Enrichment and Identification of Askarel oil (PCB blend) degrading bacteria enriched from landfill sites in Edo State, Nigeria.

Microbial degradation following aerobic biodegradation is one of the means used by microorganisms for the removal of persistent organic pollutants from the soil. Bacterial species namely: Pseudomonas, Micrococcus Arthrobacter and Acinetobacter capable of utilizing askarel oil (PCBs blend) were isolated from landfill soil samples from Uzogholo, Mgboaku and Auchi in Edo State of Nigeria. The isolation of these bacterial species followed an enrichment in minimal salt media were Askarel oil served as the sole carbon source. These bacterial isolates were characterized based on their cultural, morphological, biochemical characteristics and comparison with standard reference organisms. The potentials of these bacterial species to utilize askarel oil were assessed by measuring changes in the turbidity and pH of the enrichment medium containing varying concentrations of the Askarel oil. From the weekly results obtained, significant increases in the mean turbidity ranged between (0.065- 0.371) and decreases in mean pH ranged between (6.15- 3.55) for the 21 days incubation period. Some of the bacterial organisms exhibited remarkable utilization of askarel oil at different concentrations in 15μL and 20μL of the askarel minimal salt medium. From these findings, the bacterial species of remarkable potential can be isolated, re-engineered via biotechnology or bioaugmentation for effective remediation of landfill sites polluted with Polychlorinated biphenyls compounds and its derivatives in Nigeria

Perlaksanaan prinsip lean dalam pendidikan

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk meninjau tahap kepuasan pelajar berdasarkan aspek dalam pendidikan Lean di Fakulti Pendidikan Teknikal dan Vokasional. Menurut pendidikan Lean, terdapat 4 aspek utama iaitu aspek maklumat, aspek aset, aspek proses dan aspek sumber manusia. Data dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan inferensi. Dalam menganalisis data secara deskriptif, skor min dipilih untuk mendapatkan ukuran manakala bagi inferensi, ujian ANOVA digunakan bagi mencari perbezaan di antara umur dan juga semester pengajian. Data dikumpulkan menggunakan instrumen soal selidik yang melibatkan sampel kajian yang terdiri daripada 230 orang pelajar-pelajar Sarjana Pendidikan Teknik Dan Vokasional di mana populasinya seramai 290 orang. Data mentah dianalisis menggunakan pakej perisian Statistical Package For Social Science (SPSS). Hasil dari analisis data menunjukkan tahap kepuasan pelajar terhadap keempat-empat aspek pendidikan Lean adalah sederhana. Dapatan juga menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbezaan tahap kepuasan pelajar mengikut umur dan juga semester pengajian secara keseluruhannya. Walau bagaimanapun, dapatan menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan dari aspek aset di antara pelajar semester 2 dengan pelajar semester 3

The Cell Wall Teichuronic Acid Synthetase (TUAS) Is an Enzyme Complex Located in the Cytoplasmic Membrane of Micrococcus luteus

The cell wall teichuronic acid (TUA) of Micrococcus luteus is a long-chain polysaccharide composed of disaccharide repeating units [-4-β-D-ManNAcAp-(1→6)α-D-Glcp−1-]n, which is covalently anchored to the peptidoglycan on the inner cell wall and extended to the outer surface of the cell envelope. An enzyme complex responsible for the TUA chain biosynthesis was purified and characterized. The 440kDa enzyme complex, named teichuronic acid synthetase (TUAS), is an octomer composed of two kinds of glycosyltransferases, Glucosyltransferase, and ManNAcA-transferase, which is capable of catalyzing the transfer of disaccharide glycosyl residues containing both glucose and the N-acetylmannosaminuronic acid residues. TUAS displays hydrophobic properties and is found primarily associated with the cytoplasmic membrane. The purified TUAS contains carotinoids and lipids. TUAS activity is diminished by phospholipase digestion. We propose that TUAS serves as a multitasking polysaccharide assembling station on the bacterial membrane.National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (Public Health Service Grants AI-08295); American Lung Association (RG-107-N

Production of lotion using neem (Azadirachta Indica A. Juss) extract

Nowadays, the most emerging disease which is arthropod borne disease cannot be prevented from vaccines and become a potential threat especially in tropical world such as America, Africa and Asia and has become a trend (Al-Hashemi et al., 2016; Biswas et al., 2002; Brian et al., 2011). One of the preventive measures is by using extracted neem oil blended into lotions for daily usage. According to Ayurveda medicine, neem (AzadirachtinIndica A. Juss) oil is widely used as a pesticide agent in India which reduce insect feeding and acts a repellent (Costa et al., 2017; Dubey et al., 2014). World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) 1989 identified neem as an environmentally powerful natural pesticide, considered to be one of the most promising tress of the 21st Century for its great potential in pest management, environment protection and medicine (Costa et al., 2017)

Microfouling of Manganese-oxidizing microorganisms in Rameswaram Coastal Waters.

Manganese oxidizing marine microorganisms was studied from the coupons of PVC, Titanium, Brass, Copper and Stainless Steel were immersed one meter below water surface, using wooden rafts. The metal coupons, Brass, Titanium and Brass were exposed for a period of six months (October 2005 to March 2006). The PVC and SS were suspended in the sea for two months (February and March 2006). Sea water samples were also collected from the study area using water sampler to estimate the physiochemical and nutrients were analyzed. The population of HB and MHB on PVC was registered as 3.62 x 107 CFU/cm2 and 2.87 x 107 CFU/cm2, respectively while on Stainless Steel the population density of HB and MHB was recorded as 3.79 x 105 CFU/cm2 and 1.34 x 105 CFU/cm2. The PVC and titanium coupons were recorded relatively higher values comparing with other coupons, and it may be due to the non-toxic nature of the substratum. Brass also recorded higher bacterial population density compared to copper. The least population density observed in copper coupons could be due to it toxic nature. The generic composition of heterotrophic bacterial strains isolated from biofilm samples, both Gram-positive and Gram-negative groups were noted on all the materials studied. The notable thing was that Gram-positive group was fond to be dominant. The genera identified under Gram-positive were Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus sp. and Micrococcus sp. and the Gram-negative strains identified as Pseudomonas sp., Salmonella sp., Vibrio sp. and Proteus sp. Among the five types of coupons tested PVC exhibited highest Mn value of 5543 mg/g. Bacterial slim samples generated on the exposed coupons were scrapped and characterized by Bergey’s method.

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The prevalence of bacterial contamination in donated blood in Dar es salaam, Tanzania

Blood transfusion services are required to provide blood and components which are safe in cost effective way for transfusion into patients who require the blood products. This study aims to determine the prevalence of bacterial contamination and the antimicrobial resistance pattern in collected blood in Eastern zone blood transfusion centre. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Eastern Zone Blood Transfusion Services located at Mchikichini, Ilala District, in Dar es Salaam. Stored whole blood bags were selected from the refrigerator containing 500 blood bags using a simple random sampling technique. About 384 blood bags were randomly picked for study, each blood bag was given an ID number (1-500), and a table of random numbers was used to select the 384 donated blood bags. Culture was done on different media; isolates were identified using standard biochemical and bacteriological methods. Kirby- Bauer disk diffusion method was used for antimicrobial susceptibility testing according to existing guidelines of CLSI. Data entry and analysis were performed using EpiInfo 3.5.1. About 11 (2.8%) were found to have bacterial contamination, of which 9 (2.3%) were gram positive cocci and 2 (0.5%) gram positive rods. The bacterial isolates were about 7 (63.6%) coagulase negative staphylococci identified as Staphylococcus epidermidis and 2 (18.2%) were micro cocci identified as M.luteus and bacilli species identified as Corynebacterium diphtheroids. Sensitivity among the organisms were varied; as all the 11 (100%) of the organisms isolated were sensitive to amikacin, of which 7 (100%) Staphylococcus epidermidis were sensitive to ciprofloxacin, gentamycine, cefriaxone, erythromycin and co-trimoxazole. Gram positive rods were tested against erythromycin and Gentamycine; where 100% were sensitive to Gentamycine and (60.5%) were sensitive to erythromycin. M.luteus were tested against ceftriaxone and gentamycin had (98%) and (97.5%) sensitivity to these antibiotics respectively. Gram positive rods showed (100%) resistant to ampicilin, cotrimoxazole and tetracycline The isolates obtained in the donated blood are skin associated organisms and are considered as contaminants related to procedure during donor bleeding or taking sample for culture

Degradation of Askarel (PCB Blend) by Indigenous Aerobic Bacteria Isolates from Dumpsites in Ore, Ondo State.Nigeria.

The removal of toxic industrial products such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) perchloroethylene (PCE) and trichloroethylene (TCE) in soils has become a daunting and necessary task. These compounds adsorb onto organic matter in the environment, making decontamination using traditional approaches difficult or ineffective. The use of microbes to transform these contaminants to non toxic degradation products is an alternative and imperative approach due to the prevalence of such organisms within the environment. In this study; the use of bacteria in the microbial degradation of polychlorinated biphenyls blend (Askarel) was explored. The notable bacteria isolated from dumpsites in Ore, Ondo state were identified using morphological and biochemical characteristics. These include: Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, Corynebacteria, Bacillus, Achromobacter and Arthrobacter species. The bacterial isolates potential to utilize Polychlorinated biphenyls blend (Askarel) as carbon source was investigated for twenty-one days period. From the results obtained, there was a general decrease in the pH and increase in mean Optical density (O.D); were the mean pH and O.D readings ranged between (3.08-6.02 and 0.060-0.557) respectively

The cross-contamination potential of mobile telephones

The use of mobile devices for professional, business, educational, personal and social purposes has accelerated exponentially over the last decade. Staff working in healthcare organisations, and patients and visitors using healthcare settings, understandably want to use mobile technology. Concerns have been raised about safety in terms of interference with equipment, and threats to privacy and dignity, yet less policy attention has been paid to infection risks. Healthcare professional students were supplied with smartphones as part of a larger educational project. Devices collected from a sub-sample of students working in operating theatre contexts were sampled to estimate the cross-contamination potential of the technology. A longitudinal multiple measures design was used. Under laboratory conditions, samples were taken from surfaces using swabbing techniques followed by contact plating. The devices were subsequently cleaned with 70% isopropyl alcohol and returned to the students. All devices demonstrated microbial contamination and over three quarters (86%) polymicrobial contamination. The technique and sites used to sample for microbial contamination influenced the levels of contamination identified. Swabbing alone was less likely to isolate polymicrobial contamination than contact plating, and some microorganisms were isolated only by contact plates and not by swabbing of the same area. The findings from this study demonstrate further research is urgently needed to inform evidence-based infection control policy on the use of personal equipment such as mobile devices in the healthcare settings where contamination may have adverse effects on patients, staff and visitors

Isolation and characterization of bacterial diversity from soils supplemented with electrical transformer fluids

Repetitive enrichment of soils samples from an agricultural land and newly marked dumpsite on electrical transformer fluid yielded six bacterial species that have the capacity to utilize electrical transformer fluids (askarel) as carbon and energy source. Bacterial species namely: Micrococcus, Arthrobacter, Pseudomonas putida, Pseudomonas spp, Norcadia and Corynebacterium were identified using morphological and biochemical characteristics. The abilities of these bacterial species to utilize the electrical transformer fluids as carbon source in minimal salt medium (MSM); sub cultured in concentrations of 5, 10, 15 and 20μL of electrical transformer fluids were investigated for twenty‐one days period. Physiological changes in terms of biomass increase were monitored by measuring the pH and optical density of the culture medium. From the results obtained, there was observed a general decrease in the pH and increase in Optical density (O.D). The mean pH and O.D readings ranged between (4.34‐6.13 and 0.073‐0.386) respectively. The decreased pH could justify for the acidic metabolites produced in the course of utilization of askarel as growth substrates. This study suggested that, the tropical ecosystems can provide exotic bacterial species that are capable of degrading or mineralizing polychlorinated biphenyls and their derivatives from dumpsites and agricultural soils