22 research outputs found
Commune agroecosystem analysis to support decision making for water allocation for fisheries and agriculture in the Tonle Sap wetland system
The Project on Commune Agroecosystem Analysis to Support Decision Making for Water Allocation
for Fisheries and Agriculture in the Tonle Sap Wetland System was undertaken with the aim of
improving fisheries considerations in the Commune Agroecosystem Analysis (CAEA) process
undertaken in Cambodia, to facilitate better planning at the commune level. Under this project a
number of changes were made to the CAEA tools and process and pilot tested in an adaptive,
iterative manner in four communes – two that had conducted a CAEA previously and two that had
not. Results and analyses indicated that the project had significantly strengthened the manner in
which livelihoods, water resources and fisheries are now addressed by CAEA. The revised CAEA
guidance manual has also shown potential for having wider uptake, and a number of tools have
been used by several other projects within Cambodia
Virulence characteristics and antimicrobial resistance profiles of Shiga toxin-producing escherichia coli isolates from humans in South Africa : 2006–2013
Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) isolates (N = 38) that were incriminated in
human disease from 2006 to 2013 in South Africa were characterized by serotype, virulence-associated
genes, antimicrobial resistance and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). The isolates belonged
to 11 O:H serotypes. STEC O26:H11 (24%) was the most frequent serotype associated with human
disease, followed by O111:H8 (16%), O157:H7 (13%) and O117:H7 (13%). The majority of isolates were
positive for key virulence-associated genes including stx1 (84%), eaeA (61%), ehxA (68.4%) and espP
(55%), but lacked stx2 (29%), katP (42%), etpD (16%), saa (16%) and subA (3%). stx2 positive isolates
carried stx2c (26%) and/or stx2d (26%) subtypes. All pathogenicity island encoded virulence marker
genes were detected in all (100%) isolates except nleA (47%), nleC (84%) and nleD (76%). Multidrug
resistance was observed in 89% of isolates. PFGE revealed 34 profiles with eight distinct clusters that
shared 80% intra-serotype similarity, regardless of the year of isolation. In conclusion, STEC isolates
that were implicated in human disease between 2006 and 2013 in South Africa were mainly non-O157
strains which possessed virulence genes and markers commonly associated with STEC strains that
have been incriminated in mild to severe human disease worldwide. Improved STEC monitoring and
surveillance programs are needed in South Africa to control and prevent STEC disease in humans.The National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa: Thuthuka (TTK13062619943),
Research Technology Fund (RTF14012762427), the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
(GDARD Grants-2013-2015) and the South African Medical Research Council (Self-Initiated Research 2017-2019).https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxinsam2019Paraclinical Science
Essential oils as antibacterial agents against food-borne pathogens: are they really as useful as they are claimed to be ?
Original articleMost studies evaluating the use of essential oils
(EO) as antibacterial agents focus mainly on minimal
inhibitory concentrations (MIC) rather than minimal bactericidal
concentrations (MBC). In this work, we compared
MICs and MBCs of EO from condiment plants commonly
used in Mediterranean Europe, namely Origanum vulgare,
Salvia lavandulaefolia, Salvia officinalis, Salvia sclarea
and Rosmarinus officinalis, aiming to evaluate their
application as disinfecting agents in minimally processed
produce. Outbreaks-related pathogens such as Listeria
monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Yarrowia
lipolytica were used. Results showed that all EO were able
to reduce bacterial growth in all bacterial strains tested,
particularly O. vulgare. However, fewer EO exhibited
bactericidal activities, and were only effective against one
or two bacterial strains, hence eliminating the possibility to
use them as broad range disinfectants. Furthermore, the
necessary concentrations were too high for food application.
Hence, our work suggests the need to evaluate MBC
rather than MIC and questions EO usefulness in controlling
undesired microorganisms. Overall, and despite the large volume of data published on EO, results obtained were not
very encouraging for a realistic application on produce and
question the viability of EOs as disinfecting agents in foodinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio