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a culture of service...
April, 2014
© 2014, Hardy Diagnostics,
all rights reserved
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Download Our
Mini Catalogs
No matter what industry you may be in, Hardy has a mini catalog that contains the microbiology products that are needed in your lab.
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Food and Beverage
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Veterinary
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Anaerobic Microbiology
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Susceptibility Testing
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Control Organisms
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Cosmetics
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Pharmaceuticals
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Dehydrated Culture Media
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And more...
View a complete list
and download the PDF version.
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Brainteasers
Standby to Strain Your Brain...
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For brighter colors
and easier read-out...
Did you know that Hardy Diagnostics was the first company to introduce chromogenic media to America?
See
our complete line of HardyCHROM products.
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Phraseology...
"Hissy Fit"
This expression, meaning an emotional outburst or tantrum, probably came into being as a shortening of the word "hysterical."
Alternatively, it could be allusion to the hissing or sputtering noises made by the hysterical person.
At any rate, the term was first recorded
in the USA in a 1934 edition of
American Speech
:
"
Hissy
is probably provincial slang. I have heard it for eight or ten years. He threw a hissy or He had a hissy means that a person in question was very disturbed and very angry."
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Another reason to avoid triclosan...
Triclosan Promotes
Nasal Colonization
of Staph aureus
A recent study from the University of Michigan shows that the common anti-bacterial ingredient, triclosan, can actually promote the adherance of
Staphyloccus aureus
to skin.
Triclosan is commonly used in a variety of consumer products, such as soaps, toothpaste, deodorants, and even children's toys. This substance, which is resistant to decomposition, has been found in human urine, breast milk, and semen.
It has now been found that triclosan promotes the binding of
S. aureus
to host proteins found in human skin, such as keratin and collagen.
This represents yet another example of unintended consequences when it comes to man's attempt to control microorganisms without concern for how they can be changed by our manipulations.
There have been
reports
that triclosan induces muscle weakness and disrupts normal hormone function. Last year, the FDA announced that they are reconsidering their declaration in 1994 that triclosan is safe and non-toxic.
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Think about it...
* Never test the depth of the water with both feet.
* Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of
me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me either. Just pretty
much leave me alone.
* The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan belt and
leaky tire.
* It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.
* Always remember that you're unique...just like everyone else.
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Hardy's Healthy Happy Sheep
At Hardy Diagnostics, the blood in our Blood Agar Plates are sourced from a donor herd of sheep that are kept healthy on a veterinary supervised program. Due to the pure and natural diet of these sheep, the blood is free from antibiotics and other adulterants. They are humanely bled on a schedule to ensure that the blood will be of the finest quality for reliable performance.
Many other culture media companies source their blood from feed lots and slaughter houses. This blood is more prone to disease and contamination; in addition it may contain antibiotics that could interfere with test results. You can be sure that will not happen at Hardy Diagnostics!
Other reasons
to consider Hardy as your supplier.
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Wisdom to ponder...
Bob Dylan
For over 50 years, he has written and performed his songs that range from
folk
,
blues
, and
country
to
gospel
,
rock and roll
, and
rockabilly
to
English
,
Scottish
, and
Irish folk music
, embracing even
jazz
and
swing
.
"Nothing can affect my voice; it's so bad."
"What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do."
"I change during the course of a day. I wake, and I'm one person, and when I go to sleep, I know for certain I'm somebody else."
"This land is your land and this land is my land, sure, but the world is run by those that never listen to music anyway."
"All this talk about equality. The only thing people really have in common is that they are all going to die."
"There is nothing so stable as change."
"When you cease to exist, then who will you blame?"
"I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet, and I'll die like a poet."
"I'm mortified to be on the stage, but then again, it's the only place where I'm happy."
"He not busy being born, is busy dying."
"All I can do is be me, whoever that is."
Receiving the Presidential Medal of honor in 2012.
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QUICK LINKS...
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Want to receive the MicroBytes
Newsletter
at home?
CLICK HERE
Want to review past issues
of MicroBytes?
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Did you know?
Hardy Diagnostics...
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Is celebrating its 33rd year of serving microbiologists.
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Is
ISO 13485
certified for the manufacture of medical devices to give you confidence in our products.
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Offers you detailed technical inserts, comprised of over 4,500 pages of information regarding microbiology.
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Services over 9,000 labs and maintains a worldwide network of over 40
distributors.
Send a
message to the president
.
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Fungi makes
beautiful music
___________________________________
Can fungi isolated from the forest turn an ordinary violin into one that produces a sound superior to the famous Stradivarius?
Find out
...
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Look at the outer parts and and watch it swirl.
Look at the center and it stops!
"Believe half of what you see
and none of what you hear."
~ Marvin Gaye ~
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Dog Dust Dampens
Disease in Kids
Can the presence of a dog in the home prevent allergies in kids?
Many people decide to become dog owners for reasons such as companionship, protection of one's home, or simply the happiness that is felt every day from being greeted by a furry friend. To add to this list, owning a dog might also change the microbial composition in your gut and alleviate the symptoms of allergies.
Researchers have found that dogs contribute to an increased diversity of bacteria in house dust and exposure to this house dust dampens the allergic response to several allergens such as ovalbumin (a protein in egg whites) and cockroach allergens.
To test this, mice were fed either dog-associated house dust or house dust from a home with no dogs. The mice that were fed the dog house dust showed significant reduction in airway immune cells and serum immunoglobulin E (IgE), as well as a decrease in airway responses compared to mice that were fed house dust from a home that did not have dogs.
Overactive airway immune responses and high levels of serum IgE early in life are commonly associated with development of childhood allergic diseases. Therefore, exposure to dogs during infancy may reduce the risk of developing diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis.
Guts of the "protected" mice were examined by generating a microbiome profile using a phylogenetic microarray. From this, researchers were able to determine if the microbiota composition differed between the groups of treated and untreated mice. The genera
Lactobacillus
, and particularly
Lactobacillus johnsonii
, were highly enriched in mice which had been fed dog house dust.
Lactobacillus johnsonii
is known to reside in the human intestine and is part of the complex of
Lactobacillus
species that are associated with probiotic activities. In the same study, mice were supplemented with
Lactobacillus johnsonii
and produced similar results to the mice that were fed dog house dust. They exhibited a diminished airway response to allergens and further, did not show airway hyper-responsiveness when infected with respiratory synctial virus (RSV). RSV infections during infancy can lead to complications and are the leading cause of childhood hospitalizations as well as a risk factor for developing childhood asthma.
The findings from this study may lead to development of probiotics for infants that could reduce the risk of developing allergic conditions.
More research is needed, but in the meantime, dog owners may have a good enough reason to dust their houses a little less often.
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HardyCHROM SS is a new patented chromogenic media designed to streamline the screening of stool specimens for
Salmonella
and
Shigella
.
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Would you like to eliminate annoying false positives from
Proteus
spp?
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Would you like to reduce the time to report out positives from three down to two days?
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Free Download!
You can obtain a free 100 page...
"Guide to the Utilization of the Microbiology Laboratory for Diagnosis of Infectious Disease"
This guide was published in 2013 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). This document is intended as a reference to guide physicians in the selection of
microbiology tests and the proper methods of specimen collection.
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Check out the survey results.
..
Was the ban on incandescent bulbs
a good thing?
By Federal law it is now illegal to manufacture or import incandescent light bulbs 40 watts or higher in America.
Incandescent bulbs can require up to seven times as much energy as some alternative bulbs. Only 10% of the energy is used for light, the remaining 90% is converted to wasted heat.
However, the alternative compact fluorescent bulbs contain toxic mercury and LED bulbs are much more expensive.
Proponents say the law was good for the environment and will significantly reduce energy consumption.
Naysayers claim that the government should not interfere with our freedom of choice.
The survey results were very lopsided!
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"Insanity doesn't run in my family...it gallops"
Cary Grant
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Why did the chicken
cross the road?
To show the 'possum that it could be done.
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Online
Ordering
Made
Easy!
Watch
a short video
to learn how easy it is
to order from Hardy on-line!
Pick
. Click. You're Done!
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