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Copyright of World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 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 World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 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 World Journal of Microbiology & Biotechnology 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.)

Background: Patients with TB resistant to rifampicin (Rr-TB), and those with additional resistance to fluoroquinolones (pre-XDR-TB), should be treated with bedaquiline-pretomanid-linezolid-moxifloxacin and bedaquiline-pretomanid-linezolid, respectively. However, pretomanid is not yet widely available., Methods: This is a pragmatic prospective single-arm study investigating the efficacy and safety of 9 mo of bedaquiline-delamanid-linezolid-clofazimine in patients with pre-XDR-TB or Rr-TB unresponsive to Rr-TB treatment in Nigeria., Results: From January 2020 to June 2022, 14 of 20 patients (70%) successfully completed treatment, five died and one was lost-to-follow-up. No one experienced a treatment-emergent grade three/four event. Treatment success was higher compared with global pre-XDR-TB treatment outcomes., Conclusions: While pretomanid is unavailable, highly resistant TB can be treated with bedaquiline-delamanid-linezolid-clofazimine., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.)

Antimicrobial resistance is a major public-health concern. We evaluate chlorhexidine role in selection of resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa mutants and their antibiotic cross-resistance. Mutation frequency and mutation rate after short-term exposure to sub-inhibitory concentrations of chlorhexidine were compared to those after spontaneous chlorhexidine-exposure, in P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain. Chlorhexidine-resistant mutants were generated, either by serial passage in increasing chlorhexidine concentrations or by single exposure to lethal chlorhexidine concentration. The generated mutants were tested for cross-resistance to different antibiotics, by determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). The accompanied phenotypic changes in membrane permeability, outer membrane proteins (OMP), and efflux function were evaluated. The effect of exposure to chlorhexidine on MexAB-OprM, MexEF-oprN, and MexXY efflux pumps expression was investigated. No significant change was recorded between the mutation frequencies and mutation rates after short-term exposure to sub-inhibitory concentrations of chlorhexidine and after spontaneous chlorhexidine-exposure, in P. aeruginosa PAO1 strain. Twelve stable mutants, with ≥ eight-fold increase in chlorhexidine MIC, were generated. Several mutants showed increase in the MIC of colistin, cefepime, ceftazidime, meropenem, ciprofloxacin, and amikacin; seven mutants expressed meropenem cross-resistance. This was accompanied by decreased outer membrane permeability and changes in OMP. Using efflux pump inhibitor, chlorhexidine resistance was reverted in most isolates. Exposure to sub-inhibitory concentration of chlorhexidine induced the expression of MexXY efflux pump. Some resistant mutants had overexpressed MexXY efflux pump. Chlorhexidine can select P. aeruginosa strains with antibiotic cross-resistance. This necessitates implementing special protocols for chlorhexidine use and re-evaluation of its benefit versus risk in personal-care products., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Background: Postoperative infections can occur during surgical replacement of pulse generators for pacemakers and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators. The incidence of infection is poorly documented in children and patients with adult congenital heart disease. The utility of surveillance cultures obtained from device pocket swabs is unknown in this group., Methods: We reviewed surgical replacements of cardiovascular implantable pulse generators from 2010 to 2017. Two cohorts were defined. In a surveillance cohort (123 patients), aerobic and anaerobic culture swabs of the device pocket were obtained at the time of generator change. In a nonsurveillance cohort (107 patients), generator change occurred without obtaining cultures., Results: During 230 generator changes (mean patient age 19 years; 77% with structural congenital heart disease), two clinical infections occurred at the surgical site (0.9% incidence). Neither infection occurred in the surveillance cohort. Cultures were positive in 12 (9.8%) of 123 patients in the surveillance cohort, but 11 of 12 were likely contaminants and none were subsequently associated with clinical disease. There was no association between clinical infection or positive surveillance cultures and the location of pulse generator, the presence of other concurrent surgeries, or a history of prior pocket infection., Conclusions: Clinical infection was rare after pulse generator change in children and young adults. No cases required reintervention on the pocket. Surveillance cultures did not improve clinical care. These data extend current recommendations that surveillance cultures are not required during generator change to the pediatric and young adult population.

Background: Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are a major clinical and public health problem world-wide. The prompt reporting of suspected ADRs to regulatory authorities to activate drug safety surveillance and regulation appears to be the most pragmatic measure for addressing the problem. This paper evaluated a pharmacovigilance (PV) training model that was designed to improve the reporting of ADRs in public health programs treating the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria., Methods: A Structured Pharmacovigilance and Training Initiative (SPHAR-TI) model based on the World Health Organization accredited Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SOR-IT) model was designed and implemented over a period of 12 months. A prospective cohort design was deployed to evaluate the outcomes of the model. The primary outcomes were knowledge gained and Individual Case Safety Reports (ICSR) (completed adverse drug reactions monitoring forms) submitted, while the secondary outcomes were facility based Pharmacovigilance Committees activated and health facility healthcare workers trained by the participants., Results: Fifty-five (98%) participants were trained and followed up for 12 months. More than three quarter of the participants have never received training on pharmacovigilance prior to the course. Yet, a significant gain in knowledge was observed after the participants completed a comprehensive training for six days. In only seven months, 3000 ICSRs (with 100% completeness) were submitted, 2,937 facility based healthcare workers trained and 46 Pharmacovigilance Committees activated by the participants. Overall, a 273% increase in ICSRs submission to the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) was observed., Conclusion: Participants gained knowledge, which tended to increase the reporting of ADRs. The SPHAR-TI model could be an option for strengthening the continuous reporting of ADRs in public health programs in resource limited settings., Competing Interests: The authors including those affiliated with commercial organization declare that they have no competing interest. The affiliation with Wise Health Services Limited does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials (as detailed online in our guide for authors, http://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/competing-interests).

Context: Chylous ascites a rare complication post cholecystectomy. There are to our knowledge only 3 reported cases in the literature. We describe a case of chylous ascites post open cholecystectomy in a patient with recent severe pancreatitis. We propose a potential relationship between acute biliary pancreatitis and the development of chylous ascites., Case Report: We present a 37 year old man with a history of severe biliary pancreatitis 10 months prior. He was electively admitted for laparoscopic cholecystectomy. His surgery was converted to open cholecystectomy due to adhesions. A closed, non suction drain was placed intraoperatively draining serosanguinous fluid. Two days post operatively the draining fluid changed to a milky colour fluid with high triglyceride level. Chylous ascites was confirmed clinically with a 24 hour fast. He was treated with total parenteral nutrition. His chylous ascites resolved with conservative management and his drain was removed., Conclusion: We describe the diagnosis and management of chylous ascites post cholecystectomy. We propose the hypothesis to the aetiology of this rare condition, based on ours and one previous case, that a history of recent severe acute pancreatitis poses a risk factor in the development of chylous ascites.

A bacterium that could completely metabolize phenol in batch culture supplied with up to 1200 mg phenol l(-1) at room temperature (25 degrees C) was isolated from the activated sludge of the industrial wastewater treatment plant of a Coke company (Cairo, Egypt). Morphological and physiological characterization showed strain TW1 was a motile, strictly aerobic, gram negative and short-rod occurring singly or in clusters. Partial 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed strain TW1 belonged to the beta group of Proteobacteria, showing 100% identity to Alcaligenes SCTI. Strain TW1 aerobically grew on a number of monocyclic aromatic compounds (hydroquinone, catechol and o-cresol) as well as polycyclic aromatic compounds (pyrene, phenanthrene and naphthalene). The growth of Alcaligenes TW1 on phenol as sole carbon and energy source (25 degrees C) was well described by the Haldane kinetics model with a maximal specific growth rate of 0.58 h(-1), a half-saturation constant of 10 mg l(-1), and a substrate inhibition constant of 152-550 mg l(-1). The biomass yield coefficient ranged from 0.55 to 0.64 mg dry cell mass/mg phenol. Due to its high tolerance to phenol and high metabolic versatility, Alcaligenes sp. TW1 is considered an excellent candidate for the biotreatment of high strength phenol-laden industrial wastewaters.

Simulated solar UV/TiO(2) photocatalysis was efficient to detoxify a mixture of 100 mgphenoll(-1) and 50 mgp-nitrophenol (PNP) l(-1) and allow the subsequent biodegradation of the remaining pollutants and their photocatalytic products under photosynthetic aeration with Chlorella vulgaris. Photocatalytic degradation of phenol and PNP was well described by pseudo-first order kinetics (r(2)>0.98) with removal rate constants of 1.9x10(-4) and 2.8x10(-4)min(-1), respectively, when the pollutants were provided together and 5.7x10(-4) and 9.7x10(-4)min(-1), respectively, when they were provided individually. Photocatalytic pre-treatment of the mixture during 60 h removed 50+/-1% and 62+/-2% of the phenol and PNP initially present but only 11+/-3% of the initial COD. Hydroquinone, nitrate and catechol were identified as PNP photocatalytic products and catechol and hydroquinone as phenol photocatalytic products. Subsequent biological treatment of the pre-treated samples removed the remaining contaminants and their photocatalytic products as well as 81-83% of the initial COD, allowing complete detoxification of the mixture to C. vulgaris. Similar detoxification efficiencies were recorded after biological treatment of the irradiated mixture with activated sludge microflora or with an acclimated consortia composed of a phenol-degrading Alcaligenes sp. and a PNP-degrading Arthrobacter sp., although the acclimated strains biodegraded the remaining pollutants faster. Biological treatment of the non-irradiated mixture was inefficient due to C. vulgaris inhibition.

UV/TiO2/H2O2, UV/TiO2 and UV/H2O2 were compared as pre-treatment processes for the detoxification of mixtures of 4-chlorophenol (4CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (TCP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP) prior to their biological treatment. When each chlorophenol was initially supplied at 50 mg l(-1), UV/TiO2/H2O2 treatment supported the highest pollutant removal, COD removal, and dechlorination efficiencies followed by UV/TiO2 and UV/H2O2. The remaining toxicity to Lipedium sativum was similar after all pre-treatments. Chlorophenol photodegradation was always well described by a first order model kinetic (r2>0.94) and the shortest 4CP, DCP, TCP and PCP half-lives of 8.7, 7.1, 4.5 and 3.3 h, respectively, were achieved during UV/TiO2/H2O2 treatment. No pollutant removal was observed in the controls conducted with H2O2 or TiO2 only. Inoculation of all the photochemically pre-treated mixtures with activated sludge microflora was followed by complete removal of the remaining pollutants. Combined UV/TiO2/H2O2-biological supported the highest detoxification, dechlorination (99%) and COD removal (88%) efficiencies. Similar results were achieved when each chlorophenol was supplied at 100 mg l(-1). COD and Cl mass balances indicated UV, UV/H2O2, and UV/TiO2 treatments lead to the formation of recalcitrant photoproducts, some of which were chlorinated.

Whole broth cultures, washed mycelia and non-germinating spores of 13 aspergilli scored from among 91 moulds isolated from soil and air transformed lucanthone (I) into three to five products with increased polarity. Biotransformations brought about by actively growing cultures were also performed by washed mycelia and non-germinating spores of the same strains. Lucanthone (I) was oxidized by growing cultures, washed mycelia and spore suspensions of an Aspergillus species (no. 2) into: hycanthone (II) as the main product, its aldehyde analogue (III) and its carboxylic acid derivative (IV). The pathway of lucanthone (I) oxidation by this strain involved hydroxylation of the 4-methyl group (to give hycanthone, II) followed by dehydrogenation of the resulting primary alcohol (to give the aldehyde, III). The aldehyde III was finally slowly oxidized to the corresponding carboxylic acid analogue IV. Evidence is presented to show that mycelial and spore enzymes effecting these oxidative reactions are intracellular and non-inducible in nature. Spore-mediated transformations were found not to require a source of energy and could be conducted in distilled water over a wide range of incubation temperature (from 4 to 37 degrees C). Use of the spores in successive transformations did not affect lucanthone (I) hydroxylation into hycanthone (II) or the dehydrogenation of the latter into the aldehyde analogue (III) but the ability of the spores to oxidize the aldehyde (III) to the carboxylic acid (IV) was lost.

We examined a total of 192 samples, including eight different brands of shaving cream and eight brands of shampoo, for their total aerobic bacterial, coliforms and fungal counts. Shaving creams were more heavily contaminated with bacteria than shampoos. Viable bacterial were not recovered from 57% and 10% of shampoos and shaving creams, respectively. Only 3% of shaving creams were heavily contaminated with more than 10(4) c.f.u./g, while none of the shampoos contained such a high number of bacteria. With regard to the medium range contamination levels, 52% of shaving creams showed bacterial counts ranging from 10(2) to 10(3) c.f.u./g or ml, compared to 15% of shampoos which were contaminated to the same level. Fourteen per cent of shaving creams were contaminated with greater than 10(3)-10(4) c.f.u./g or ml, compared to 1% of the shampoos. No coliforms were recovered from either the shaving creams or the shampoos; however, Staphylococcus spp. were detected in six samples of both shampoos and shaving creams. Some of these Staphylococci, were aureus type. One isolate of Pseudomonas aeruginosa was also detected in a sample of shampoo. The incidence of fungal contamination was much less than the bacterial contamination. No viable fungi were recovered from 88% and 76% of the shaving creams and shampoos, respectively. The majority of the remaining samples, for both products, were contaminated with less than 100 fungal cell/g or ml. The pH of all the tested samples was alkaline (pH 7.2-9), which is well known to inhibit fungal contamination.

The spores of Fusarium solani reduced the C(2)-carbonyl group, 1-dehydrogenated ring "A" and cleaved the side chain of 16alpha, 17alpha-oxidopregn-4-ene-3, 20-dione (16alpha, 17alpha-oxidoprogesterone)(I) to give the following products: 20alpha-hydroxy-16alpha, 17alpha-oxidopregn-4-en-3-one(II); 20alpha-hydroxy-16alpha, 17alpha-oxidopregna-1, 4-dien-3-one(III); 16alpha-hydroxy-17a-oxa-androsta-1, 4-diene-3, 17-dione (16alpha-hydroxy-1-dehydrotestololactone)(IV); and 16alpha, 17beta-dihydroxy-androsta-1, 4-dien-3-one (16alpha-hydroxy-1-dehydrotestosterone)(V). When II was used as a substrate, it was metabolized into III, IV, and V at a slower rate than I. Furthermore, 16alpha-hydroxy-androst-4-ene-3, 17-dione (16alpha-hydroxyandrostenedione)(X) was transformed into IV and V. Pregn-4-ene-3, 20-dione (progesterone)(XII) was transformed into androsta-1, 4-diene-3, 17-dione (androstadienedione)(VIII) and 17a-oxa-androsta-1, 4-diene-3, 17-dione (1-dehydrotestololactone)(IX), while 17alpha-hydroxy-pregn-4-ene-3, 20-dione (17alpha-hydroxyprogesterone)(VI) was converted into its 1-dehydro analogue (VII) without accumulation of any 20-dihydro compounds. Substrate specificity in the 20-reductase system of F. solani, Cylindrocarpon radicicola, Septomyxa affinis, Bacillus lentus, and three strains of B. sphaericus are demonstrated. The 20-reductase is active only on steroids having the 16alpha, 17alpha-oxido, and Delta(4)-3-keto functions. Evidence of competition between side-chain degrading enzymes and the 20-reductase for the steroid molecule and evidence of side-chain degradation followed by epoxide cleavage (and not the reverse) are presented. A mechanism for the epoxide opening by nongerminating spores of F. solani is postulated.