Confusion!!!

Today I was able to interpret the results for the biochemical tests I did for my final unknown in Clinical Bacteriology lab. So far, from my last post, we already know that my unknown is a gram (-) bacilli, catalase (+), oxidase (-) with thick non-hemolytic colonies on BAP.

The biochem test's result naman revealed the following...

• Triple Sugar Iron (TSI) = A/A (lactose fermenter), gas production (+), and H2S (-)

• Sulfide Indole Motility (SIM) = motile (), indole (-), H2S (-)

• Simmon Citrate Agar (SCA) = citrate (+)

• and Lysine Iron Agar (LIA) = K/A lysine deamination (-)

If you noticed there's no sign on whether it is motile (+) or non motile (-). That's because I'm so unsure. Well, actually I was so sure it was motile when I left the lab this afternoon but when I got home, right now while I'm making my written report, I decided to look at pictures of Enterobacter cloacae and Klebsiella pneumonia online.

I stumbled upon a picture of K.pneumonia on BAP and its so similar to my unknown's growth on BAP.... which is unfortunate and is what made me hesitant because I was so sure it was E.cloacae because it's motile and K. pneumonia is non-motile. But now, looking back, I feel like it wasn't really motile on the SIM tube cause it wasn't totally hazy on the point of inoculation. Gosh...  To think that I even performed hanging-drop microscopic technique just to see the motility and because of a stupid picture online, I got confused. I hate this!!!

Clinical Bacteriology

Just wanted to put a record here of my progress in our final unknown in Clinical Bacteriology. We were given a bacterial suspension (the "unknown") yesterday and we inoculated it in Blood Agar Plates and Mac Conkey Agar media then incubated for 24 hours.

Here's what I came up with when we checked it out kanina...  As you can see on the pic below, it has gamma-hemolytic colonies which are very thick and aggregating... probably due to the slightly wet (really bad) BAP we all were using.

[caption id="attachment_127" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="to be identified for Clinical Bacteriology"][/caption]

Don't ask me what happened to the one planted on the MAC... Halos di na makita yung streaking pattern dahil nag-swarm, again probably due to the wet medium plus sabi ni Sir Ems (our lab technician) baka na-contaminate daw. It has clear colonies sa gitna, then sa mga colonies sa gilid medyo nag-pink, so you cant tell anymore if it's a lactose fermenting bacteria or not. No worries naman cause we can determine that sa TSI.

So anyways, back to the BAP. I did Gram Staining as well this afternoon; twice actually. I had to make sure I really had a Gram (-) bacteria because it grew on MAC kahit papano. I think nakulangan ako ng decolorization the first time kaya may naiwang purple cells. Nung inulit ko, without pagmamadali and observing proper staining techniques, nawala naman ung mga false gram (+) cells and pure pink na silang lahat. If you observe the pic below, their actually rod shaped in... uhm... I'm not sure kasi may mga single, may magka-pair, may mga areas din na magkakadikit sila talaga so I cant tell wether the arrangement is single, in pairs, or in clusters. Sabi basta may nakita ka daw ilang humiwalay mag-isa na cells, single na daw yun. Oh well....

[caption id="attachment_129" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="final unkown's gram stain"][/caption]

Anyways, I did the biochemical tests soon after staining. I did oxidase which gave a negative result (no purple end color), catalase positive (vigourous bubble formation), and the Enterobactariaceae tests namely TSI, SIM, SCA, and LIA; the results of which requires 24 hours of incubation so I'll get to that tomorrow.

So, after 2 days of action, the results for my final microbiology unknown are:

• Gram (-) bacilli with singular arrangement
• Gamma (non) - hemolytic bacteria
• Catalase (+)
• and Oxidase (-)

Will get to the rest of the biochem tests tomorrow and I'll see if I can make an interpretation by then. That'll be all for now. Ciao :D

The CMT Cheerios in Action

Got the 3rd place for this performance during the TUA Foundation Week Celebrations last Feb.1... can't complain, we deserve the place we got :D

I was appointed team captain this year and I was really proud of the squad because the newbies from last year, who are now on their 2nd year of service, really stepped up and improved themselves. We also got a lot of really good new members this year.

Here's the vid, enjoy :D

I'm still here...

been a while... or should I say it's been years(!) since I last updated this old blog of mine... I kinda like this and I will keep it. Especially now that everyone else is Tweeting, I will keep on blogging :D or should I say go back to blogging. It's a new way to reinforce my ode of not conforming to what is in and hip or uso.

I do have a facebook though... it's the best and easiest way to connect with friends, classmates, and now, even my professors. Hehehe... If I know you personally, you can add me up as friend, kung hindi, then dont bother.

Anyways, I will try to post entries here more regularly now, I've been meaning to blog again for quite some time now and finally here I am :D

Just wanted to share my still humble Doraemon collection. In case you didn't know, Doraemon is my favorite cartoon character.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="395" caption="12 items after about 5 years..."][/caption]

As for my next post, you can wait til next year.

JOKE.

Macau tower...

Did the Skywalk X 233 meters high