Research Publications (Food Safety)

Diseases caused by harmful microorganisms pose a serious threat to human health. Safe and environment-friendly disinfectants are, therefore, essential in preventing and controlling such pathogens. This study aimed to investigate the antimicrobial activity and mechanism of a novel hydrogen peroxide and silver (H 2 O 2 -Ag + ) complex (HSC) in combatting Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 29213, Escherichia coli O157:H7 NCTC 12900 and Salmonella typhimurium SL 1344.

Based upon regulatory and food industry-driven food safety standards, there is a need for rapid, accurate methods for assessing sanitary conditions. A commonly utilized assay is based on the assessment of the biochemical molecule, adenosine triphosphate (ATP). A more recent assay (AXP) targets the cumulative presence of ATP and its dephosphorylated homologues, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and adenosine monophosphate (AMP).

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-021-11421-9

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aim
The study examined the hypothesis that crow-borne Campylobacter can function as environmental reservoirs and indicators of antibiotic resistance (AR) determinants circulating in a human population.

Journal of Applied Microbiology, Accepted Article. Aims
Despite the recent prosperity of shrimp cultivation in China, very little is known about how different shrimp farming models influence the dynamics of V. parahaemolyticus populations and the antibiotic resistance of this bacterium.

International Journal of Food Science & Technology, Accepted Article. The development of effective natural antibacterial agents is important due to the insecurity of synthetic antimicrobial agents and consumer preferences. In this study, kojic acid (KA) and tea polyphenols (TP) were found to exhibit synergistic inhibitory effect against Escherichia coli O157:H7 with a fractional inhibitory concentration index of 0.25.

Cadmium is an environmental pollutant with high toxicity that negatively affects plant growth and development. To understand the molecular mechanisms of plant response to cadmium stress, we have performed a genome-wide transcriptome analysis on barley plants treated with an increased concentration of cadmium. Differential gene expression analysis revealed 10,282 deregulated transcripts present in the roots and 7,104 in the shoots.

Human norovirus (HuNoV) is the leading cause of epidemic acute gastroenteritis worldwide. Type I interferons (IFN)-α/β are highly potent cytokines that are initially identified for their essential roles in antiviral defense. It was reported that HuNoV infection did not induce IFN-β expression but was controlled in the presence of IFN-β in human intestinal enteroids and a gnotobiotic pig model, suggesting that HuNoV has likely developed evasion countermeasures.

Brucella is a facultatively intracellular bacterial pathogen and the cause of worldwide zoonotic infections, infamous for its ability to evade the immune system and persist chronically within host cells. Despite the frequent association with attenuation in other Gram-negative bacteria, a rough lipopolysaccharide phenotype is retained by Brucella canis and Brucella ovis, which remain fully virulent in their natural canine and ovine hosts, respectively.

Antibiotic-resistant ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) has become a serious threat to public health worldwide. Cationic α-helical antimicrobial peptides (CαAMPs) have attracted much attention as promising solutions in post-antibiotic era. However, strong hemolytic activity and in vivo inefficacy have hindered their pharmaceutical development.

Aerobactin is a citrate-hydroxamate siderophore that is critical for the virulence of pathogenic enteric bacteria. However, although the aerobactin-producing iucABCD-iutA operon is distributed widely in the genomes of Yersinia species, none of the pathogenic Yersinia spp. was found to produce aerobactin. Here, we showed that the iucABCD-iutA operon in the food-borne enteric pathogen Yersinia pseudotuberculosis YPIII is a functional siderophore system involved in iron acquisition.

Consistent with the concept of ecosystem sustainability—defined as ‘the ability of an ecosystem to maintain its potential for self-regulation in the long term’ (Bender, Wagg and van der Heijden 2016)—sustainable agricultural production aims to meet future food, feed and fibre demands with the given natural resources and without adverse environmental impact or greater land consumption.

We presented a development of a custom lead shield and mouse strainer for targeted irradiation from the gamma-cell chamber. This study was divided into two parts i.e., to (i) fabricate the shield and strainer from a lead (Pb) and (ii) optimize the irradiation to the mice-bearing tumour model with 2 and 8 Gy absorbed doses. The lead shielding was fabricated into a cuboid shape with a canal on the top and a hole on the vertical side for the beam path.

by Chinwe Juliana Iwu-Jaja, Anelisa Jaca, Ishmael Festus Jaja, Portia Jordan, Phelele Bhengu, Chidozie Declan Iwu, Joseph Okeibunor, Humphrey Karamagi, Prosper Tumusiime, Walter Fuller, Ali Ahmed Yahaya, Charles Wiysonge, Laetitia Gahimbare

Introduction

Author(s): Bruno Montijo Silva, Willian Cristof Correia Queiroz, Maerle Oliveira Maia, Richard de Campos Pacheco, Daniel Moura Aguiar, Maíza Souza Campos, Katia Denise Saraiva Bresciani, Alvimar José Costa, Ana Amélia Domingues Gomes, Thais Rabelo Santos-Doni

Author(s): Ruben A. Chavez, Xianbin Cheng, Tim J. Herrman, Matthew J. Stasiewicz

Author(s): Xuefen Li, Zhumei Ren, M. James C. Crabbe, Lan Wang, Wenli Ma

Author(s): Ruyi Yang, Yuhuan He, Linfeng Luo, Meng Zhu, Shuting Zan, Fuyu Guo, Bo Wang, Beibei Yang

Author(s): Imran Khan, Samrah Afzal Awan, Muhammad Rizwan, Shafaqat Ali, Muhammad Jawad Hassan, Marian Brestic, Xinquan Zhang, Linkai Huang

Author(s): Kotoyo Suganuma, Takashi Hamasaki, Tomohiro Hamaoka

Antibiotic resistance is regarded as one of the most serious threats to human health worldwide. The rapid increase in resistance rates has been attributed to the extensive use of antibiotics since they became commercially available. The use of antibiotics as growth promotors has been banned in numerous regions for this reason. Mannan-rich fraction (MRF) has been reported to show similar growth-promoting effects to antibiotics.

The real-world use of onabotulinumtoxinA and incobotulinumtoxinA for cervical dystonia and blepharospasm treatment was assessed in two separate retrospective studies using identical protocols (TRUDOSE and TRUDOSE II). The studies were conducted in Mexico, Norway, and United Kingdom and designed to evaluate dose utilization of the two botulinum toxins in clinical practice.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the predominant bacteria isolated from skin and soft tissue infections and a common cause of bloodstream infections. The aim of this study was to compare the rate of resistance to various antimicrobial agents and virulence patterns in a total of 200 S. aureus strains isolated from patients with bacteremia and chronic wounds.

The synthesis and biological activity of several novel nitrothiazole, nitrobenzothiazole, and nitrofuran containing antimicrobial agents for the eradication of biofilm-forming Gram-negative and Gram-positive pathogens is described.

International Journal of Food Science & Technology, Accepted Article. The present study investigated the effect of ripening stages and chemical precursors on acrylamide formation in deep-fried chips of five plantains and one cooking banana. The highest level of acrylamide was found in the cooking banana, followed by False Horn plantain and French plantain, respectively.