Isolation and Characterization of Soil Bacteria from Radium Springs, GA, and Analysis of Antibiotic Secretions Under Various Conditions

Since the discovery of the first antibiotics, they have been a cornerstone of medical treatment for bacterial infections. With the evolution of resistance to these existing agents, it is becoming increasingly important to find novel antibiotics to maintain the level of care of modern medicine. The Small World Initiative created at Yale University aims to tackle this problem by crowdsourcing the study of antibiotics that may be present in soil and sediment in different environments. According to the Small World Initiative, over two thirds of antibiotics originate from soil bacteria or fungi. We aim to characterize the bacteria in soil obtained from Radium Springs, GA and analyze their metabolic products for antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Acinetobacter baumannii under various conditions of environmental stress. This site was chosen because we hypothesized that the presence of trace amounts of radium in the natural water supply may give the local biome unique characteristics. We isolated bacteria from soil samples collected from several locations with differing levels of moisture. The isolates were co-cultured with S. aureus and A. baumannii (our “tester” strains). We also exposed our tester strains to the metabolites from the soil bacteria to determine if antibiotic activity was inherent to the soil bacteria even without the presence of the target bacteria. Our research did not find any significant antibiotic activity from the metabolites of our soil bacteria against S. aureus or A. baumannii. Further tests should be conducted on these samples with different methodologies that may induce the production of other metabolites or varying levels of the same metabolites

An overview of anti-diabetic plants used in Gabon: Pharmacology and Toxicology

© 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Ethnopharmacological relevance: The management of diabetes mellitus management in African communities, especially in Gabon, is not well established as more than 60% of population rely on traditional treatments as primary healthcare. The aim of this review was to collect and present the scientific evidence for the use of medicinal plants that are in currect by Gabonese traditional healers to manage diabetes or hyperglycaemia based here on the pharmacological and toxicological profiles of plants with anti-diabetic activity. There are presented in order to promote their therapeutic value, ensure a safer use by population and provide some bases for further study on high potential plants reviewed. Materials and methods: Ethnobotanical studies were sourced using databases such as Online Wiley library, Pubmed, Google Scholar, PROTA, books and unpublished data including Ph.D. and Master thesis, African and Asian journals. Keywords including ‘Diabetes’ ‘Gabon’ ‘Toxicity’ ‘Constituents’ ‘hyperglycaemia’ were used. Results: A total of 69 plants currently used in Gabon with potential anti-diabetic activity have been identified in the literature, all of which have been used in in vivo or in vitro studies. Most of the plants have been studied in human or animal models for their ability to reduce blood glucose, stimulate insulin secretion or inhibit carbohydrates enzymes. Active substances have been identified in 12 out of 69 plants outlined in this review, these include Allium cepa and Tabernanthe iboga. Only eight plants have their active substances tested for anti-diabetic activity and are suitables for further investigation. Toxicological data is scarce and is dose-related to the functional parameters of major organs such as kidney and liver. Conclusion: An in-depth understanding on the pharmacology and toxicology of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is lacking yet there is a great scope for new treatments. With further research, the use of Gabonese anti-diabetic plants is important to ensure the safety of the diabetic patients in Gabon.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Utilization of Semi-Solid Agar Inoculation in Microbial Co-culture Yields a Bacteria with Antibiotic Properties Against MRSA

Microbial co-culture has many important applications, not least of which being the identification of novel antibiotic factors. Semi-solid agar inoculation co-culture is an innovative technique that aims to increase the yield and biodiversity of cultured environmental samples and to physically separate bacteria to aid in the isolation process. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) inoculated into semi-solid tryptic soy agar (TSA) with a 1% agar concentration was able to proliferate and disseminate throughout the entirety of the plate without difficulty. Bacteria isolated from soil obtained from Radium Springs, Georgia was cultured onto MRSA-inoculated agar using a point inoculation technique. Isolates of interest were identified by their ability to produce a zone of inhibition whereby inoculated MRSA had a decrease or absence of growth in the region containing the proliferating soil colony and 1-2 mm beyond its borders. Due to the ability of secreted factors to diffuse throughout the semi-solid agar, interactions between the microorganisms, or lack thereof, were readily seen. Results revealed a Gram-positive bacteria that demonstrated inhibitory effects in multiple co-culture experiments. Preliminary characterization showed the inhibitory bacteria to be bacillus shaped and non-spore-forming amongst other properties. Current findings suggest that this bacterium may be the source of a novel antibiotic with the potential to inhibit MRSA

Effects of Mass Culture Technique on Microbial Yield and Biodiversity

The great plate count anomaly describes the phenomena whereby the yield and diversity of microbes cultured from environmental samples are lower than expected. The difference in expected versus obtained results is due to many factors, including lack of access to environmental nutrients and change in growth conditions. This study examined the effect of various culturing methods on both biodiversity and yield of environmental samples. Culturing techniques utilized included serial dilution plating, filter stamping, filtrate culturing, and semi-solid agar inoculation co-culture. Each technique alters the density of the microbes in the environmental sample either by changing the sample concentration or excluding by size. In addition, co-culturing increases likelihood that growth factors will be produced. Microbial density produced by each method was comparable but differed based on the degree of sample dilution. The diversity of cultured samples, defined by differences in colony morphology, was greatest for the serial dilution plating and co-culturing methods. Results indicate that size exclusion, as well as differences in sample concentration of the various culturing methods, has a great effect on microbe biodiversity in mass culture. Due to the urgent need for novel antibiotics, understanding the effect of mass culturing methods on microbial yield can aid in determining the experimental design for isolating antibiotic-producing microbes from environmental samples

Urban-Rural Inequities in the Parental Attitudes and Beliefs Towards Human Papillomavirus Infection, Cervical Cancer, and Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in Mysore, India

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare the parental attitudes and beliefs about human papillomavirus (HPV), cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine between urban and rural areas, India.DESIGN: Cross-sectional.SETTING: Mysore, India.PARTICIPANTS: Parents of school-going adolescent girls.INTERVENTIONS: Parents completed a self-administered questionnaire.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Attitudes and beliefs about HPV, cervical cancer, and HPV vaccine.RESULTS: A total of 1609 parents from urban (n = 778) and rural (n = 831) areas participated in this study. Most of the parents had never heard about HPV (73.6%), did not know that their daughters could get an HPV infection (62.7%) or cervical cancer (64.1%) in the future, and believed that HPV vaccine was not effective (67.1%). Parents living in the urban area were more likely to believe that HPV infection (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.69; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.43-5.06) and cervical cancer (aOR, 2.68; 95% CI, 1.83-3.91) could cause serious health problems than those living in the rural area. The odds of agreeing that HPV vaccination will make girls sexually active was lower among urban than rural parents (aOR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.33-0.94). There was no significant difference among parents in the urban and rural areas in their beliefs about susceptibility of their daughter to HPV infection or cervical cancer, and beliefs about the safety and ability of HPV vaccine to protect against cervical cancer.CONCLUSION: Rural parents might be reluctant to recommend behaviors that can help prevent HPV infection and cervical cancer such as HPV vaccination for their daughters.</p