Heavy Metals Resistant Rotifers from a Chromium Contaminated Wastewater can Help in Environmental Clean-up,

in metal containing media by Notommata copeus was 82%, 61% and 97%, respectively after two days of inoculation and 96%, 81% and 99% after 8 days. The resistance of rotifers against heavy metals and their uptake ability can be exploited for metal detoxification and environmental clean-up operations

Plasmid Profile Analysis and Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern of Shigella flexneri Strains Isolated From

Abstract.-This study was carried out to determine the antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of 584 Shigella flexneri isolated from diarrheal patients admitted in hospitals in Azad Kashmir Pakistan and to evaluate their changing trends against twenty antibiotics. The isolates showed highest resistance against penicillin followed by carbenicillin, ampicillin, tetracycline, erythromycin, ceftizoxime, kanamycin, co-trimoxazole, piperacillin, amoxicillin, amikacin, streptomycin, nalidixic acid, gentamicin, chloramphenicol, cephalothin and ceftriaxone. All S. flexneri isolates were sensitive to cefixime, ciprofloxacin and enoxacin. Multiple drug resistance (MDR) was observed against 3-10 drugs and was resistant against three or more antibiotics was at the level as high as 300µg/ml. The resistant isolates showed different patterns of antibiotics resistance. The most common pattern was PCaA. The plasmids were observed in 32.8% MDR strains of S. flexneri which were found resistant against three or more antibiotics. The number of plasmids varied from one to seven. Analysis of plasmid DNA of S. flexneri revealed that all the strains contained a heterogeneous population of plasmids ranging between >23.1 kb to <2.0 kb. Based on molecular weight, the pattern of different plasmids was also very diverse. Depending on the number of plasmids, individual strains were grouped into nine different plasmid patterns. Some of the antibiotic resistance determinants were cured by acridine orange, indicating that widespread antibiotic resistance is mediated through plasmid. Transformation experiments showed that the factors for resistance against ampicillin, chloramphenicol and sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim resided in >23.1 Kb and 23.1 Kb plasmids

No association of miscarriage and BRCA carrier status in Pakistani breast/ovarian cancer patients with a history of parental consanguinity

Q2Q1Carta al editor211-21

Multiple Heavy Metal Tolerant Ciliates, Oxytricha fallax and Paramecium caudatum, Isolated From Industrial Effluents and Their Potential Use in Wastewater Treatment

, and 90% of Hg 2+ from the medium after 96 hours of incubation in a culture medium containing10 µg/ml of the respective metal ions. Besides this, the ciliate could also remove 94% of Cu 2+ and Cd 2+ and 88% Ni 2+ from the medium containing 5µg/ml of each metal after 96 hours, respectively. P. caudatum removed 95% of Zn 2+ and 78% of Hg 2+ from the medium containing10 µg/ml of the respective metal ions after 96 hours of incubation. The protozoan could also remove 94% of Cu 2+ , 82% of Cd 2+ and 76% Ni 2+ from the medium containing 5µg/ml of each metal after 96 hours, respectively. The ability of ciliates to take up multiple heavy metals from the medium could be exploited for metal detoxification and environmental clean-up operations

Isolation and Characterization of Arsenic Reducing Bacteria from Industrial Effluents and their Potential Use in Bioremediation of Wastewater

Abstract.-The present study is aimed at assessing the ability of Klebsiella oxytoca, Citrobacter freundii and Bacillus anthracis to reduce arsenate into arsenite. C. freundii and B. anthracis could tolerate As (V) up to 290 mg/l. K. oxytoca resisted As up to 240 mg/l. K. oxytoca and B. anthracis showed optimum growth at pH 7 while C. freundii showed maximum growth at pH 5. C. freundii and B. anthracis showed optimum growth at 37ºC while the maximum growth of K. oxytoca was observed at 30ºC. K. oxytoca and B. anthracis were found sensitive against ampicillin while C. freundii showed resistance against it. C. freundii and B. anthracis were sensitive to erythromycin, kanamycine, nalidixic acid, and tetracycline while K. oxytoca was found resistant against these antibiotics. All bacterial strains were found to be sensitive to amoxicillin, chloramphenicol, neomycine, oxytetracycline, streptomycine, and polymixin B but all bacterial strains showed resistance against bacitracin. In arsC reductase crude assay K. oxytoca, C. freundii and B. anthracis showed high ability to reduce As(V) into As(III) 78%, 70%, and 84%, respectively. The bacterial isolates can be exploited for bioremediation of arsenic containing wastes, since they seem to have the potential to reduce the arsenate into arsenite form

Antimicrobial Resistance Pattern and Plasmid Analysis of Escherichia coli from Patients Suffering from Acute Diarrhoea in

Abstract.-The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of 1210 Escherichia coli isolated from diarrhoeal patients admitted to hospitals in Azad Kashmir, Pakistan were analyzed from 1994 to 1998 to determine their changing trends in response to fifteen antibiotics. The isolates showed highest resistance against carbenicillin followed by ampicillin, ceftizoxime, co-trimoxazole, streptomycin, amoxicillin, amikacin, tetracycline, erythromycin, nalidixic acid and chloramphenicol. The isolates showed least resistance against ciprofloxacin followed by ceftriaxone and gentamicin. All E. coli isolates were sensitive to cefixime. Majority (58%) of E. coli strains were recovered from children and 57% were from male patients. Most of the diarrhoeal cases were recovered in summer (36.4%) followed by 35.9% in autumn, 17.7% in spring, and 9.8% in winter. The highest number of stool specimens infected with E. coli (40.8%) was recovered in 1998 and the lowest (21.8%) in 1995. It was also observed that the percentage of isolates resistant to any of the antibiotics tested was higher in children than in adults. Resistance of E. coli isolates to 3-10 antibiotics was recorded at different concentrations: 49% were resistant at 25µg/ml, 46% at 50µg/ml, 23% at 100µg/ml and 10% were resistant to three or more antibiotics at 300µg/ml. The most common antibiotics resistance pattern was CaACXM. The plasmids were observed in 31.2% strains of E. coli resistant to three or more antibiotics. The number of plasmids varied from one to five. Analysis of plasmid DNA of E. coli revealed that all the strains contained a heterogeneous population of plasmids ranging between 23.1 kb to 2.0 kb and were grouped into nine different plasmid patterns. The 23.1 Kb plasmid could only confer ampicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline resistance to the competent cells of E. coli HB101

Copper Bioremediation Ability of Ciliate <i>Paramecium multimicronucleatum</i> Isolated from Industrial Wastewater

The growing problems of environmental damage have been caused by the continuous outrush of heavy metals from industrial wastewater. To resolve this issue, bioremediation is playing a safe and eco-friendly role in the removal of these heavy metals from environmental wastewater bodies. It has provoked demand with regard to understanding the mechanisms of bioaccumulation and detoxification developed by the organisms living in the heavy metal-exposed industrial wastewater. The present investigation focuses on Paramecium multimicronucleatum, a ciliated protozoan isolated from industrial wastewater, with the objective of assessing its capabilities as an environmental bioremediator. Purified cell culture was maintained in bold basal salt medium and optimum growth conditions were determined. A maximum growth rate of 6.0–9.0 × 103 cells/mL at 25–30 °C and pH 7.0 was observed, and therefore revealed to be the optimal growth conditions for this species. It can tolerate 40–50 µg/mL of copper ion stress with little effect on growth rate as compared to control. It is able to uptake more than 80% of copper ions from the medium in 96 h. A significant twofold rise in glutathione content and non-protein thiols was recorded as an indication of a defensive mechanism in place to fight against the oxidative stress caused by the copper treatment. A notable increase of 50–70 µg/mL in total protein content of stressed cells in comparison to non-stressed was also observed as potential induction of some particular proteins for the purpose of resistance against copper stress

Isolation and characterization of arsenic resistant bacteria from wastewater

The present study proposed the isolation of arsenic resistant bacteria from wastewater. Only three bacterial isolates (MNZ1, MNZ4 and MNZ6) were able to grow in high concentrations of arsenic. The minimum inhibitory concentrations of arsenic against MNZ1, MNZ4 and MNZ6 were 300 mg/L, 300 mg/L and 370 mg/L respectively. The isolated strains showed maximum growth at 37 &#186;C and at 7.0 pH in control but in arsenite stress Luria Bertani broth the bacterial growth is lower than control. All strains were arsenite oxidizing. All strains were biochemically characterized and ribotyping (16S rRNA) was done for the purpose of identification which confirmed that MNZ1 was homologous to Enterobacter sp. while MNZ4 and MNZ6 showed their maximum homology with Klebsiella pneumoniae. The protein profiling of these strains showed in arsenic stressed and non stressed conditions, so no bands of induced proteins appeared in stressed conditions. The bacterial isolates can be exploited for bioremediation of arsenic containing wastes, since they seem to have the potential to oxidize the arsenite (more toxic) into arsenate (less toxic) form

No association between BRCA mutations and sex ratio in offspring of Pakistani BRCA mutation carriers

Q2Q1Editorial155-156To the editorAbout 5% of breast cancers and 10% of ovariancancers are a result of germ line mutations in theBRCA1(MIM 113705) andBRCA2(MIM 600185)genes [1,2]