Computers ; Klebsiella ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus ; isolation & purification

Aims: This study was aimed to screen indigenous medicinal plants for their antibacterial potential against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Methodology and results: Three indigenous plants (Nigella sativa, Zingiber officinale and Calotropis procera) and thymoquinone were screened for antibacterial activity against MRSA, isolated from septic wounds of patients admitted to Mayo Hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Isolated bacteria were screened for methicillin and cefoxitin resistance by the Kirby-Bauer method, followed by mecA gene-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Confirmed MRSA was processed for antibacterial activity of plant extracts and thymoquinone followed by cytotoxicity assay of plant extract having least minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value. Out of total samples (n=100), S. aureus (29%), MRSA (26%) and vancomycin-resistant S. aureus (VRSA) (21.7%) isolates were recovered based on morphology, biochemical profile and antibiotic susceptibility testing. Nigella sativa showed the highest antibacterial activity (10.06 ± 6.53 mm) against MRSA followed by Z. officinale (4.06 ± 3.72 mm) and C. procera (3.65 ± 3.33 mm) in comparison to standard thymoquinone (17.93 ± 10.14 mm). The least MIC value recorded was for Z. officinale at 36.89 ± 3.75 μg/mL. Zingiber officinale was the most effective antibacterial agent, followed by N. sativa and C. procera and non-toxic for eukaryotic cells at all tested concentrations (1500 μg/mL to 2.92 μg/mL). Conclusion, significance and impact of study It was concluded that Z. officinale may be used as an effective alternative for treating septic wound infection in local or topical preparations. As pathogenic S. aureus is becoming life-threatening among antibiotic-resistant bacteria and traditional plants are in used for centuries to treat septic wound infections.
Plants, Medicinal ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus--isolation & ; purification ;

OBJECTIVE: To establish a scientific foundation for cosmetic supervision and administration based on the analysis of the sanitary quality of cosmetics in Hunan Province during 2010. METHODS: According to Cosmetic Sanitary Standards (set by the Ministry of Health, People's Republic of China), 150 random samples of cosmetics in Hunan were assayed both for microbial items (including total plate count, fungus and yeast, fecal coliform, staphylococcus aureus, pseudomonas aeruginosa) and chemical items (including 17 kinds of prohibited substances and 14 kinds of restricted substances). RESULTS: The total rate of cosmetics failing to meet the standards was 22.0% of the 150 samples; specific rates for failing perfumes, skin care products (eye cream) and deodorant products were, relatively, 70.6%, 60.00%, and 44.4%. Four kinds of prohibited substances, including diethyl phthalate, acrylamide, asbestos and neodymium, as well as 2 kinds of restricted substances, including triclosan and formaldehyde, were found to exceed standards. None of microbial items exceeded standard levels. CONCLUSION The sanitary quality control of cosmetics is lax. Administrative departments should not only reinforce their post-production supervision with respect to cosmetics, but also consolidate their control over the process of cosmetic production in order to solve the problem of toxic residues or illegal and intentional adulterations.
China ; Cosmetics ; analysis ; chemistry ; standards ; Formaldehyde ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Phthalic Acids ; isolation & purification ; Quality Control ; Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo study the differences of theantimicrobial-resistant profiles between the isolates of Staphylococci aureu from children and from adults.

METHODSStaphylococci was identified by the plasma coagulase test, Staphylococci monoclonal antibody and VITEK-32 fully automated microbiology analyzer.Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by the K-B disk diffusion for 84 Staphylococci isolates from children and 74 Staphylococci isolates from adults. Cefoxitin was used for detecting methillicin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) by the disk diffusion test.

RESULTSSeven (8%) MRSA isolates were found in Staphylococci isolates from children compared with 35 MRSA isolates (47%) in those from adults (p<0.01). All strains were susceptible to vancomycin. All strains from children were susceptible to fusidic acid. The resistant rates of the isolates from children to cefazolin, cefuroxime, gentamicin, cefoxitin, and levofloxacin were significantly lower than those from adults (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONSThe antimicrobial resistance of the Staphylococcus aureus isolates from adults is more prevalent than that in the isolates from children.

Adult ; Child ; Drug Resistance, Bacterial ; Humans ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Staphylococcus aureus ; drug effects

Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis strains isolated at eight large medical centers in Korea were examined for methicillin resistance and resistance to eight other antibiotics; cefazolin, cefamandole, cefuroxime, cefoxitin, cefotaxime, moxalactam, penicillin G and vancomycin. Methicillin resistance was found in 296 of 1225 strains (24.2%) of S. aureus and 126 of 348 strains (36.2%) of S. epidermidis. Methicillinresistant strains were isolated from all sources with the frequency of isolation ranging from 11% to 60%. From pleural effusion, throat swab and blood, methicillin-resistant strains of S. aureus were more frequently isolated with statistical significance (Chi-squared test, 95% confidence). Almost all of Methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) and S. epidermidis (MRSE) strains were multiply resistant to one or more tested eight antibiotics. However only 7(2.4%) of 296 MRSA strains and 2(1.6%) of 126 MRSE strains were resistant to vancomycin. Vancomycin was the most effective antibiotic against staphylococcal isolates as well as MRSA and MRSE.
Anti-Bacterial Agents/*pharmacology ; Cross Infection/microbiology ; Drug Resistance, Microbial ; Humans ; Korea ; Staphylococcal Infections/microbiology ; Staphylococcus aureus/*drug effects/isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus epidermidis/*drug effects/isolation & purification

OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to establish the method of expression and purification of EsxB protein, explore the EsxB antibody-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) clinical infection status and relevance of drug resistance.

METHODSConstructed EsxB prokaryotic expression system by homologous recombination, Ni(2+) column was used to purify EsxB protein; and then ELISA was used to detect the anti-EsxB antibodies in serum of 78 patients with S. aureus infection; antimicrobial susceptibility of related S. aureus strains by automatic bacterial identification analyzer.

RESULTSEsxB prokaryotic protein expression system was constructed and EsxB protein was purified successfully; anti-EsxB antibodies were present in the serum of patients with S. aureus infection up to 28.21% (22/78). The proportion of multi-drug resistant and Methicillin-resistant S. aureus strains isolated from anti-EsxB antibodies positive patients were 100.0% (22/22), 77.3% (17/22), respectively, which were statistically higher than those strains isolated from anti-EsxB antibody-negative patients (35.7% (20/56) and 21.4% (12/56), respectively) (all P values < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONMethod for expression and purification of EsxB protein was established. All the S. aureus strains isolated from EsxB antibody-positive patients were multidrug resistant strains and most of them were resistant to methicillin.

Anti-Bacterial Agents ; pharmacology ; Bacterial Proteins ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; isolation & purification ; Humans ; Methicillin ; pharmacology ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification

The oral microbial community is widely regarded as a latent reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes. This study assessed the molecular epidemiology, susceptibility profile, and resistance mechanisms of 35 methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) strains isolated from the dental plaque of a healthy human population. Broth microdilution minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) revealed that all the isolates were nonsusceptible to oxacillin and penicillin G. Most of them were also resistant to trimethoprim (65.7%) and erythromycin (54.3%). The resistance to multiple antibiotics was found to be largely due to the acquisition of plasmid-borne genes. The mecA and dfrA genes were found in all the isolates, mostly dfrG (80%), aacA-aphD (20%), aadD (28.6%), aphA3 (22.9%), msrA (5.7%), and the ermC gene (14.3%). Classical mutational mechanisms found in these isolates were mainly efflux pumps such as qacA (31.4%), qacC (25.7%), tetK (17.1%), and norA (8.6%). Multilocus sequence type analysis revealed that sequence type 59 (ST59) strains comprised 71.43% of the typed isolates, and the eBURST algorithm clustered STs into the clonal complex 2-II(CC2-II). The staphyloccoccal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type results showed that 25 (71.43%) were assigned to type IV. Moreover, 88.66% of the isolates were found to harbor six or more biofilm-associated genes. The aap, atlE, embp, sdrF, and IS256 genes were detected in all 35 isolates. This research demonstrates that biofilm-positive multiple-antibiotic-resistant ST59-SCCmec IV S. epidermidis strains exist in the dental plaque of healthy people and may be a potential risk for the transmission of antibiotic resistance.
Anti-Bacterial Agents ; therapeutic use ; Dental Plaque ; microbiology ; Female ; Humans ; Methicillin ; Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcal Infections ; diagnosis ; Staphylococcus epidermidis ; isolation & purification

We developed single base extension-tags (SBE-tags) microarray to detect eight common food-borne pathogens, including Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Enterobacter sakazaki, Shigella, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Campylobacter jejuni. With specific PCR primers identified and integrated for eight food-borne pathogens, target sequences were amplified and purified as template DNA of single base extension-tags reaction. The products were hybridized to microarrays and scanned for fluorescence intensity. The experiment showed a specific and simultaneous detection of eight food-borne pathogens. The system limits is 0.1 pg for a genomic DNA and 5x10(2) CFU/mL for Salmonella typhimurium cultures. The single base extension-tags assay can be used to detect food-borne pathogens rapidly and accurately with a high sensitivity, and provide an efficient way for diagnosis and control of disease caused by food-borne pathogens.
Food Contamination ; analysis ; Food Microbiology ; Humans ; Listeria monocytogenes ; isolation & purification ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; methods ; Salmonella typhimurium ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification ; Vibrio parahaemolyticus ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo develop a new sampling medium for detecting of bioaerosols.

METHODSThe sampling media were tested by using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcescens under static and active conditions, preliminary applications were performed using AGI-10 and high volume sampler.

RESULTSThe average recovery rates were raised to 24.7%, 58.2%, 40.5%, 44.1%, 20.5%, and 15.4%, respectively in six consecutive experiments under static condition for 60 min at room temperature. Four kinds of sampling media were singled out after static experiments, which were referred to as "samplutions" PD1, PX2, TD1, and TX2, respectively. Under the active condition, the protective efficacy of PD1, PX2, TD1, and TX2 was 226% (153/47), 553% (111/17), 150% (120/48), and 268% (419/114), respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe samplutions have some effects on the subsequent nucleic acid detection, which could be avoided by employing standard nucleic acid extraction procedure. The newly developed samplution can be applied to the detection of bioaerosols.

Aerosols ; analysis ; Air Microbiology ; Air Pollutants ; analysis ; Environmental Monitoring ; methods ; Escherichia coli ; isolation & purification ; Nucleic Acids ; isolation & purification ; Sampling Studies ; Serratia marcescens ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification

OBJECTIVETo establish the validation method and criteria for counting bacteria and fungi in microbial limit test which is described in the Pharmacopeia of China (ChP) 2005.

METHODAccording to the method set up for validation, the tested microorganisms with known counts were added to samples followed by the determination of the recovery.

RESULTWith different preparing method for testing samples, the recoveries for the tested microorganisms in testing samples were found to be over 70%.

CONCLUSIONValidation method for counting contaminated bacteria and fungi in drugs is recommended to follow the method established in this paper. The recovery for tested microorganisms should be not less than 70%.

Aspergillus niger ; isolation & purification ; Bacillus subtilis ; isolation & purification ; Bacteria ; isolation & purification ; Candida albicans ; isolation & purification ; Colony Count, Microbial ; methods ; Drug Contamination ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; standards ; Escherichia coli ; isolation & purification ; Fungi ; isolation & purification ; Staphylococcus aureus ; isolation & purification