Research Publications (Food Safety)

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Residual antibiotics are taken along with food consumed through the food chain is the main cause of the super‐bacteria and may damage organs such as liver and kidney. Therefore, monitoring residual antibiotic levels of products in the food chain is both important and a requirement. Maximum residual limits for kanamycin and neomycin are 150 ng mL‐1 and 500 ng mL‐1 respectively, which are challenging for most sensor platforms.

California’s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65) was designed to protect the state’s populace from exposures to toxic levels of chemicals in consumer products, including foods, by requiring businesses to warn the public about any of those hazards. There is, however, one qualification in the legislation, which is that warnings are not required if the source of that contamination is natural, as opposed to industrial.

Despite the high morbidity and mortality of invasive fungal infections (IFIs), effective and safe antifungal agents are rather limited. Starting from antifungal lead compound haloperidol that was identified by drug repurposing, a series of novel benzocyclane derivatives were designed, synthesized, and assayed. Several compounds showed improved antifungal potency and broader antifungal spectra.

LpxD, acyl-ACP-dependent N-acyltransferase, is the third enzyme of lipid A biosynthesis in Gram-negative bacteria. A recent probe-based screen identified several compounds, including 6359-0284 (compound 1), that inhibit the enzymatic activity of Escherichia coli (E. coli) LpxD. Here, we use these inhibitors to chemically validate LpxD as an attractive antibacterial target.

by Bengt B. Arnetz, Sukhesh Sudan, Judith E. Arnetz, Jolin B. Yamin, Mark A. Lumley, John S. Beck, Paul M. Stemmer, Paul Burghardt, Scott E. Counts, Hikmet Jamil

Background

Author(s): Shuai Liu, Chenyuan Pan, Yi Tang, Fangyi Chen, Ming Yang, Ke-Jian Wang

Author(s): Nursu Aylin Kasa, Çağdaş Büyükpinar, Ahmet Fatih Erulaş, Sezgin Bakirdere

Author(s): Francesco Esposito, Evelina Fasano, Angela De Vivo, Salvatore Velotto, Fabrizio Sarghini, Teresa Cirillo

Author(s): Fernanda Ivanski, Viviane Matoso de Oliveira, Isabela Medeiros de Oliveira, Anderson Tadeu de Araújo Ramos, Selma Thaisa de Oliveira Tonete, Gabriel de Oliveira Hykavei, Paula Bargi-Souza, Dalton Luiz Schiessel, Anderson Joel Martino-Andrade, Marco Aurelio Romano, Renata Marino Romano

ABSTRACT Nondairy fermented products, such as fruit and vegetable juices, are gaining popularity among consumers worldwide for health‐related and economic reasons. The purpose of this study was to determine the changes in microbiological quality; antimicrobial and antioxidant activity; and phenolic, vitamin C, minerals, and cadmium content occurring during spontaneous fermentation of curly kale juice.

Microbiological, physical, chemical, cytotoxic, and genotoxic analyses of waters from ten tubular wells intended for irrigation of a community garden complex in the state of Piaui, northeastern Brazil, were carried out in two periods of 2018 (rainy and drought). All wells in both periods were contaminated with total coliforms, and wells P1, P3, P5, and P10 also had fecal coliforms.

The levels of persistent organic pollutants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), were investigated in influent, effluent, and sludge of five wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Jordan. Concentrations of 12 dioxin-like PCBs were determined. The extraction of PCBs from wastewater samples was done by solvent extraction using dichloromethane/hexane 1:1 mixture.

Author(s): Aytül Hamzalıoğlu, Vural Gökmen

Author(s): M.K. Zhu, H.Y. Li, L.H. Bai, L.S. Wang, X.T. Zou

Therapeutics targeting Gram-negative bacteria have the challenge of overcoming a formidable outer membrane (OM) barrier. Here, we characterize the action of SPR741, a novel polymyxin B (PMB) analogue shown to potentiate several large-scaffold antibiotics in Gram-negative pathogens. Probing the surface topology of Escherichia coli using atomic force microscopy revealed substantial OM disorder at concentrations of SPR741 that lead to antibiotic potentiation.

Author(s): S.T. Narenderan, S.N. Meyyanathan, B. Babu

Author(s): Ikuko Miyazaki, Ryo Kikuoka, Nami Isooka, Mika Takeshima, Kanau Sonobe, Rei Arai, Hidemaru Funakoshi, Kyle E. Quin, Jonathan Smart, Kazumasa Zensho, Masato Asanuma

Zinc (Zn) and lead (Pb) concentrations were measured in 173 samples collected in soils under forest, wetland, and arable land around a Zn smelter plant that stopped activity in the 1960s. The adopted sampling strategy consisted in collecting 0–30-cm-depth samples from all soils, tilled or not, in order to harmonize the analyzed soil volume to that of plowed soils. Airborne deposition was modeled as a function of the distance from the pollution source and of land use.

Author(s): Lin Wang, Ran Li, Xiuxiu Yan, Xuefeng Liang, Yuebing Sun, Yingming Xu

Author(s): Yan Bao, Lei Zhang, Xin Liu, Lei Shi, Jingguang Li, Guimin Meng, Yunfeng Zhao, Yongning Wu

This paper describes the synthesis and application of a magnetic amino‐functionalized hollow silica‐titania microsphere as a new sorbent for magnetic dispersive micro‐solid phase extraction of selected pesticides in coffee bean samples. The sorbent was fully characterized by Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transition electron microscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques.

The aim of this study was to investigate soil lead pollution on biochemical properties and gene expression pattern of antioxidant enzymes in three wheat cultivars (Morvarid, Gonbad and Tirgan) at flag leaf sheath swollen stage. Lead (Pb(NO3)2) was used at four different concentrations (0, 15, 30 and 45 mg/kg of soil). The leaf and roots samples were taken at late-booting stage (Zadoks code, GS: 45).

Comparative analyses determined the relationship between the structure of bisphenol A (BPA) as well as of seven bisphenol analogues (bisphenol B (BPB), bisphenol C (BPC), bisphenol E (BPE), bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol Z (BPZ), bisphenol AP (BPAP), bisphenol PH (BPPH)) and their biotransformability by the biphenyl-degrading bacterium Cupriavidus basilensis SBUG 290. All bisphenols were substrates for bacterial transformation with conversion rates ranging from 6 to 98% within

Persistence of infection despite extensive chemotherapy with antibiotics displaying low MICs is a hallmark of lung disease caused by Mycobacterium abscessus (Mab). Thus, the classical MIC assay is a poor predictor of clinical outcome. Discovery of more efficacious antibiotics requires more predictive in vitro potency assays. As a mycobacterium, Mab is an obligate aerobe and a chemo-organo-heterotroph – it requires oxygen and organic carbon sources for growth.