Surface smoothness of ceramic glazes is always an important characteristic of ceramic glazes as a point of surface engineering studies. Surface roughness affects chemical resistivity, glossiness and stainabiliy of glazes. In fact, less surface roughness improves cleanability of the surface by the least usage amount of detergents. In this investigation, surface topography of two common opaque gl...

The fungal pathogen Candida albicans can mate under highly controlled conditions. It can also undergo phenotypic switching. A recent discovery joins these disparate processes to reveal that 'opaque' switch variants mate 10(6) times better than 'white' variants.

A medium for detecting colonies of Actinomyces viscosus and Actinomyces naeslundii in dental plaque samples was developed. The medium (CNAC-20) contains 20.0 mug of 3CdSO4-8H2O per ml of Columbia CNA agar base. Laboratory strains of A. viscosus grew on CNAC-20 in characteristic round, white, smooth, opaque colonies. Increasing the cadmium concentration impaired the growth of some A. viscosus st...

Candida albicans represents the most common commensal and opportunistic fungal pathogen colonizing humans. As a member of the normal microflora, it is present on the skin and the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract, gastrointestinal tract and female genital tracts. It is therefore not transmitted. It lies in wait for a change in some aspect of the host physiology that normally suppr...