The impact of Mean Time Between Disasters on inventory pre-positioning strategy

Purpose - This paper addresses the impact of Mean Time Between Disasters (MTBD) to inventory pre-positioning strategy of medical supplies prior to a sudden-onset disaster

The use of PCR-DGGE to determine bacterial fingerprints for poultry and red meat abattoir effluent

Published ArticleStrict legislation and chemical composition monitoring of effluent may be useful, but the data generated do not allow for source tracking, and enforcing legislation remains problematic in the South African setting. These difficulties emphasize the necessity for effluent source traceability. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) targeting the V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene was considered as fingerprinting technique for effluent originating from abattoirs slaughtering different animal species. The influence of treatment to remove excess fat from effluent prior to molecular analyses and different PCR approaches on the detection of bacterial diversity were considered. Use of a treatment option to remove fat and a nested PCR approach resulted in up to 51% difference in inter-sample diversity similarity. A robust approach with no pre-treatment to remove PCR inhibitors, such as fat, and direct amplification from genomic DNA yielded optimal/maximal bacterial diversity fingerprints. Repeatable fingerprints were obtained for poultry abattoir effluent over a 4- month period, but profiles for the red meat abattoir varied with maximum similarity detected only 33 2%. Genetic material from faecal indicators Aeromona spp and Clostridium spp were detected. Genera unique to each effluent were present; Anoxybacillus, Patulibacter and Oleispira in poultry abattoir effluent and Porphyromonas and Peptostreptococcus in red meat abattoir effluent

Divergent roles of CprK paralogues from Desulfitobacterium hafniense in activating gene expression

Gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer play an important role in the evolution of prokaryotic genomes. We have investigated the role of three CprK paralogues from the cAMP receptor protein-fumarate and nitrate reduction regulator (CRP-FNR) family of transcriptional regulators that are encoded in the genome of Desulfitobacterium hafniense DCB-2 and possibly regulate expression of genes involved in the energy-conserving terminal reduction of organohalides (halorespiration). The results from in vivo and in vitro promoter probe assays show that two regulators (CprK1 and CprK2) have an at least partially overlapping effector specificity, with preference for ortho-chlorophenols, while meta-chlorophenols proved to be effectors for CprK4. The presence of a potential transposase-encoding gene in the vicinity of the cprK genes indicates that their redundancy is probably caused by mobile genetic elements. The CprK paralogues activated transcription from promoters containing a 14 bp inverted repeat (dehalobox) that closely resembles the FNR-box. We found a strong negative correlation between the rate of transcriptional activation and the number of nuclecitide changes from the optimal dehalobox sequence (TTAAT-N-4-ATTAA). Transcription was initiated by CprK4 from a promoter that is situated upstream of a gene encoding a methyl-accepting chemotaxis protein. This might be the first indication of taxis of an anaerobic bacterium to halogenated aromatic compounds

Bioaerosols in the Food and Beverage Industry

Bioaerosol monitoring is a rapidly emerging area of industrial hygiene. Microbial roles in atmospheric processes are thought to be species specific and potentially depend on cell viability. Accumulating evidence suggests that exposure to bioaerosols may cause adverse health effects, including disease. Studies of bioaerosols have primarily focused on chemical composition and biological composition, and the negative effects thereof on ecosystems and human health have largely gone unnoticed. This gap can be attributed to international standards on acceptable maximum bioaerosol loads not being uniform and the lack of uniform standardized methods for collection and analysis of bacterial and fungal bioaerosols. In this chapter, bioaerosol composition, relevance of bioaerosols to the food processing facility, sampling and detection approaches, and complications were discussed

Acidentes de Trabalho na Universidade de Brasília: Causas e Conseqüências

Este estudo teve como objetivo identificar as causas e conseqüências dos acidentes de trabalho no âmbito da Universidade de Brasília. Procurou também entender os motivos que levaram os servidores a se acidentarem e ao final contribuir com sugestões adequadas de melhorias nos processos de trabalho nos quais os funcionários da Universidade de Brasília estão inseridos. A pesquisa documental foi realizada junto ao Hospital Universitário de Brasília HUB e no Núcleo Especializado em Segurança do Trabalho NEST, através das CIAT s Comunicações Internas de Acidentes de Trabalho. Foram analisadas 223 CIAT s, referentes aos anos de 2003, 2004 e 2005, representando 100% da amostra, ou seja, foram verificados todos os acidentes ocorridos no período de estudo. O levantamento dos dados revelou que dos 223 acidentes, 181 foram verificados no Hospital Universitário de Brasília - HUB, representando 82%. O tipo de acidente de maior ocorrência foi ocasionado por perfuração com manejo de agulhas. O período de estudo constatou a ocorrência de 127 lesões desta natureza, representando 71%. O estudo revelou ainda que os acidentes aconteceram em sua maioria com profissionais de saúde, como Médicos, Enfermeiros, Auxiliares de Enfermagem, Técnicos de Laboratório, Alunos de Odontologia, Internos e servidores da área operacional que procedem a retirada do lixo hospitalar

Reconstructing functional networks in the human intestinal tract using synthetic microbiomes : Systems Biology • Nanobiotechnology

The human intestinal tract harbors one of the most densely populated and open microbial ecosystems. The application of multi-omics approaches has provided insight into a wide array of complex interactions between the various groups of mainly anaerobic colonic microbes as well as the host-microbe dialogue. Integration of multi-omits techniques in cultivation based experiments that vary in complexity from monocultures to synthetic microbial communities identified key metabolic players in the trophic interactions as well as their ecological dynamics. A synergy between these approaches will be of utmost importance to reconstruct the functional interaction networks at the ecosystem level within the human intestinal microbiome. The improved understanding of microbiome functioning at ecosystem level will further aid in developing better predictive models and design of effective microbiome modulation strategies for health benefits.Peer reviewe