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Aims: To identify the ratio for nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus in general population; to report data on resistance pattern of the studied strains. Methods: Between October 2010-August 2016 in the Hipocrat Clinical Laboratory we processed 471 nasal swabs according to standard procedure; we isolated 175 S. aureus strains. Sensitivity testing was done by disk diffusion method against the following agents: Penicillin, Cefoxitin, Erythromycin, Clarithromycin, Azitromycin, Tetracycline, Sulfamethoxazole/Trimethoprim, Gentamicin, Tobramycin, Amikacin, Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, and Ofloxacin. Interpretation was done according to Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) criteria. Results: Almost all the isolates were Penicillin resistant (98.2%), macrolide resistance was encountered in 59.4% of strains, quinolone resistance in 6.28%, Gentamicin 3.42% while for Sulphametoxazol/Trimetoprim and Tetracycline, resistance ratio was 24.57% and 37.12% respectively. Conclusion: Resistance ratio for Staphylococcus aureus nasal isolates to anti staphylococcal agents is high-with no predictable trend for the next period. The best way to prevent its increase is prudent use of antibiotics and topic application for nasal carriers. Also the health and nutritional status of these patients is very important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To report prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection in pediatric population from Suceava county, during January 2015-September 2017 and to compare the results with other regions of Romania. Methods: The Hipocrat Laboratory is an outpatient clinic, RENAR certified, medium sized, were we processed 1036 samples to detect H. pylori antigen in faeces. Out of the studied samples, 221 were from children, aged 0-18 years old. The method used was the imunocromatographic rapid test, supplied by authorized dealers. The majority of patients have addressed the laboratory following the indication of the General Practitioners, based on anamnesis data and clinical symptoms. Results: Amongst the tested samples in children, 28 were positive representing 12.6%. For the age category between 6-14 years old, we encountered 14 positive cases. This fact can be explained by the sanitary conditions and hygienic measures in schools, a manageable and preventable situation. Conclusions: Our results are in accordance to the results obtained in other regions of Romania, where prevalence was 18.20%, that means we have to focus more on the hygienic status of schools environment and also education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Single atoms or atom-like emitters are the purest source of single photons, they are intrinsically incapable of multi-photon emission. To demonstrate this degree of photon number-state purity we have realized a single-photon source using a single ion trapped at the common focus of high numerical aperture lenses. Our trapped-ion source produces single-photon pulses with without any background subtraction. After subtracting detector dark counts the residual is less than 3 × 10−4 (95% confidence interval). The multi-photon component of the source light field is low enough that we measure violation of a quantum non-Gaussian state witness, by this characterization the source output is indistinguishable from ideal attenuated single photons. In combination with efforts to enhance collection efficiency from single emitters, our results suggest that single trapped ions are not only ideal stationary qubits for quantum information processing, but promising sources of light for scalable optical quantum networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]