Research Publications (Food Safety)

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant hepatic tumor with a poor prognosis, which needs early diagnosis urgently. The gut microbiota has been shown to play a crucial role in the progression of liver cancer. Here, we explored a gut microbiota model covering genera Burkholderia-Caballeronia-Paraburkholderia, Faecalibacterium, and Ruminococcus_1 (B-F-R) for CCA early diagnosis. A case-control study was conducted to enroll 53 CCA patients, 47 cholelithiasis patients, and 40 healthy controls.

The gram-negative bacterium Vibrio cholerae causes the life-threatening diarrheal disease cholera, which is spread through the ingestion of contaminated food or water. Cholera epidemics occur largely in developing countries that lack proper infrastructure to treat sewage and provide clean water. Numerous vertebrate fish species have been found to be natural V. cholerae hosts. Based on these findings, zebrafish (Danio rerio) have been developed as a natural host model for V. cholerae.

A major increase of bacterial resistance to colistin, a last-resort treatment for severe infections, was observed globally. Using colistin in livestock rearing is believed to be the ground of mobilized colistin resistance (mcr) gene circulation and is of crucial concern to public health. This study aimed to determine the frequency and virulence characteristics of colistin-resistant Gram-negative bacteria from the milk of mastitic cows and raw unpasteurized milk in Egypt.

Slit lamps are routinely used to examine large numbers of patients every day due to high throughput. Previous, cultivation-based results suggested slit lamps to be contaminated with bacteria, mostly coagulase-negative staphylococci, followed by micrococci, bacilli, but also Staphylococcus aureus.

Salmonella Typhimurium is a common pathogen infecting the gastrointestinal tract of humans and animals, causing host gastroenteritis and typhoid fever. Heat shock protein (HtpG) as a molecular chaperone is involved in the various cellular processes of bacteria, especially under environmental stress. However, the potential association of HtpG with S. Typhimurium infection remains unknown. In this study, we clarified that HtpG could also play a role as an effector in S. Typhimurium infection.

Hookworm is one type of soil-transmitted helminth, which could exert an anti-inflammatory effect in human or animal host, which provides a beneficial possibility for the discovery of inflammatory-related disease interventions. The identification of hookworm-derived anti-inflammatory molecules is urgently needed for future translational research. The emergence of metabolomics has become a powerful approach to comprehensively characterize metabolic alterations in recent times.

The rise of Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) represents an increasing threat to patient safety and healthcare systems worldwide. Citrobacter spp., long considered not to be a classical nosocomial pathogen, in contrast to Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli, is fast gaining importance as a clinical multidrug-resistant pathogen. We analyzed the genomes of 512 isolates of 21 CRE species obtained from 61 hospitals within a three-year-period and found that Citrobacter spp. (C.

While most bacterial species taken up by macrophages are degraded through processing of the bacteria-containing vacuole through the endosomal-lysosomal degradation pathway, intravacuolar pathogens have evolved to evade degradation through the endosomal-lysosomal pathway.

Listeria monocytogenes causes severe foodborne illness in pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. After the intestinal phase of infection, the liver plays a central role in the clearance of this pathogen through its important functions in immunity. However, recent evidence suggests that during long-term infection of hepatocytes, a subpopulation of Listeria may escape eradication by entering a persistence phase in intracellular vacuoles.

Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is a common disease, the incidence of which is increasing according to Western lifestyle; it remains to have a poor prognosis. Western nutriments are presumed to induce mild inflammation within the colonic mucosa, resulting in the accumulation of DNA alterations in colonocytes through a multistage carcinogenesis process. This suggests that most CRCs are related to the environment.

RNF213 is a large, poorly characterized interferon-induced protein. Mutations in RNF213 are associated with predisposition for Moyamoya disease (MMD), a rare cerebrovascular disorder. Recently, RNF213 was found to have broad antimicrobial activity in vitro and in vivo, yet the molecular mechanisms behind this function remain unclear.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex endocrine disorder that affects women. It can be accompanied by many clinical manifestations that can vary between individuals. Previous studies have found that there are specific changes in the intestinal flora of PCOS patients, and interventions to modify the intestinal flora can significantly improve the symptoms of PCOS. Women with PCOS have a higher incidence of vaginitis compared to healthy women.

Coxiella burnetii is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium and the causative agent of a worldwide zoonosis known as Q fever. The pathogen invades monocytes and macrophages, replicating within acidic phagolysosomes and evading host defenses through different immune evasion strategies that are mainly associated with the structure of its lipopolysaccharide. The main transmission routes are aerosols and ingestion of fomites from infected animals.

Many bacterial species, including Vibrio cholerae (the pathogen that causes cholera), enter a physiologically viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state at low temperature or in conditions of low nutrition; this is a survival strategy to resist environmental stress. Identification, detection, and differentiation of VBNC cells and nonviable cells are essential for both microbiological study and disease surveillance/control. Enumeration of VBNC cells requires an accurate method.

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is a common enteric pathogen that causes diarrhoea in humans and animals. Lactobacillus rhamnosus LB1 (formerly named Lactobacillus zeae LB1) has been shown to reduce ETEC infection to Caenorhabditis elegans and Salmonella burden in pigs. This study was to evaluate the effect of L. rhamnosus LB1 on the gut health of lactating piglets that were challenged with ETEC.

With the widespread use of antibacterial drugs and increasing number of immunocompromised patients, pulmonary fungal infections are becoming more common. However, the incidence of pulmonary fungal and bacterial co-infection is rarely reported.

The GeneLEAD VIII (Diagenode, Belgium) is a new, fully automated, sample-to-result precision instrument for the extraction of DNA and PCR detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) directly from clinical samples. The Deeplex Myc-TB® assay (Genoscreen, France) is a diagnostic kit based on the deep sequencing of a 24-plexed amplicon mix allowing simultaneously the detection of resistance to 13 antituberculous (antiTB) drugs and the determination of spoligotype.

Toxoplasma gondii, an opportunistic protozoan, infects one-third of people worldwide and could lead to serious outcomes in immunodeficient or immunocompromised populations. The present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for T. gondii infection among high-risk populations in Jiangsu Province, eastern China.

The molecular epidemiology and biological characteristics of Escherichia coli associated with hemorrhagic pneumonia (HP) mink from five Chinese Provinces were determined. From 2017 to 2019, 85 E. coli strains were identified from 115 lung samples of mink suffering from HP.

Giardiasis is one of the most common gastrointestinal infections worldwide, mainly in developing countries. The etiological agent is the Giardia lamblia parasite. Giardiasis mainly affects children and immunocompromised people, causing symptoms such as diarrhea, dehydration, abdominal cramps, nausea, and malnutrition.

Listeria monocytogenes remains a significant public health threat, causing invasive listeriosis manifested as septicemia, meningitis, and abortion, with up to 30% of cases having a fatal outcome. Tracking the spread of invasive listeriosis requires an updated knowledge for virulence factors (VFs) and antimicrobial resistance features, which is an essential step toward its clinical diagnosis and treatment.

Objective

The opportunistic pathogen Streptococcus gallolyticus is one of the few intestinal bacteria that has been consistently linked to colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed to identify novel S. gallolyticus-induced pathways in colon epithelial cells that could further explain how S. gallolyticus contributes to CRC development.

Design and Results

Background

Over the last two decades, the prevalence of colistin resistance among the members of Enterobacteriaceae has been increasing, particularly among Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates; this limits the potential use of colistin and leads to worsened clinical outcomes.

Methods

We investigated the prevalence and genetic characteristics of colistin-resistant K. pneumoniae (COLR-KP) in clinical isolates using genomic sequencing.

Results

The acute radiation-induced intestinal injury (RIII) has raised much concerns and is influenced by non-cytocidal radiation effects including the perturbations in gut microbiota. Although a number of studies have reported alteration in gut microbiota following radiation, little is known about its dynamic variation in the progression of acute RIII.

Toxoplasma gondii is a worldwide zoonotic protozoan. Donkeys are often susceptible to many pathological agents, acting as carriers of pathogens for other animal species and humans. However, data on the prevalence of T. gondii in donkeys during lactation and on the status of antibodies against T. gondii in donkey milk are lacking. A cross-sectional study evaluated the variation of the anti-T. gondii antibodies in the blood and milk of domestic donkeys during lactation.