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The concurrent presence of bla and bla genes on similar plasmids of Escherichia coli isolated from poultry, chicken meat and humans supports the occurrence of food-borne transmission of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) genes. ESBL-producing E. coli (ESBL- E. coli) are most frequently detected in hospitalised patients and are known to spread in healthcare settings. We hypothesised that poultry-associated (PA) ESBL genes are predominant in the community, where acquisition is fuelled by food contamination, whereas non-PA ESBL genes are predominant in hospitals, with acquisition fuelled by cross-transmission. Then, differences in antimicrobial selective pressure in hospitals and poultry would create differences in co-resistance between PA and non-PA ESBL- E. coli. We, therefore, determined the prevalence and co-resistance of PA and non-PA ESBL- E. coli in community-acquired and nosocomial urinary tract infections in humans and bla and bla isolates from poultry. A total of 134 human ESBL- E. coli urine isolates were included in this study. Isolates containing bla or bla were considered to be PA, with the remainder being non-PA. Also, 72 poultry ESBL- E. coli were included. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values were determined by broth microdilution. The prevalence of PA ESBL genes in isolates obtained in general practice and hospitals was 28 % versus 30 % (n.s.). Human PA ESBL- E. coli were more frequently susceptible to ciprofloxacin (51 % vs. 25 %; p = 0.0056), gentamicin (86 % vs. 63 %; p = .0.0082), tobramycin (91 % vs. 34 %; p = 0.0001) and amikacin (98 % vs. 67 %; p = 0.0001) compared to human non-PA ESBL- E. coli. PA ESBL- E. coli are not more prevalent in community acquired than nosocomial urine samples, but are more often susceptible to ciprofloxacin and aminoglycosides than non-PA ESBL- E. coli. This does not support the existence of different reservoirs of ESBL genes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prompted by the challenges faced by teachers in balancing grammar and content in English classes, coupled with the poor English proficiency of rural Odia medium school students, the study aimed to devise an intervention that could balance content and grammar, thereby enhancing the grammar competency and content comprehension of eighth-grade students. Based on quasi-experimental research with a pretest-posttest nonequivalent group design, two groups were assigned treatment conditions: the 5E Model with Planned-Incidental Grammar Teaching Approach (experimental group) and the traditional Grammar Translation Method (control group) during class instructions. Data were collected from 100 school students, with 52 in the experimental group and 48 in the control group, using pretest and posttest assessments. The mixed ANOVA test results revealed significantly higher posttest scores in the experimental group compared to the control group, highlighting the positive impact of the intervention on students' grammar proficiency. The t-test for the comprehension test suggested comparable levels of comprehension in both groups, indicating the efficiency of the new pedagogical strategy in seamlessly integrating grammar instruction into regular classroom teaching, optimizing instructional time and ensuring balance between content and grammar, making it particularly valuable for educators facing time constraints. This study underscores the need for professional development opportunities to enhance teachers' pedagogical skills and knowledge. Further research is warranted to explore the intervention's impact on various language skills and assess its applicability in diverse contexts, contributing to a broader understanding of its implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the efficiency of the ceftiofur N-acyl homoserine lactonase niosome against multi-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in broilers was evaluated. Fifty-six K. pneumoniae isolates previously recovered from different poultry and environmental samples were screened for the ahlK gene. The lactonase enzyme was extracted from eight quorum-quenching isolates. The niosome was formulated, characterized, and tested for minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and cytotoxicity. Fourteen-day-old chicks were assigned to six groups: groups Ӏ and П served as negative and positive controls, receiving saline and K. pneumoniae solutions, respectively. In groups Ш and IV, ceftiofur and niosome were administrated intramuscularly at a dose of 10 mg/kg body weight for five consecutive days, while groups V and VI received the injections following the K. pneumoniae challenge. Signs, mortality, and gross lesions were recorded. Tracheal swabs were collected from groups П, V, and VI for counting K. pneumoniae. Pharmacokinetic parameters were evaluated in four treated groups at nine-time points. The niosome was spherical and 56.5 ± 4.41 nm in size. The viability of Vero cells was unaffected up to 5 × MIC (2.4 gml−1). The niosome-treated challenged group showed mild signs and lesions with lower mortality and colony count than the positive control group. The maximum ceftiofur serum concentrations in treated groups were observed 2 h following administration. The elimination half-life in niosome-treated groups was longer than that reported in ceftiofur-treated groups. This is the first report of the administration of N-acyl homoserine lactonase for the control of multi-resistant K. pneumoniae infections in poultry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are associated with the emergence of multidrug resistance in extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae. This study explores the role of class 1 integrons and IS26 elements in breaching taxonomic barriers. A total of 110 E. coli bacteria were isolated from 300 clinical mastitis milk samples. The 98% E. coli isolates were extended-spectrum beta-lactamase- producers. About 83% of these isolates carried co-resistance for fluoroquinolones. The co-existence of (extended-spectrum beta-lactamase + quinolone resistance determining region mutations) and (extended-spectrum beta-lactamase + plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance genes) was found in 76% and 44% of isolates, respectively. The MGEs were detected in 88% of isolates with IS26 in 82% and class 1 integrase in 40% of isolates. The types of class 1 integron gene cassettes detected includes dfrA7, (dfrA17 + aadA5), and (dfrA1 + aadA1). We discovered 2 and 4 novel variants of the dfrA17 and aadA5 genes, respectively. We report a variant of aadA5 with mutation E235G in the Indian subcontinent earlier reported only in a human clinical isolate from Belgium. About 19 isolates carried IS26 linked to integrase gene intI1 with an internal deletion of 265 bp in the 5'CS of integrase gene intI1, earlier reported only in E. coli ST131 isolates from human clinical, wastewater samples. This study suggests intercontinental dissemination of antibiotic resistant genes (ARGs) across different microbiomes via mobile genetic elements. Key points: • The role of mobile genetic elements in the emergence of multidrug-resistant E. coli in bovine mastitis. • Novel variants of the aadA5 (aminoglycoside adenyl transferase) and dfrA17 (dihydrofolate reductase) genes were identified in pathogenic E. coli isolated from bovine mastitis in class 1 integron gene cassette. • Sequence analysis of mobile genetic components revealed the physical connection between IS26 and intI1 genes with an internal deletion in 5'CS of class 1 integrase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a public health threat associated with antibiotic consumption. Community-acquired acute respiratory tract infections (CA-ARTIs) are a major driver of antibiotic consumption in primary care. We aimed to quantify the investments required for a large-scale rollout of point-of care (POC) diagnostic testing in Dutch primary care, and the impact on AMR due to reduced use of antibiotics. Methods: We developed an individual-based model that simulates consultations for CA-ARTI at GP practices in the Netherlands and compared a scenario where GPs test all CA-ARTI patients with a hypothetical diagnostic strategy to continuing the current standard-of-care for the years 2020–2030. We estimated differences in costs and future AMR rates caused by testing all patients consulting for CA-ARTI with a hypothetical diagnostic strategy, compared to the current standard-of-care in GP practices. Results: Compared to the current standard-of-care, the diagnostic algorithm increases the total costs of GP consultations for CA-ARTI by 9% and 19%, when priced at €5 and €10, respectively. The forecast increase in Streptococcus pneumoniae resistance against penicillins can be partly restrained by the hypothetical diagnostic strategy from 3.8 to 3.5% in 2030, albeit with considerable uncertainty. Conclusions: Our results show that implementing a hypothetical diagnostic strategy for all CA-ARTI patients in primary care raises the costs of consultations, while lowering antibiotic consumption and AMR. Novel health-economic methods to assess and communicate the potential benefits related to AMR may be required for interventions with limited gains for individual patients, but considerable potential related to antibiotic consumption and AMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To report changes in adult hospital admission rates for acute ENT infections following the introduction of COVID-19-related physical interventions such as hand washing, use of face masks and social distancing of 2-m in the United Kingdom. Methods: Retrospective cohort study comparing adult admissions with acute tonsillitis, peritonsillar abscess, epiglottitis, glandular fever, peri-orbital cellulitis, acute otitis media, acute mastoiditis, retropharyngeal abscess and parapharyngeal abscess in the 1-year period after the introduction of COVID-related physical interventions (2020–2021) with a 1-year period before this (2019–2020) in three UK secondary care ENT departments. Results: In total, there were significantly fewer admissions for ENT infections (n = 1073, 57.56%, p < 0.001; RR 2.36, 95% CI [2.17, 2.56]) in the 2020–2021 period than in the 2019–2020 period. There were significant reductions in admissions for tonsillitis (64.4%; p < 0.001), peritonsillar abscess (60.68%; p < 0.001), epiglottitis (66.67%; p < 0.001), glandular fever (38.79%; p = 0.001), acute otitis media (26.85%; p = 0.01) and retropharyngeal and/or parapharyngeal abscesses (45.45%; p = 0.04). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates a sizeable reduction in adult admissions for ENT infections since the introduction of COVID-19-related physical interventions. There is evidence to support the use of physical interventions in the prevention of viral transmission of respiratory disease. Preventing ENT infections requiring admission through simple physical interventions could be of great benefit to the quality of life of patients and economical benefit to healthcare systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Huisarts En Wetenschap is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Huisarts En Wetenschap is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Huisarts En Wetenschap is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Huisarts En Wetenschap is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 and extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli (ESBLEC) are important bacteria of public health concern and frequently isolated from raw beef products. Bacteriophage-based methods have been increasingly exploited to control bacterial contamination in meats. Here, we describe the isolation, characterization, and application of a lytic phage PE37 for the simultaneous bio-control of STEC O157:H7 and ESBLEC. Phage PE37, isolated from the bovine intestine, was morphologically characterized as a member of the Myoviridae family, with a broad host range and great stability under various stress conditions. Sequencing analysis revealed that the genomic DNA of phage PE37 contains genes that contribute to virion structure, replication, assembly, and host lysis. PE37 significantly reduced the viable counts of STEC O157:H7 by 4.9 and 2.6 log CFU/mL in broth after 6 h of incubation at 25 and 8 °C, respectively. Application of phage PE37 to raw beef artificially contaminated with STEC O157:H7 resulted in significant reductions in the viable counts by 2.3 and 0.9 log CFU/piece after 24 h of storage at 25 and 8 °C, respectively. Treatment of raw beef contaminated with a bacterial cocktail of STEC O157:H7 and ESBLEC with PE37 also significantly decreased the viable counts of the bacterial mixture by 1.4 and 1.0 log CFU/piece after 24 h of incubation at 25 and 8 °C, respectively. These findings suggest that bacteriophage PE37 may be a potential bio-agent for controlling STEC O157:H7 and ESBLEC contamination in raw beef. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Staphylococcus aureus is an opportunistic pathogen that may cause severe infections in livestock, and represents the major cause of mastitis in dairy cows. Currently, instead of using antibiotics, new strategies are sought to reduce this clinical health problem. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of phage therapy to kill S. aureus strains obtained from farms located at the State of Guanajuato, México. Thirty-six S. aureus strains from cow milk with subclinical mastitis were isolated and identified, and the susceptibility to antibiotics and four phages also isolated in this work was tested. It was found that more of 90% of S. aureus isolates were not susceptible to six or more antibiotics, and 100% were resistant to penicillin, dicloxacillin, cefotaxime, ampicillin and cephalothin, and 81 and 77%, to tetracycline and cefuroxime, respectively. Fortunately, 100% of S. aureus isolates were susceptible to phages used in this work, which was detected as clear zones using specific phage. It was shown for the first time, that phages used in this study are active against pathogenic S. aureus and might be incorporated into the therapy as an important tool for the control of staphylococcal bovine mastitis, specially to antibiotic-resistant S. aureus strains isolated in farm located at the state of Guanajuato, México; and its use might be extended to other regions inside or outside the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University/industry partnerships provide a vehicle for synthesizing knowledge from the fields of teachers’ professional learning, higher degree research training and research impact. This analysis outlines a conceptual framework for having a direct research impact on socio-cultural, economic and environmental learning (SEEL). The particular case that informs this analysis is called the Sydney–Ningbo Partnership, a longitudinal (10 year) program of research oriented, school engaged teacher-researcher education. ‘SEEL research impact’ provides a framework for understanding the underpinnings of the case study of the partnership which is presented here. This paper identifies how the organisation of a university/industry partnership contributes to teachers’ professional learning and HDR training so that their research impacts on students’ leaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this investigation was to analyse the carriage rate of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli in faecal samples of healthy humans in Tunisia and to characterise the recovered isolates. One hundred and fifty samples were inoculated on MacConkey agar plates supplemented with cefotaxime (2 μg/ml) for ESBL-positive E. coli recovery. The characterisation of ESBL genes and their genetic environments, detection of associated resistance genes, multilocus sequence typing (MLST) and phylogroup typing were performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing. The presence and characterisation of integrons and virulence factors were studied by PCR and sequencing. ESBL-positive E. coli isolates were detected in 11 of 150 faecal samples (7.3%) and one isolate/sample was further characterised. These isolates contained the bla (ten isolates) and bla genes (one isolate). The IS Ecp1 (truncated by IS 10 in four strains) and orf477 sequences were found upstream and downstream, respectively, of all bla genes. Seven different sequence types (STs) and three phylogroups were identified among CTX-M-1-producing isolates [ST/phylogroup (number of isolates)]: ST58/B1 (3), ST57/D (2), ST165/A (1), ST155/B1 (1), ST10/A (1), ST398/A (1) and ST48/B1 (1). The TEM-52-producing isolate was typed as ST219 and phylogroup B2. Six ESBL isolates contained class 1 integrons with the gene cassettes dfrA17-aadA5 (five isolates) and dfrA1-aadA1 (one). Healthy humans in the studied country could be a reservoir of CTX-M-1-producing E. coli. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Huisarts En Wetenschap is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

β-lactam antibiotics are widely used for the treatment of different types of infections worldwide and the resistance to these antibiotics has grown sharply, which is of great concern. Resistance to β-lactams in gram-negative bacteria is mainly due to the production of β-lactamases, which are classified according to their functional activities. The aim of this study was to verify the presence of β-lactamases encoding genes in feces, soil, and water from a Brazilian pig farm. Different β-lactamases encoding genes were found, including blaCTX-M-Gp1, blaCTX-M-Gp9, blaSHV, blaOXA-1-like, blaGES, and blaVEB. The blaSHV and blaCTX-M-Gp1 genes have been detected in all types of samples, indicating the spread of β-lactam resistant bacteria among farm pigs and the environment around them. These results indicate that β-lactamase encoding genes belonging to the cloxacillinase, ESBL, and carbapenemase and they have high potential to spread in different sources, due to the fact that genes are closely related to mobile genetic elements, especially plasmids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]