Ideal Culture Research Articles

Leukocytes and Thrombosis

SummaryWhite blood cells can no longer be considered simple trapped inclusions within thrombi. Their numbers in thrombi relative to blood counts increase with time. They appear to come from the blood flowing past the thrombus. They appear to migrate by amoeboid movement into the thrombic mass. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils have been shown to be lytic to fibrin and other proteins and thus can contribute to thrombus dissolution. There is increasing evidence that neutrophils may impart important cytotrophic function to proliferating cells during thrombus organization. Eosinophils are known to carr profibrinolysin and will release this precursor at sites of fibrin deposition. Mononuclear leukocytes can transform into fibroblasts in tissue culture and I consider a thrombus an ideal tissue culture medium. All of these cells can contribute to thrombus dissolution simply by mechanical weakening of the mass by migration into it, releasing enzymes, and allowing blood flow to carry away pieces of the thrombus as emboli. I extend my perspective on thrombosis by considering these intravascular solids as cell tissue cultures rather than simple blood clots or platelet aggregates.

STAPHYLOCOCCI IN COMPETITION. V. EFFECT OF EGGS, EGGS PLUS CARBOHYDRATES, AND LIPIDS ON STAPHYLOCOCCAL GROWTH.

As is generally known, custards have been frequently involved in staphylococcal food poisonings and are regarded by some as an ideal culture medium. Previous studies showed that high carbohydrate concentrations repressed the growth of competing saprophytic species, allowing the growth of staphylococci in a mixture rather than stimulating the growth of the staphylococci. In an extension of those studies, the influence of the egg constituent of custard was investigated to determine its role in affecting the growth of pathogenic staphylococci in a competing mixture of psychrotrophic saprophytes. The normal competitive effect of the saprophytes on the growth of staphylococci was very slightly affected by the addition of 25% whole egg to the growth media. Approximately 9% egg yolk alone added to the medium resulted in a slight increase in the length of the lag period of the psychrotrophs and a slight increase in the number of staphylococci which grew. Addition of 25% whole egg plus 14.5% sucrose resulted in repression of saprophyte growth similar to that seen in high sucrose concentrations. Staphylococcal growth was more extensive in the presence of both whole egg and sucrose than in the presence of either ingredient alone. Incorporation of 4% corn oil in media was effective in repressing growth of the saprophytes at 37 C only. This allowed the staphylococci to dominate the population. At lower temperatures, staphylococci were unable to compete effectively. Buffering media of high carbohydrate content resulted in lengthened lag periods for the psychrotrophs and the appearance of very large staphylococcal populations.

Labour Emigration among the Moçambique Thonga: A Reply to Sr. Rita-Ferreira

Opening Paragraph(1) Sr. Rita-Ferreira disagrees with the ‘cultural identification’ which I am said to make between Thonga and Chopi. I cannot imagine what he disagrees about since my text merely states that Thonga and Chopi are ‘ethno-linguistically related’, which is, of course, irrefutable. (2) He claims that I dismiss the principles of agnatic kinship solidarity and the obligation of senior sons on behalf of the welfare of junior sons. The reader is given the impression that I argue that such norms do not exist, when in fact, the only issue in the text is the extent to which actual behaviour corresponds to the ideal principles. Apparently, Rita-Ferreira is not acquainted with the concepts of ideal and actual culture. (3) He says that I do not hesitate to contradict Junod on point (2) while I give no evidence from other reliable sources. Those who have not seen my article will no doubt be surprised to learn that my evidence consists of citations and quotes from Junod. (4) Rita-Ferreira's readers cannot help but gain the impression that I am ignorant of the basic similarity between Thonga social organization and that of other South-eastern Bantu peoples. Nothing in my text entitles Sr. Rita-Ferreira to harbour such illusions, especially since the sources which he uses to correct me are to be found in my own list of references.

Slide culture of tubercle bacilli. IV. Further diagnostic trials.

THE CONSTANTLY increasing number of publications concerning media and methods designed to provide more accurate, more rapid, and more reliable laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis attests to the fact that at present no one method is entirely satisfactory. One of the problems has been to devise a procedure which would permit an earlier bacteriological diagnosis of the disease and which would be of greater assistance in clinical management during its course. It has been pointed out by Cummings' that the ideal culture medium should support rapid growth of small numbers of tubercle bacilli, should permit easy differentiation by colonial morphology between pathogenic and nonpathogenic acid-fast bacilli, should inhibit growth of contaminants, and should be simply and reproducibly prepared from readily available ingredients. Most of the media used in the diagnostic isolation of tubercle bacilli today do not satisfy all of these requirements. They contain complex organic materials such as animal sera, egg yolk, or potato extract, none of which can be reproducible from one batch to another. During the past ten years, however, a number of media which meet most or all of the requirements of the ideal culture medium have been devised. The development of these media and methods has been reviewed recently by Reed and Morgante.2 One of these is the slide microculture method originally described by Koch3 by which he was able to demonstrate growth of tubercle bacilli within a week. Adaptations of this method by Pryce4 and Rosenberg 5 for diagnostic use were very sensitive, but too cumbersome for routine use. A notable advance in technic was reported by Lowry and Berry 6 with the development of special culture tubes and decontamination tubes which permitted simple and safe handling of sputum smears dried on ordinary slides. Reed 7 in 1953 reported a modification of the slide culture method which yielded excellent results, and subsequently Simpson and Reed 8 carried out fairly extensive trials of the modified technic in a routine diagnostic laboratory. It was found that slide culture appeared to be superior to conventional methods particularly in terms of the number of positive cultures produced and in the time required for them to become positive. These diagnostic trials have been carried on for the past three years. It has always been accepted as precept that the use of a variety of media should produce an appreciable increase

Real and Ideal Culture Patterns as Revealed in Students' Responses to Dichotomous Questions

Real and Ideal Culture Patterns as Revealed in Students' Responses to Dichotomous Questions

The Socialization of the Negro in the American Social Order

The way of becoming socialized in a culture comprehends all of the processes and results of learning from other people, either directly in face-to-face interaction or indirectly through visual or aural experiences. It is through socialization that one learns the approved ways of behavior and the real and the ideal culture patterns of the society. All of this experience is shaped, of course, by the character of the individual's unique experience. The intensity and extensity of this individual experience determine and define the resultant behavior.

A NEW NASAL CLEANSING AGENT

In long-standing cases of chronic sinus disease and atrophic rhinitis with intranasal crust formation and in some cases of postoperative sinus trouble in which there is extensive dryness with crusting, the problem of dealing effectively with this accumulated debris is a major one. The dried secretions and crusts in the nasal cavities and sinuses act as an ideal culture medium for bacteria, and in a short time an offensive odor is present, in many cases amounting to definite ozena. Ordinary cleansing of the nose with water, a saline solution or some antiseptic solution has been done by the patient as well as by his physician but with unsatisfactory results. The solutions remove the crusts by a mechanical process and in this way remove also any normal mucus present. The removal of crusts is usually incomplete, and as the remaining ones accumulate there is further drying of the underlying mucous membrane