PHA; antibiotic

UNLABELLED: Chlamydia trachomatis is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted infections in the US and of preventable blindness worldwide. This obligate intracellular pathogen replicates within a membrane-bound inclusion, but how it acquires nutrients from the host while avoiding detection by the innate immune system is incompletely understood. C. trachomatis accomplishes this in part through the translocation of a unique set of effectors into the inclusion membrane, the inc lusion membrane proteins (Incs)...

Ectoine, a crucial osmoprotectant for salt adaptation in halophiles, has gained growing interest in cosmetics and medical industries. However, its production remains challenged by stringent fermentation process in model microorganisms and low production level in its native producers. Here, we systematically engineered the native ectoine producer Halomonas bluephagenesis for ectoine production by overexpressing ectABC operon, increasing precursors availability, enhancing product transport system and optimizing its growth medium...

We present a case of transient form of type 1 pseudohypoaldosteronism (S-PHA) in a 1.5-month-old male infant who presented with lethargy, failure to thrive, severe hyponatremia (Na=118 mmol/L), hypochloremia (Cl=93 mmol/L) and fever due to urinary tract infection. Potassium levels were normal. Markedly elevated serum aldosterone level and elevated serum renin confirmed the diagnosis of pseudohypoaldosteronism. Renal ultrasound showed grade III hydronephrosis on the left kidney while contrast-enhanced voiding urosonography excluded the existence of vesicoureteral reflux, which raised suspicion of obstructive uropathy at the level of vesicoureteral junction...

BACKGROUND: Pyogenic hepatic abscess (PHA) is a collection of pus in the liver caused by bacterial infection of the liver parenchyma. PHA is more common in immunosuppressed individuals and those with diabetes mellitus, cancer, and liver transplant. CASE PRESENTATION: We present a rare case of PHA with Fusobacterium nucleatum in an immunocompetent patient with poor oral health, history of diverticulitis, and recent COVID-19 infection whose only symptoms were chest pain and a 4-week history of fever and malaise...

Antibiotics and microplastics (MPs) coexisting as unique environmental contaminants may cause unintended environmental issues. In this study, the adsorption-desorption behaviors of sulfamethoxazole (SMX) on both original and UV-aged MPs were examined. Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polyethylene (PE), which represent degradable and refractory MPs, respectively, were chosen as two distinct types of MPs. Furthermore, simulated fish intestinal fluids (SFIF) and simulated mammalian stomach fluids (SMGF) were employed to evaluate the desorption behaviors of SMX from aged MPs...

Because of the excellent properties, plastics have been widely used in the past decades and caused serious environmental issues. As an excellent substitute for conventional plastics, the biodegradable plastics have attracted increasing attention. However, biodegradable plastics may produce more micro/nanoplastics in the short time compared with conventional plastics, and cause more serious ecological risks. In this study, the short-term toxicity of nanoplastics released from biodegradable and conventional plastics on Streptomyces coelicolor M145 was investigated...

Poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) is a biodegradable and biocompatible biopolymer that has gained popularity in the field of biomedicine. This review provides an overview of recent advances and potential applications of PHBV, with special emphasis on drug encapsulation and scaffold construction. PHBV has shown to be a versatile platform for drug delivery, offering controlled release, enhanced therapeutic efficacy, and reduced side effects. The encapsulation of various drugs, such as anticancer agents, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory drugs, in PHBV nanoparticles or microspheres has been extensively investigated, demonstrating enhanced drug stability, prolonged release kinetics, and increased bioavailability...

SETTING: Twenty poultry farms in five provinces of Nepal were selected for studying bacterial pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns. OBJECTIVE: To document the proportion of cloacal swabs collected from 3,230 broiler and 3,230 layer chickens from September to December 2021 that grew isolates of Escherichia coli , Enterococcus spp. and Salmonella spp. along with their AMR patterns. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study...

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) have caused widespread concern because of their potential harm to environmental safety and human health. As substitutes for conventional plastics, the toxic effects of short-term degradation products of biodegradable plastics (polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA)) on bacteria and their impact on ARGs transfer were the focus of this study. After 60 days of degradation, more secondary nanoplastics were released from the biodegradable plastics PLA and PHA than that from the conventional plastics polystyrene (PS)...

The 2011 Infectious Diseases Society of America guidelines for treatment of uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) recommend non-β-lactam antibiotics for empiric therapy. However, increasing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. resistance to first-line antibiotic therapies has necessitated the need for alternative agents. Based on local antibiogram data, cephalexin has become the preferred oral antibiotic for empiric treatment of UTIs at our institution. The purpose of this single-center retrospective review was to assess clinical outcomes of patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) who received cephalexin for the treatment of uncomplicated UTIs...

Extremophiles are the most fascinating life forms for their special adaptations and ability to offer unique extremozymes or bioactive molecules. Halophiles, the natural inhabitants of hypersaline environments, are one among them. Halomonas are the common genus of halophilic bacteria. To support growth in unusual environments, Halomonas produces various hydrolytic enzymes, compatible solutes, biopolymers like extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) and polyhydroxy alkaloates (PHA), antibiotics, biosurfactants, pigments, etc...

Recovering and converting carbon and nutrients in waste streams into healthy single-cell proteins (SCPs) can be an effective strategy to address costly waste management and support the increasing animal feed demand for the global food supply. Recently, SCPs rich in polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) have been identified as an effective biocontrol healthy feed to replace conventional antibiotics-supplemented aquaculture feed. PHB, an intercellular polymer of short-chain-length (SCL) hydroxy-fatty acids, is a common type of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) that can be microbially produced from various organics, including agro-industrial wastes...

Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus CCM 8960 is a thermophilic bacterium isolated from compost in Brno. The bacterium accumulates polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a biodegradable and renewable alternative to petrochemical polymers. The bacterium reveals several features that make it a very interesting candidate for the industrial production of PHA. At first, due to its thermophilic character, the bacterium can be utilized in agreement with the concept of next-generation industrial biotechnology (NGIB), which relies on extremophiles...

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) are microbial polymers that have received widespread attention in recent decades as potential alternatives to some petrochemical-based plastics. However, widespread use of PHA is often impeded by its cost of production. Therefore, the search for and systematic investigation of versatile microbial PHA producers capable of using various carbon sources, even in the form of animal fats, for PHA biosynthesis is desirable. This study highlights the PHA production capacity, monomer composition and molecular weight synthesized by Burkholderia cepacia JC-1, a locally isolated strain from soil, from various carbon sources...

BACKGROUND: The level of antibiotic resistance of pathogens causing uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) is increasing. The 2017-2018 GLASS (Global Antimicrobial Resistance and Use Surveillance System) report indicated >70% resistance to ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin in Escherichia coli in Pakistan. METHODS: A prospective study was conducted in the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) supported Timurgara District Hospital, Timurgara, Pakistan, from September 2017 to December 2018...

SETTING: There are concerns about the occurrence of multidrug resistance (MDR) in patients with urine tract infections (UTI) in Nepal. OBJECTIVE: To determine culture positivity, trends in MDR among Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae infections and seasonal changes in culture-positive UTI specimens isolated from 2014 to 2018 at the B P Koirala Institute of Health Sciences, Dharan, Eastern Nepal. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study using secondary laboratory data...

SETTING: Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. OBJECTIVES: 1) To report the number and proportion of Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Burkholderia , Stenotrophomonas (PABS) species among intensive care unit (ICU) patients with sputum culture; and 2) to assess antimicrobial resistance patterns, demographic and clinical characteristics associated with resistance to at least one antibiotic and ICU discharge outcomes among those patients with PABS species admitted to hospital between 14 April 2018 and 13 April 2019...

OBJECTIVE: To determine antimicrobial resistance patterns and prevalence of multi- (MDR, i.e., resistant to ⩾3 classes of antimicrobial agents) and extensively (XDR, i.e., resistant to ⩾3, susceptible to ⩽2 groups of antibiotics) drug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa . METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Nepal Mediciti Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal, using standard microbiological methods with Kirby Bauer disc diffusion to identify antimicrobial susceptibility...

SETTING: Patan Hospital, a tertiary care hospital in Lalitpur District, Nepal. OBJECTIVES: To describe the annual parenteral antibiotic consumption in 1) defined daily dose (DDD) and DDD per 100 admissions; 2) calculate DDD per 100 admissions and proportions by pharmacological subgroup, chemical subgroup and AWaRe categories; and 3) describe patient expenditure on parenteral antibiotics as a proportion of the total patient expenditure on drugs and consumables between 2017 and 2019...

SETTING: Patan Hospital, Lalitpur, Nepal. OBJECTIVES: To describe 1) the prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and its antibiotic sensitivity pattern; 2) the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with MRSA infections; and 3) the treatment outcomes of in-patients with MRSA infection among patients with S. aureus infection between January 2018 and December 2020. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study using electronic and paper-based hospital records of patients with S...