average nucleotide identity and 20.6 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization identity with F. fontis MIC3010 T . Cells of strain WWJ-16 T were Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and formed yellow colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 25 °C, pH 7 and in 0.5-1 % NaCl (w/v). Strain WWJ-16 T contained iso-C15 : 1 G and iso-C15 : 0 as predominant fatty acids. The major hydroxyl fatty acids were iso-C15 : 0 3-OH, iso-C17 : 0 3-OH and iso-C16 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, four uncharacterized aminophospholipids and four uncharacterized phospholipids. The major polyamine was homospermidine. The major isoprenoid quinone was MK-6. The genomic DNA G+C content of strain WWJ-16 T was 39.4 mol%, as determined by genome sequencing. The genotypic and phenotypic characteristics indicate that strain WWJ-16 T represents a novel species of the genus Flavobacterium, for which the name Flavobacterium stagni sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is WWJ-16 T (=BCRC 81125 T =LMG 30600 T =KCTC 62515 T ).

Strain ICH-30 T was isolated from a freshwater fish pond in Taiwan. Phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and coding sequences of 92 protein clusters indicated that strain ICH-30 T formed a phylogenetic lineage in the genus Flavobacterium. Strain ICH-30 T was most closely related to Flavobacteriumlacus NP180 T with 97.0 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity. Strain ICH-30 T showed 70.0-83.1 % average nucleotide identity and 16.5-23.7 % digital DNA-DNA hybridization identity with the type strains of other closely related Flavobacterium species. Cells of strain ICH-30 T were Gram-stain-negative, strictly aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped and formed dark orange colonies. Optimal growth occurred at 20-30 °C, pH 8-9 and 0-0.5 % NaCl. Strain ICH-30 T contained iso-C15 : 1 G and iso-C15 : 0 as the predominant fatty acids. The major hydroxyl fatty acids were iso-C17 : 0 3-OH, iso-C16 : 0 3-OH and iso-C15 : 0 3-OH. The polar lipid profile consisted of phosphatidylethanolamine, six uncharacterized aminophospholipids, one uncharacterized phospholipid and two uncharacterized lipids. The major polyamine was homospermidine. The only isoprenoid quinone was MK-6. The DNA G+C content of the genomic DNA was 34.3 mol%. On the basis of the phylogenetic inference and phenotypic data, strain ICH-30 T should be classified as a novel species, for which the name Flavobacterium piscinae sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is ICH-30 T (=BCRC 81122 T =LMG 30579 T =KCTC 62513 T ).

Objectives: To investigate lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in women with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and to evaluate risk factors associated with the psychiatric morbidity of these patients., Methods: The study group included 52 female patients with a diagnosis of IBS. Fifty-five women without gastrointestinal symptoms were used as controls. LUTS were evaluated using the American Urological Association Symptom Index questionnaire. Psychiatric morbidity was evaluated using a 12-item version of the Chinese Health Questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors associated with psychiatric morbidity in IBS patients., Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups in any of the demographic variables. The most common LUTS in patients with IBS were storage symptoms. These patients had significantly higher scores of frequency, nocturia, urge incontinence, lower maximal flow rate and lower voiding volume (P < 0.05). In addition, significantly higher storage and total American Urological Association Symptom Index questionnaire scores were also noted in IBS patients (P < 0.05). The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in IBS patients was 28.8%, which was significantly higher than in the control group (20%). The urinary storage symptom score (odds ratio: 1.518; 95% confidence interval: 1.17-1.96; P = 0.002) was significantly correlated with psychiatric morbidity., Conclusions: LUTS are common in IBS patients and have a negative impact on their psychiatric status. Healthcare providers should be aware of the psychological consequences of LUTS in these patients.

This study investigated the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among professional and non-professional rescue workers involved in the 1999 Chi-Chi Earthquake in Taiwan. One month following the disaster, 252 rescue workers (167 professional rescue workers, 85 non-professional volunteers) were surveyed with the Chinese version of the Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS-C) and the Chinese version of the SPAN (SPAN-C). Non-professional rescuers had significantly higher scores than professional rescuers on both the DTS-C and the SPAN-C. The prevalences of PTSD, as defined by a DTS-C score > or = 44, among professional and non-professional rescuers were 19.8% and 31.8%, respectively. Among the three subscales of the DTS-C, only scores on the numbness/avoidance subscale were significantly higher in the non-professional than in the professional rescue workers. The results of this study suggest that disaster rescue work is associated with a high level of stress even for highly trained professionals and may lead to mental health problems., (Copyright 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd.)