Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis as a natural anti-listerial agent in the mushroom industry

peer-reviewedMushroom growth substrates from different commercial producers of mushrooms (Agaricus bisporus) were screened for the presence of bacteria with potential for use as biocontrol agents for controlling Listeria monocytogenes in the mushroom production environment. Eight anti-listerial strains were isolated from different sources and all were identified using 16s rRNA gene sequencing as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis. Whole-genome sequencing of the Lc. lactis isolates indicated that strains from different sites and substrate types were highly similar. Colony MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry found that these strains were Nisin Z producers but inhibitory activity was highly influenced by the incubation conditions and was strain dependant. The biofilm forming ability of these strains was tested using a crystal violet assay and all were found to be strong biofilm formers. Growth of Lc. lactis subsp. lactis using mixed-biofilm conditions with L. monocytogenes on stainless steel resulted in a 4-log reduction of L. monocytogenes cell numbers. Additional sampling of mushroom producers showed that these anti-listerial Lc. lactis strains are commonly present in the mushroom production environment. Lc. lactis has a generally regarded as safe (GRAS) status and therefore has potential for use as an environmentally benign solution to control L. monocytogenes in order to prevent product contamination and to enhance consumer confidence in the mushroom industry

ZAMSTAR, The Zambia South Africa TB and HIV Reduction study: Design of a 2 × 2 factorial community randomized trial

BACKGROUND: TB and HIV form a deadly synergy in much of the developing world, especially Africa. Interventions to reduce the impact of these diseases at community level are urgently needed. This paper presents the design of a community randomised trial to evaluate the impact of two complex interventions on the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) in high HIV prevalence settings in Zambia and South Africa. METHODS: The interaction between TB and HIV is reviewed and possible interventions that could reduce the prevalence of TB in HIV-endemic populations are discussed. Two of these interventions are described in detail and the design of a 2 x 2 factorial community randomised trial to test these interventions is presented. The limitations and challenges of the design are identified and discussed. CONCLUSION: There is an urgent need to reduce the prevalence of TB in communities highly affected by HIV. Potential interventions are complex and require innovative trial designs to provide the rigorous evidence needed to inform health policy makers and to ensure that resources are used optimally. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Number: ISRCTN36729271

Crops, Rumps and Woolly Jumpers: An Innovative Extension Approach Enabling the Complexities of Mixed Farming to Be Shared and Understood

The sheep-wheat belt of southern Australia accounts for about 19% and 57% of total Australian beef and sheep production, respectively. Most farm businesses in this zone are family owned and contain a mix of livestock and cropping enterprises. While the focus of most research, development and extension for mixed farming systems focuses on single components of the system (lamb, wool, beef, pastures, crops), the systems are complex and dynamic and cannot be understood by analysing the components in isolation. The enterprise synergies are dependent on economic, environmental and social factors. The farmers themselves are best equipped to explain the system function and the interplay between the components. The traditional conference format with technical experts presenting their findings was deemed to be inadequate to relay the complexity of mixed farming systems, stifling two-way information flow and the opportunity for experts to acquire tacit knowledge held by farmers. This paper out-lines an innovative extension approach based on story telling, video footage and discussion, providing technical experts with an opportunity to appreciate the complexity and farmer decision processes. This approach fostered audience participation and interaction, leading to a better understanding of the complexities of mixed farming and how conflicts between diversification and specialisation may be resolved by the management team. Facilitated discussion also highlighted potential areas of research, development and extension

The long-term impact of the MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual and reproductive health intervention: effect of dose and time since intervention exposure.

BACKGROUND: Despite recent decreases in HIV incidence in many sub-Saharan African countries, there is little evidence that specific behavioural interventions have led to a reduction in HIV among young people. Further and wider-scale decreases in HIV require better understanding of when behaviour change occurs and why. The MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual and reproductive health intervention has been implemented in rural Mwanza, Tanzania since 1999. A long-term evaluation in 2007/8 found that the intervention improved knowledge, attitudes to sex and some reported risk behaviours, but not HIV or HSV2 prevalence. The aim of this paper was to assess the differential impact of the intervention according to gender, age, marital status, number of years of exposure and time since last exposure to the intervention. METHODS: In 2007, a cross-sectional survey was conducted in the 20 trial communities among 13,814 young people (15-30 yrs) who had attended intervention or comparison schools between 1999 and 2002. Outcomes for which the intervention had an impact in 2001 or 2007 were included in this subgroup analysis. Data were analysed using cluster-level methods for stratified cluster-randomised trials, using interaction tests to determine if intervention impact differed by subgroup. RESULTS: Taking into account multiplicity of testing, concurrence with a priori hypotheses and consistency within the results no strong effect-modifiers emerged. Impact on pregnancy knowledge and reported attitudes to sex increased with years of exposure to high-quality intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The desirable long-term impact of the MEMA kwa Vijana intervention did not vary greatly according to the subgroups examined. This suggests that the intervention can have an impact on a broad cross-section of young people in rural Mwanza. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00248469

Adverse birth outcomes in United Republic of Tanzania--impact and prevention of maternal risk factors.

OBJECTIVE: To determine risk factors for poor birth outcome and their population attributable fractions. METHODS: 1688 women who attended for antenatal care were recruited into a prospective study of the effectiveness of syphilis screening and treatment. All women were screened and treated for syphilis and other reproductive tract infections (RTIs) during pregnancy and followed to delivery to measure the incidence of stillbirth, intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), low birth weight (LBW) and preterm live birth. FINDINGS: At delivery, 2.7% of 1536 women experienced a stillbirth, 12% of live births were preterm and 8% were LBW. Stillbirth was independently associated with a past history of stillbirth, short maternal stature and anaemia. LBW was associated with short maternal stature, ethnicity, occupation, gravidity and maternal malaria whereas preterm birth was associated with occupation, age of sexual debut, untreated bacterial vaginosis and maternal malaria. IUGR was associated with gravidity, maternal malaria, short stature, and delivering a female infant. In the women who had been screened and treated for syphilis, in between 20 and 34% of women with each outcome was estimated to be attributable to malaria, and 63% of stillbirths were estimated as being attributable to maternal anaemia. Screening and treatment of RTIs was effective and no association was seen between treated RTIs and adverse pregnancy outcomes. CONCLUSION: Maternal malaria and anaemia continue to be significant causes of adverse pregnancy outcome in sub-Saharan Africa. Providing reproductive health services that include treatment of RTIs and prevention of malaria and maternal anaemia to reduce adverse birth outcomes remains a priority

The Iowa Homemaker vol.20, no.7

Hospitality on a Budget, Mary Ellen Brown, page 2 Plastics Equip the Home, Dorothy Anne Roost, page 4 Designed for Efficiency, Dorothy Gross, page 6 50,000 Words a Day, Betty Bice, page 7 Sally Leads Military Parade, Patricia Hayes, page 8 Self-Investment for Life, Dr. Richard C. Raines, page 10 Home Management Staff, Margaret Kumlien Read, page 11 What’s New in Home Economics, Helen Kubacky, page 12 Defense Challenges the Home Economics, Dr. P. M. Nelson, page 14 Letters from Sumatra and Alaska, page 15 Alums in the News, Bette Simpson, page 16 Vitamins Invade Army Rations, Genevieve Scott, page 17 Flashes from Bacteriology Field, Catherine Raymond, page 18 China on a Budget, Jane Willey, page 19 Behind Bright Jackets, Marjorie Thomas, page 20 Soldiers and Sailors Eat Well, Pat Garberson, page 22 Spindles, Helen Moeckly, page 2

Genital self-sampling compared with cervicovaginal lavage for the diagnosis of female genital schistosomiasis in Zambian women: The BILHIV study

Background: Given the potentially causal association of female genital schistosomiasis (FGS) with HIV-1 infection, improved diagnostics are urgently needed to scale-up FGS surveillance. The BILHIV (bilharzia and HIV) study assessed the performance of home-based self-collection methods (cervical and vaginal swabs) compared to cervicovaginal lavage (CVL) for the detection of Schistosoma DNA by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Methods: Between January and August 2018, a consecutive series of female participants from the Population-Cohort of the previous HIV prevention trial HPTN 071 (PopART), resident in Livingstone, Zambia were invited to take part in BILHIV if they were 18–31 years old, non-pregnant and sexually active. Genital self-collected swabs and a urine specimen were obtained and a questionnaire completed at home visits. CVL was obtained at clinic follow-up. Results: 603 women self-collected genital swabs. Of these, 527 women had CVL performed by a mid-wife during clinic follow-up. Schistosoma DNA was more frequently detected in genital self-collected specimens (24/603, 4.0%) compared to CVL (14/527, 2.7%). Overall, 5.0% (30/603) women had female genital schistosomiasis, defined as a positive PCR by any genital sampling method (cervical swab PCR, vaginal swab PCR, or CVL PCR) and 95% (573/603) did not have a positive genital PCR. The sensitivity of any positive genital self-collected swab against CVL was 57.1% (95% CI 28.9–82.3%), specificity 97.3% (95.5–98.5%). In a subset of participants with active schistosome infection, determined by detectable urine Circulating Anodic Antigen (CAA) (15.1%, 91/601), positive PCR (4.3%, 26/601), or positive microscopy (5.5%, 33/603), the sensitivity of any positive self-collected specimen against CVL was 88.9% (51.8–99.7%). Conclusions: Genital self-sampling increased the overall number of PCR-based FGS diagnoses in a field setting, compared with CVL. Home-based sampling may represent a scalable alternative method for FGS community-based diagnosis in endemic resource limited settings

Erythropoietin Treatment in Traumatic Brain Injury: Operation Brain Trauma Therapy

Experimental studies targeting traumatic brain injury (TBI) have reported that erythropoietin (EPO) is an endogenous neuroprotectant in multiple models. In addition to its neuroprotective effects, it has also been shown to enhance reparative processes including angiogenesis and neurogenesis. Based on compelling pre-clinical data, EPO was tested by the Operation Brain Trauma Therapy (OBTT) consortium to evaluate therapeutic potential in multiple TBI models along with biomarker assessments. Based on the pre-clinical TBI literature, two doses of EPO (5000 and 10,000 IU/kg) were tested given at 15 min after moderate fluid percussion brain injury (FPI), controlled cortical impact (CCI), or penetrating ballistic-like brain injury (PBBI) with subsequent behavioral, histopathological, and biomarker outcome assessments. There was a significant benefit on beam walk with the 5000 IU dose in CCI, but no benefit on any other motor task across models in OBTT. Also, no benefit of EPO treatment across the three TBI models was noted using the Morris water maze to assess cognitive deficits. Lesion volume analysis showed no treatment effects after either FPI or CCI; however, with the 5000 IU/kg dose of EPO, a paradoxical increase in lesion volume and percent hemispheric tissue loss was seen after PBBI. Biomarker assessments included measurements of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) in blood at 4 or 24 h after injury. No treatment effects were seen on biomarker levels after FPI, whereas treatment at either dose exacerbated the increase in GFAP at 24 h in PBBI but attenuated 24-4 h delta UCH-L1 levels at high dose in CCI. Our data indicate a surprising lack of efficacy of EPO across three established TBI models in terms of behavioral, histopathological, and biomarker assessments. Although we cannot rule out the possibility that other doses or more prolonged treatment could show different effects, the lack of efficacy of EPO reduced enthusiasm for its further investigation in OBTT

Regulation of fibrillins and modulators of TGFβ in fetal bovine and human ovaries

Fibrillins 1–3 are stromal extracellular matrix proteins that play important roles in regulating TGFβ activity, which stimulates fibroblasts to proliferate and synthesize collagen. In the developing ovary, the action of stroma is initially necessary for the formation of ovigerous cords and subsequently for the formation of follicles and the surface epithelium of the ovary. FBN3 is highly expressed only in early ovarian development and then it declines. In contrast, FBN1 and 2 are upregulated in later ovarian development. We examined the expression of FBN1–3 in bovine and human fetal ovaries. We used cell dispersion and monolayer culture, cell passaging and tissue culture. Cells were treated with growth factors, hormones or inhibitors to assess the regulation of expression of FBN1–3. When bovine fetal ovarian tissue was cultured, FBN3 expression declined significantly. Treatment with TGFβ-1 increased FBN1 and FBN2 expression in bovine fibroblasts, but did not affect FBN3 expression. Additionally, in cultures of human fetal ovarian fibroblasts (9–17 weeks gestational age), the expression of FBN1 and FBN2 increased with passage, whereas FBN3 dramatically decreased. Treatment with activin A and a TGFβ family signaling inhibitor, SB431542, differentially regulated the expression of a range of modulators of TGFβ signaling and of other growth factors in cultured human fetal ovarian fibroblasts suggesting that TGFβ signaling is differentially involved in the regulation of ovarian fibroblasts. Additionally, since the changes in FBN1–3 expression that occur in vitro are those that occur with increasing gestational age in vivo, we suggest that the fetal ovarian fibroblasts mature in vitro.Nicole A Bastian, Rosemary A Bayne, Katja Hummitzsch, Nicholas Hatzirodos, Wendy M Bonner, Monica D Hartanti, Helen F Irving-Rodgers, Richard A Anderson and Raymond J Rodger