Characterization of antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from gills and gastro-intestinal tracts of catfish (Clarias gariepinus), and water samples from Jabi Lake, Abuja, Nigeria

Background: The isolation of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus in freshwater fish poses a threat to public health because of the risk of human infections from consumption of such contaminated fish. Studies assessing antibiotic resistance of bacteria from body parts of fish and freshwater in Nigeria are sparse in the literature. This study therefore characterized S. aureus isolates from gills and gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of catfish (Clarias gariepinus), and water samples from Jabi Lake, NigeriaMethodology: Over a period of three months (April to June 2018), gills and GIT samples of 30 fish, and water samples randomly collected from 6 sites of the Lake, were cultured on Mannitol Salt Agar (MSA) for the isolation of S. aureus. Standard biochemical tests were used for bacteria identification, and antibiogram of the isolates was determined by the disc diffusion methodResults: The bacterial colony count in the gills (54.6±1.41 x 105 CFU/ml) and GIT (54.3±1.31 x 105 CFU/ml) was significantly higher (p<0.05) than the count from water sample (27.7±2.85 x 105 CFU/mL). S. aureus was isolated from 53% (16 of 30) of the gills, 57% (17 of 30) of the GIT, and 33% (2 of 6) of the water samples (p<0.05). Ninety four point one percent of S. aureus recovered from gills were resistant to ampicillin while 53.3% from the GIT were resistant to levofloxacin. S. aureus from water samples were resistant (100%) to ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin, gentamycin, amoxicillin, rifampicin, erythromycin, ampicillin and levofloxacin, and 50% were resistant to streptomycin and chloramphenicolConclusion: The presence of antibiotic resistant S. aureus in this study may be the result of selective antimicrobial pressure from anthropogenic activities as a result of abuse and overuse of antimicrobials leading to residual antibiotics in the aquatic environmentKeywords: Clarias gariepinus; gill, gastrointestinal tract; antibiotic; Staphylococcu

Three years clinical experience with intestinal transplantation

BACKGROUND: After the successful evolution of hepatic transplantation during the last decade, small bowel and multivisceral transplantation remains the sole elusive achievement for the next era of transplant surgeons. Until recently, and for the last thirty years, the results of the sporadic attempts of intestinal transplantation worldwide were discouraging because of unsatisfactory graft and patient survival. The experimental and clinical demonstration of the superior therapeutic efficacy of FK 506, a new immunosuppressive drug, ushered in the current era of small bowel and multivisceral transplantation with initial promising results. STUDY DESIGN: Forty-three consecutive patients with short bowel syndrome, intestinal insufficiency, or malignant tumors with or without associated liver disease, were given intestinal (n=15), hepatic and intestinal (n=21), or multivisceral allografts that contained four or more organs (n=7). Treatment was with FK 506 based immunosuppression. The ascending and right transverse colon were included with the small intestine in 13 of the 43 grafts, almost evenly distributed between the three groups. RESULTS: After six to 39 months, 30 of the 43 patients are alive, 29 bearing grafts. The most rapid convalescence and resumption of diet, as well as the highest three month patient survival (100 percent) and graft survival (88 percent) were with the isolated intestinal procedure. However, this advantage was slowly eroded during the first two postoperative years, in part because the isolated intestine was more prone to rejection. By the end of this time, the best survival rate (86 percent) was with the multivisceral procedure. With all three operations, most of the patients were able to resume diet and discontinue parenteral alimentation, and in the best instances, the quality of life approached normal. However, the surveillance and intensity of care required for these patients for the first year, and in most instances thereafter, was very high, being far more than required for patients having transplants of the liver, kidney or heart. CONCLUSIONS: Although intestinal transplantation has gone through the feasibility phase, strategies will be required to increase its practicality. One possibility is to combine intestinal transplantation with contemporaneous autologous bone marrow transplantation

Abdominal multivisceral transplantation

Under FK506-based immunosuppression, 13 abdominal multivisceral transplantations were performed in 6 children and 7 adults. Of the 13 recipients, 7 (53.8%) are alive and well with functioning grafts after 9 to 31 months. Six recipients died: Three from PTLD, one from rejection, one from sepsis, and one from respiratory failure. In addition to rejection, postoperative complications occurring in more than isolated cases included PTLD (n=6), abdominal abscess formation (n=5), pancreatitis (n=3), and ampullary dysfunction (n=2). In addition, infection by enteric microorganisms was common during the early postoperative period. Currently, all 7 survivors are on an oral diet and have normal liver function. Two recipients (one insulin-dependent) require antidiabetes treatment, in one case following distal pancreatectomy and in the other after two episodes of pancreatic rejection. Thus, abdominal multivisceral transplantation is a difficult but feasible operation that demands complex and prolonged posttransplantation management. It is not yet ready for application and awaits a better strategy of immune modulation. © 1995 by Williams & Wilkins

Hierarchy in the eye of the beholder: (anti-)egalitarianism shapes perceived levels of social inequality

Debate surrounding the issue of inequality and hierarchy between social groups has become increasingly prominent in recent years. At the same time, individuals disagree about the extent to which inequality between advantaged and disadvantaged groups exists. Whereas prior work has examined the ways in which individuals legitimize (or delegitimize) inequality as a function of their motivations, we consider whether individuals’ orientation toward group-based hierarchy motivates the extent to which they perceive inequality between social groups in the first place. Across 8 studies in both real-world (race, gender, and class) and artificial contexts, and involving members of both advantaged and disadvantaged groups, we show that the more individuals endorse hierarchy between groups, the less they perceive inequality between groups at the top and groups at the bottom. Perceiving less inequality is associated with rejecting egalitarian social policies aimed at reducing it. We show that these differences in hierarchy perception as a function of individuals’ motivational orientation hold even when inequality is depicted abstractly using images, and even when individuals are financially incentivized to accurately report their true perceptions. Using a novel methodology to assess accurate memory of hierarchy, we find that differences may be driven by both antiegalitarians underestimating inequality, and egalitarians overestimating it. In sum, our results identify a novel perceptual bias rooted in individuals’ chronic motivations toward hierarchy-maintenance, with the potential to influence their policy attitudes