Research Publications (Food Safety)

Nontyphoidal Salmonella (NTS) in children remains a growing burden on public health and often causes children to be hospitalized with diarrheic symptoms. In this work, 260 strains of human Salmonella isolated from Jilin, China were characterized by serotypes and antimicrobial resistance using whole genome sequencing (WGS). The most prevalent serotype was Salmonella enteritidis (47.3%), followed by S. I 4,[5],12:i:- (33.1%), and Salmonella Typhimurium (7.3%).

During a cruise from October to November 2019, along the West Antarctic Peninsula, between 64.32 and 68.37°S, we assessed the diversity and composition of the active microbial eukaryotic community within three size fractions: micro- (> 20 μm), nano- (20–5 μm), and pico-size fractions (5–0.2 μm).

Biofilm-associated implant infections represent a major challenge for healthcare systems around the world due to high patient burden and enormous costs incurred. Enterococcus faecalis (E. faecalis) is the most prevalent enterococcal species identified in biofilm-associated infections. The steadily growing areas of application of implants demand a solution for the control of bacterial infections.

Several strains of lactic acid bacteria are potent probiotics and can cure a variety of diseases using different modes of actions. These bacteria produce antimicrobial peptides, bacteriocins, which inhibit or kill generally closely related bacterial strains and other pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria, Clostridium, and Salmonella. Bacteriocins are cationic peptides that kill the target cells by pore formation and the dissipation of cytosolic contents, leading to cell death.

Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) is one of the major food and waterborne bacteria that causes several health outbreaks in the world. Although there are few antibiotics against this bacterium, some of these drugs are challenged with resistance and toxicity. To mitigate this challenge, our group explored the ethnomedicinal/herbalism knowledge about a certain spice used in Northern Ghana in West Africa against bacterial and viral infection. This plant is Capsicum chinense (C. chinense).

Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Accepted Article. Background Soil dwelling human pathogens like Salmonella are transmitted by fresh produce like tomato, spinach, onion, cabbage etc. With >2600 serovars, it is difficult to classify the good plant colonizers from the non-colonizers. Generally, soil microbiota is classified as autochthonous or zymogenous organisms, based on their ability to survive in soil.

As a kind of environmental pollutant, heavy metal Cadmium (Cd) exists widely in the environment. It is well known that Cd can accumulate and cause damage in liver, kidney and other organs. However, there are few studies on the immune cytotoxicity of Cd to fish. In particular, there are few studies on the toxicity of Cd to the head kidney lymphocytes of common carp. In order to further explore these mechanisms, we established an Cd exposure model in vitro.

The aim of the study was to describe the heterogeneity of the humoral immune response and pregnancy outcomes in infected women during an outbreak of toxoplasmosis. Forty-two pregnant women referred to the University Hospital of Santa Maria (HUSM), RS, Brazil in 2018 and 2019, were evaluated. Clinical symptoms were reported in 33.3% of the patients. The majority (64.3%) of symptomatic pregnant women had anti T. gondii IgM antibodies index >7.0.

Campylobacteriosis is a significant public health concern with Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli as main causative agents. Moreover, there is an increasing recognition of other pathogenic Campylobacter species and Campylobacter-like organisms as Arcobacter.

Okadaic acid (OA, C₄₄H₆₈O₁₃) is a neurotoxin and phosphatase inhibitor produced by several 

Environmental pH is a critical parameter for maintenance of the gut microbiota. Here, the impact of pH on the gut microbiota luminal and mucosal community structure and short chain fatty acid (SCFA) production was evaluated in vitro, and data compiled to reveal a donor-independent response to an increase or decrease in environmental pH. The results found that raising environmental pH significantly increased luminal community richness and decreased mucosal community evenness.

by Batbold Batsaikhan, Ching-I. Huang, Ming-Lun Yeh, Chung-Feng Huang, Yi-Hung Lin, Po-Cheng Liang, Ming-Yen Hsieh, Yi-Ching Lin, Jee-Fu Huang, Wan-Long Chuang, Jin-Ching Lee, Ming-Lung Yu, Hsing-Tao Kuo, Chia-Yen Dai Background High dosage and longer duration of antiviral treatment has been suggested to treat cryoglobulinemia patients.

As a pathogenic microorganism, Listeria monocytogenes is widely used in the research of bacterial pathogenesis and host defense. The phagosomal escape of Listeria monocytogenes is essential for its replication in the cytoplasm of the host.

This study was aimed to examine the membrane damage mechanism of gallic acid (GA) on Yersinia enterocolitica BNCC 108930, and to explore whether GA can prolong the shelf life of pork. The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of GA against Y. enterocolitica was determined by adopting the broth microdilution method. Second, an investigation was conducted on the morphological and physiological variations of Y.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution has detrimental effects on the ecological environment and human health. Currently, phytoremediation is considered an environmentally friendly way to remediate Cd pollution.

Duck salmonellosis is a common acute septic infectious disease that spreads rapidly, with serious harm to the duck breeding industry and public health. To date, there are few reports about the epidemiological characteristics of drug resistance in Salmonella from ducks.

In 2020, a new serotype of Vibrio parahaemolyticus O10:K4 emerged and caused several outbreaks and sporadic cases in Guangxi, China. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that those strains are new variants of the sequence type 3 pandemic clone. The new serotype may become dominant, warranting enhanced investigations and surveillance.

Previously, authors reported that individual volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by non-aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus could act as a mechanism of biocontrol to significantly reduce aflatoxins and cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) produced by toxigenic strains.

Partition systems are widespread among bacterial chromosomes. They are composed of two effectors, ParA and ParB, and cis acting sites, parS, located close to the replication origin of the chromosome (oriC). ParABS participate in chromosome segregation, at least in part because they serve to properly position sister copies of oriC. A fourth element, located at cell poles, is also involved in some cases, such as HubP for the ParABS1 system of Vibrio cholerae chromosome 1 (ch1).

Due to their rapid evolution and their impact on healthcare, beta-lactamases, protein degrading beta-lactam antibiotics, are used as generic models of protein evolution. Therefore, we investigated the mutation effects in two distant beta-lactamases, TEM-1 and CTX-M-15. Interestingly, we found a site with a complex pattern of genetic interactions. Mutation G251W in TEM-1 inactivates the protein’s function, just as the reciprocal mutation, W251G, does in CTX-M-15.

New strategies are needed to fight the emergence of multidrug-resistant bacteria caused by an overuse of antibiotics in medical and veterinary fields. Due to the importance of biofilms in clinical infections, antibiofilm peptides have a great potential to treat infections. In recent years, an increased interest has emerged in antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). One of the richest sources of AMPs is represented by amphibian skin.

Skin and soft tissue inflammatory diseases of bacterial origin occupy a significant part of hospitalizations to emergency departments. One of the most common causes of sepsis is soft tissue infection, which accounts for about a quarter of all nosocomial infections. The aim of this study was to determine the differences in microbial landscape and antibiotic susceptibility of soft tissue infection pathogens among adults and children during the period 2018–2020.

Direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) achieve high hepatitis C virus (HCV) cure rates and are forgiving to missed doses, but adherence–efficacy relationships have not been well defined. Traditional adherence measures (e.g. pill counts, self-report and pharmacy refills) over-estimate medication adherence. Newer technology-based tools have been used to provide more objective adherence data.

We identified an unusual subtype of a Cryptosporidium sp. horse genotype as the cause of cryptosporidiosis in a 13-year-old girl in Poland who was undergoing immunosuppressive treatment for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. The same subtype was identified in a horse the girl had ridden.

Listeria monocytogenes is an infectious foodborne pathogen that greatly threatens the public health worldwide. A simple and sensitive detection of L. monocytogenes is extremely important in food safety industry. In this study, we developed an all-in-one platform, which consists of nucleic acid extraction, amplification and visual detection in a single tube.