Sad State of Phage Electron Microscopy. Please Shoot the Messenger
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Publications and Criteria for Analysis
2.1. General
2.2. Countries of Origin
Country | Articles | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Overall | Poor | Mediocre | Good | |
Australia | 8 | 8 | - | - |
Canada | 22 | 9 | 1 | 12 |
China (P.R.) | 28 | 24 | 3 | 1 |
Finland | 12 | 3 | - | 9 |
India | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 |
Japan | 9 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
Poland | 6 | 4 | - | 2 |
Russia | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
South Korea | 29 | 28 | - | 1 |
Switzerland | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
United Kingdom | 17 | 11 | 1 | 5 |
USA | 37 | 26 | 2 | 9 |
2.3. Journals
Articles | Journal |
---|---|
33 | Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
27 | Archives of Virology |
17 | Journal of Virology |
12 | Journal of Bacteriology |
10 | Environmental Microbiology |
8 | Current Microbiology, Virological Journal |
7 | Microbial Ecology |
6 | Virology |
5 | Bacteriophage, Microbiology-UK |
2.4. Electron Microscopes
Manufacturer | Model | Number | Model | Number | Model | Number |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hitachi | H-300 | 1 | H-7100 | 7 | H8100S | 1 |
H-300TM | 1 | H-7500 | 5 | H8100 | 1 | |
H-600 | 1 | H-7600 | 1 | 800 STEM | 2 | |
H-7000 | 1 | H7650 | 1 | - | - | |
JEOL | 7A | 1 | 1010 | 3 | 1230 | 4 |
100C | 1 | 1011 | 2 | 1400 | 5 | |
100CX | 3 | 1200 | 1 | 2000 | 3 | |
100S | 2 | 1200EX | 7 | 2000EX | 1 | |
100SX | 1 | 1200EXII | 14 | 2010 | 1 | |
100SXII | 2 | 1210 | 1 | 2010HC | 1 | |
200CX | 1 | 1220 | 1 | 2011 | 1 | |
210 | 1 | - | - | - | - | |
Philips/FEI | 100 | 1 | 400T | 1 | T10 | 3 |
201 | 1 | 400HGM | 2 | T20 | 1 | |
201C | 1 | Morgagni 268 | 1 | T30 | 1 | |
205 | 1 | CM12 | 3 | G2 Spirit TWIN | 8 | |
208S | 1 | CM100 | 6 | |||
300 | 19 | CM120 | 2 | G2 Spirit Bio TWIN | 10 | |
400ST | 1 | F20 | 1 | |||
Zeiss | EM10 | 2 | Leo 902 | 14 | Leo 912AB | 3 |
EM109 | 1 | Leo 910 | 1 | Libra 120 | 1 | |
Leo 900 | 1 | Leo 912 | 2 | Supra 40VP | 1 |
3. The Problems
3.1. Technical Problems
3.2. Human Responsibility
Technical | Investigator-related | Journal |
---|---|---|
Image too small | Insufficient information on methods | Image too small |
Magnification too low | Positive staining | Incompetent referees |
Magnification not checked | Dirty samples | - |
No contrast | Incomplete virus descriptions | - |
Unsharp | No comparisons | - |
No details visible | Misclassification | - |
4. Reasons for Declining Quality
5. Conclusions
Countermeasures | Effectiveness | Comments |
---|---|---|
Courses in EM | Little | Too many different instruments in use |
Reference laboratories | Impractical | Legal and monetary problems |
Atlas of bacteriophages | Desirable | Copyright problems |
Standards for pictures | Easy | Must be adopted by journals |
Contrast improvement | Easy or not | Manual EMs: use graded filters; Digital EMs: use Photoshop or the like |
More severe reviews | Great | Must be required by journals |
Signed reviews | Great? | Probably unpopular |
Blacklisting poor referees | Dubious | An internal matter for individual journals |
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Ackermann, H.-W. Sad State of Phage Electron Microscopy. Please Shoot the Messenger. Microorganisms 2014, 2, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms2010001
Ackermann H-W. Sad State of Phage Electron Microscopy. Please Shoot the Messenger. Microorganisms. 2014; 2(1):1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms2010001
Chicago/Turabian StyleAckermann, Hans-W. 2014. "Sad State of Phage Electron Microscopy. Please Shoot the Messenger" Microorganisms 2, no. 1: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms2010001