Research Publications (Food Safety)

Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is a salient metabolite that can be used to assess Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) exposure in humans and animals. The carcinogenic potency of AFB1 and AFM1 was severely reported.

Background:Campylobacter and Salmonella are the leading causes of foodborne diseases worldwide. Recently, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the most critical challenges for public health and food safety.

Streptomyces can produce a wealth of pharmaceutically valuable antibiotics and other bioactive compounds. Production of most antibiotics is generally low due to the rigorously controlled regulatory networks, in which global/pleiotropic and cluster-situated regulatory proteins coordinate with various intra- and extracellular signals.

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) causes a broad range of infections and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. S. aureus produces a diverse range of cellular and extracellular factors responsible for its invasiveness and ability to resist immune attack. In recent years, increasing resistance to last-line anti-staphylococcal antibiotics daptomycin and vancomycin has been observed. Resistant strains of S.

International Journal of Food Science & Technology, Accepted Article. Natural ACE inhibitory peptides derived from food are considered to be an effective supplement for lowering blood pressure. This study investigated the effects of Lactobacillus plantarum CD101 and Staphylococcus simulans NJ201 on proteolysis and the sequence composition of ACE inhibitory peptides in fermented sausages.

Cronobacter sakazakii is an opportunistic foodborne pathogen that can be fatal to infants and is commonly associated with powdered infant formula due to contamination in manufacturing processes, hospitals, or homes. This project aimed to select a potential synbiotic, a combination of probiotic strains with a prebiotic product, to inhibit the growth of C.sakazakii in an in vitro dynamic infant gut model (Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem).

Listeria monocytogenes has shown the ability to grow on fresh uncut produce, however the factors that control growth are not well understood. Peer reviewed journal articles (n=29) meeting the inclusion criteria and related to the growth of Listeria monocytogenes of fresh produce were found through university library databases and Google Scholar searches. Growth models were fit to each of the extracted 130 datasets to estimate log CFU/day rates of growth using the DMfit tool.

Vibrio vulnificus inhabits estuarine waters around the world and can cause severe infections in humans by eating contaminated raw or undercooked oysters. Although current detection methods are sensitive and specific, there are continuous demands for the development of rapid and accurate methods without the trained operator and equipment in the field conditions. Herein, we developed a simple and rapid method by detecting the hemolysin ( vvh ) gene of V.

Foodborne diseases are a significant cause of illness in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Food vendors in traditional markets shoulder a heavy responsibility to keep food safe in often challenging conditions. Their ability to ensure food is safe are shaped by their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP). Most research on food vendors in LMICs has focused on vendors of ready-to-eat street foods and not on vendors of fresh food commodities.

There has been an increase in the reported number of animals worldwide that carry the hepatitis E virus (HEV). This study aimed to explore potential animal hosts for HEV through codon usage analysis.

Amanitin poisoning still has no particular, effective antidote. Erdosteine has been shown to protect numerous tissues, particularly those in the liver. This study investigates the potential therapeutic effects of erdosteine on alpha-, beta- and gamma-amanitin-induced hepatotoxicity in in vitro models.

Cadmium (Cd) pollution is widely detected in soil and has been recognized as a major environmental problem. Tamarix hispida is a woody halophyte, which can form natural forest on the desert and soil with 0.5 to 1% salt content, making it an ideal plant for the research on response to abiotic stresses. However, no systematic study has investigated the molecular mechanism of Cd tolerance in T. hispida. In the study, RNA-seq technique was applied to analyze the transcriptomic changes in T.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the most dangerous pathogens commonly associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality. Sortase A is considered as a promising molecular target for the development of antistaphylococcal agents. Using hybrid virtual screening approach and FRET analysis, we have identified five compounds able to decrease the activity of sortase A by more than 50% at the concentration of 200 µM.

Endophytic strains belonging to the Bacillus cereus group were isolated from the halophytes Atriplex halimus L. (Amaranthaceae) and Tamarix aphylla L. (Tamaricaceae) from costal and continental regions in Algeria. Based on their salt tolerance (up to 5%), the strains were tested for their ability to alleviate salt stress in tomato and wheat. Bacillus sp.

In this study, a novel bacteriocin Lactocin C-M2 produced by Lactobacillus panis C-M2, combined with dielectric barrier discharged cold plasma (DBD-CP), was used to evaluate the antibacterial effect on aquatic foods.

The Plant Journal, EarlyView. Rice (Oryza sativa) is a leading source of dietary cadmium (Cd), a non-essential heavy metal that poses a serious threat to human health. There are significant variations in grain-Cd levels in natural rice populations, which make the breeding of low-Cd rice a cost-effective way to mitigate grain-Cd accumulation.

The current symbiotic view of the organisms also calls for new approaches in the way we perceive and manage our pest species. The olive fruit fly, the most important olive tree pest, is dependent on an obligate bacterial symbiont to its larvae development in the immature fruit. This symbiont, Candidatus (Ca.) Erwinia dacicola, is prevalent throughout the host life stages, and we have shown significant changes in its numbers due to olive fruit fly metamorphosis.

Journal of Food Safety, EarlyView. Zearalenone (ZEN) is one of the most common mycotoxin contaminants worldwide. In this study, a phage-based direct competitive fluorescence immunosorbent assay (P-dcFLISA) was developed for the detection of ZEN. In this P-dcFLISA, phage mimotope was used to replace chemically synthesized antigens to improve the safety of experiments.

Cryptosporidium spp. can cause diarrhea and even death in humans and animals. Host microRNAs (miRNAs) play an important role in the post-transcriptional regulation of the innate immune response to Cryptosporidium infection. To study host miRNA activity in the innate immune response to C. parvum infection, we examined the expression of miR-181d in HCT-8 cells infected with C.

Cholera is a life-threatening diarrheal disease caused by the human pathogenic bacterium Vibrio cholerae. Regulatory elements are essential for bacterial transition between the natural aquatic environment and the human host. One of them is the alternative sigma factor RpoS and its anti-sigma factor RssB. Regulation principles seem to be conserved among RpoS/RssB interaction modes between V.

It is urgent to solve the contamination of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in food and water. In this study, the mesoporous silica was prepared from rice husk, which was then magnetized using the precipitation technique, followed by amino-modification with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane, forming amino-grafted magnetic mesoporous silica (NMMS).

Vermicompost (VC) harbours diverse microbes, including plant growth-promoting microorganisms (PGPM) that are beneficial for sustainable crop production. Hence, this study aimed to analyse bacterial diversity of VC samples as a first high-throughput screening step towards subsequent targeted isolation of potential bacterial inoculum candidates.

Registered pharmacological treatments are insufficiently effective for erectile dysfunction (ED) in around 30% of affected men. Intracavernosal injection (ICI) of ona- and abobotulinumtoxinA can reduce ED in insufficient responders. We aimed to assess the safety and effectiveness of incobotulinumtoxinA ICI as an add-on therapy to phosphodiesterase-type 5 inhibitors (PDE5-Is) or prostaglandinE1 ICIs (PGE1 ICIs) to treat ED that did not respond sufficiently to this treatment alone.

In the last decade, foodborne outbreaks and individual cases caused by bacterial toxins showed an increasing trend. The major contributors are enterotoxins and cereulide produced by Bacillus cereus, which can cause a diarrheal and emetic form of the disease, respectively. These diseases usually induce relatively mild symptoms; however, fatal cases have been reported.

Epsilon toxin (Etx) from Clostridium perfringens is the third most potent toxin after the botulinum and tetanus toxins. Etx is the main agent of enterotoxemia in ruminants and is produced by Clostridium perfringens toxinotypes B and D, causing great economic losses. Etx selectively binds to target cells, oligomerizes and inserts into the plasma membrane, and forms pores.