Search

All crops that are eaten raw can present a microbiological risk to consumers. Disease outbreaks in the United Kingdom and United States have illustrated that ready-to-eat crops can be a vehicle for the transmission of gastrointestinal disease. Irrigation water has been implicated as a possible source of microbiological contaminants. Over two-thirds of irrigation water applied to UK salad crops is abstracted from rivers and streams. Many of these are subject to a continuous input of faecal contamination from sewage treatment works as well as intermittent inputs from livestock and sewer overflows. In this paper, we show how geospatial techniques can help to assess the relationships between treated effluent discharges and abstractions and thus provide a new insight into local-scale assessments of irrigation water quality. The extent to which the approach can inform risk assessments and decision-making at the farm scale is demonstrated using a case-study catchment in eastern England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information about various affairs of Endodontic Societies. The Council of the British Endodontic Society is offering a prize for the best essay by an undergraduate dental student or recently qualified graduate. Notices have been circulated to all the Dental Schools in Great Britain and Ireland. The winter meeting of the Netherlands Society for Endodontology was again held in two places, Zwolle and Eindhoven, on consecutive days, December 9 and December 10, 1983, with an identical program. Two lectures were given in the morning by Professor Goran Sundqvist from Sweden on the microbiology and disinfection of root canals, and clinical implications.

Prebiotics potentially increase the growth of bifidobacteria, which may minimise the risk of diarrhoea in patients receiving enteral nutrition (EN). The present study aimed to compare the concentrations of faecal microbiota and short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in patients receiving EN with either a standard formula or one enriched with fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and fibre. Forty-one hospitalised adult patients (25 males, 16 females) who were on exclusive EN for at least 12 days were recruited to a cross-sectional study. Faecal samples were collected and analysed for major groups of microbiota using fluorescent in situ hybridisation and SCFA concentrations were analysed using gas liquid chromatography. There were generally low concentrations of the major bacterial groups, including bifidobacteria, in all patients receiving either standard or FOS/fibre-enriched formula [bifidobacteria: 6.6 (1.3) versus 7.0 (2.0) log cells g dry faecal, P = 0.199]. However, faecal butyrate concentrations were higher in patients receiving the FOS/fibre-enriched formula compared to standard formula [20.5 (21.6) versus 4.6 (6.7) μmol g dry faecal, P = 0.006]. Low concentrations of faecal bifidobacteria were identified in these patients, which potentially increases their risk of diarrhoea. Other microbiota groups may utilise FOS/fibre, leading to different butyrate concentrations between the two cohorts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 2-year survey of soils from a total of 208 fields, using sugar-beet seedlings as bait plants, showed Polymyxa betae to be ubiquitous in the sugar-beet-growing areas of Britain. It was detected in some soils which had not grown a host crop for up to 17 years. However, infection of roots was relatively infrequent in plant samples taken from 134 survey fields in early summer and the density of colonization always low. Three other non-mycelial fungi, Olpidium brassicae. Lagena radicicola and Rhizophydium gramirtis were also common parasites of sugar-beet roots detected in soil bioassays. Infection of plant samples by O. brassicae was particularly severe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the lesions of bovine digital epidermitis on the feet of beef cattle conducted by Cláudio Cruz and colleagues in Great Britain. The study was conducted at slaughter and dairy cattle undergoing routine foot care. Histologically, the lesions were classified, sampled and examined. Sixty four percent of the samples were positive for microorganisms, most commonly spirochaetes.