Epidemiological alteration in pathogens found in ground meat in Iran: unexpected predominance of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecalis

Colonization of the human and animal intestinal tract with potential pathogenic bacteria is correlated with the risk of contamination of food products. The current study analyzed the prevalence of Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli O157H7 in ground meat in Ilam, Iran. Both index organisms were identified following standard food microbiological methods. For E. faecalis, the susceptibility to vancomycin was tested, and PCR was used to check for the vanA gene. E. faecalis was present in all 24 ground meat samples, with no E. coli O157H7 detected in samples. The analysis showed the presence of the vanA gene in 5/24 vancomycin resistant enterococci. In conclusion, this study for the first time demonstrates the presence of vancomycin-resistant enterococci in ground meat in Iran. This observation warrants further epidemiologic investigation and should be followed up in the future

Characterization of antimicrobial resistance pattern and molecular analysis among extended spectrum β-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli

Background: Infection is a serious problem in medicine and appropriate antibiotic therapy is very important. Because of broad spectrum activity and low toxicity of β-lactam antibiotics, they are the most commonly used drugs. But, bacterial resistance to β-lactam antibiotics, has been considered as the global healthcare concern. The aim of study was to evaluate the antimicrobial resistance pattern and molecular characterization among ESBL-producing Escherichia coli isolated from patients with diarrhea admitted to a hospital in Ilam, Iran. Methods: Totally, fifty E. coli isolates were investigated. Confirmatory tests for phenotypic detection of ESBLs were performed. Molecular identification of the blaTEM and blaSHV genes was carried out by PCR method. To identify genetic relatedness among isolates, Randomly Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis was performed. Results: The antibiotic susceptibility results showed that the most effective antibiotic was imipenem and minimum effect was related to gentamicin. Thirty-one isolates (62) were ESBL-producing organisms according to phenotypic method. The distribution of blaTEM and blaSHV genes among ESBL-producing isolates were 20 (64.5) and 6 (19.3), respectively. RAPD-PCR typing among isolates gave us eight different types. Twelve isolates were clustered in genotype A and all of them were ESBL-producer. Conclusion: The present study showed noticeable incidence of ESBL-producing E. coli isolated from outpatients and hospitalized patients with diarrhea. Therefore, it seems that constant supervision is crucial to monitor the ESBL-producing microorganisms in hospitals and community. © 2016 The Authors

Local contractors' awareness on competitiveness towards liberalisation and globalisation in the Malaysian construction industry

Globalisation gives the opportunity to contractors from a particular country to venture into various countries around the globe as the construction market is unlimitedly open. Due to this globalisation, the government has signed free trade agreements (FTA) as the result of the liberalisation process. Globalisation and liberalisation do not only provide opportunities and benefits to the local construction market, but also give challenges to local contractors in terms of competition with other local and foreign contractors. Yet, a question arises whether the local contractors in particular are aware with the competitive challenges they are facing against the foreign contractors or even amongst the local contractors themselves. This is because there are limited studies conducted which seek to identify the current levels of awareness on competitiveness among local contractors within the Malaysian construction industry. Hence, this paper emerges with the objectives of (1) identifying the current level of awareness of local contractors on competitiveness and (2) investigating the most important attributes of awareness of local contractors in the Malaysian construction industry. Questionnaire surveys were conducted on local Malaysian contractors involving 61 organisations from 112 venturing into overseas market. Data were analysed via Rasch analysis consisting of five method analysis which are the reliability and validity analysis, organisation misfit analysis, unidimensionality analysis, item misfit analysis and item measure order analysis. Findings from this paper reveal that most of the contractors have a moderate level of awareness on the competitiveness in the Malaysian construction industry. The findings of this study have been concluded as the local contractors acknowledge their competitors' strength and weaknesses when bidding for new projects and also aim to improve their competitiveness in competing with other local contractors locally. Recognition of this paper on the awareness of the importance of competitiveness by various local contractors in the Malaysian construction industry is in line with the Construction Industry Transformation Plan (CITP) 2016-2020 in addressing the Internationalisation Thrust with the aim to increase competitiveness of the domestic market, especially with the presence of foreign player

Phenotypic and Genotypic Characterization of ESBL-, AmpC-, and Carbapenemase-Producing Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli Isolates

Objectives: Drug resistance among gram-negative bacteria is a worldwide challenge. Due to the importance of drug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae and Escherichia coli strains in hospital-acquired infections, we aimed to determine the phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of ESBL-, AmpC-, and carbapenemase-producing isolates obtained from hospitalized patients in Tehran and Ilam (Iran). Materials and Methods: In total, 90 K. pneumoniae isolates and 65 E. coli isolates were collected from various infections. Phenotypic identification of bacterial isolates was performed using standard methods. Phenotypic screening of ESBL, AmpC, and carbapenemase enzymes was carried out. Detection of ESBL, AmpC, and carbapenemase genes was also performed by the PCR method. Results: Phenotypic detection tests showed that 36 (40) K. pneumoniae and 23 (35.4) E. coli isolates were ESBL producers. Moreover, 18 (20) and 6 (9.2) K. pneumoniae and E. coli isolates were AmpC producers, respectively. Modified Hodge test results indicated that 39 (43.3) K. pneumoniae and 18 (27.7) E. coli isolates produced carbapenemase. Molecular tests showed that 40 of K. pneumoniae and 36.9 of E. coli isolates were ESBL positive. AmpC was detected in 24.4 and 13.8 of K. pneumoniae and E. coli isolates. Carbapenemase was detected in 34 (37.8) K. pneumoniae and 13 (20) E. coli isolates. -Conclusion: In this study, 3 K. pneumoniae isolates simultaneously carried ESBL, AmpC, and carbapenemase genes. Up-to-date strategies such as combination therapy or utilization of new antimicrobial agents might help to combat such drug-resistant organisms. © 2019 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel

Predicting volume of distribution with decision tree-based regression methods using predicted tissue:plasma partition coefficients

Background: Volume of distribution is an important pharmacokinetic property that indicates the extent of a drug's distribution in the body tissues. This paper addresses the problem of how to estimate the apparent volume of distribution at steady state (Vss) of chemical compounds in the human body using decision tree-based regression methods from the area of data mining (or machine learning). Hence, the pros and cons of several different types of decision tree-based regression methods have been discussed. The regression methods predict Vss using, as predictive features, both the compounds' molecular descriptors and the compounds' tissue:plasma partition coefficients (Kt:p) - often used in physiologically-based pharmacokinetics. Therefore, this work has assessed whether the data mining-based prediction of Vss can be made more accurate by using as input not only the compounds' molecular descriptors but also (a subset of) their predicted Kt:p values. Results: Comparison of the models that used only molecular descriptors, in particular, the Bagging decision tree (mean fold error of 2.33), with those employing predicted Kt:p values in addition to the molecular descriptors, such as the Bagging decision tree using adipose Kt:p (mean fold error of 2.29), indicated that the use of predicted Kt:p values as descriptors may be beneficial for accurate prediction of Vss using decision trees if prior feature selection is applied. Conclusions: Decision tree based models presented in this work have an accuracy that is reasonable and similar to the accuracy of reported Vss inter-species extrapolations in the literature. The estimation of Vss for new compounds in drug discovery will benefit from methods that are able to integrate large and varied sources of data and flexible non-linear data mining methods such as decision trees, which can produce interpretable models. Figure not available: see fulltext. © 2015 Freitas et al.; licensee Springer