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Kulundu-Bolus, McGarry and Lotz-Sisitka (2020) have offered transgressive learning as a new approach to environmental education. As a response to their work, this paper describes and discusses aspects of a four-year action research project in which a group of children, adolescents and adults from the rural community of Wakkerstroom-eSizameleni participated in a series of multimodal arts-based interventions in which increased environmental awareness and improved environmental practices were key goals. Five vignettes from these interventions are used to argue that Transgressive Eco-Arts Pedagogy (TEAP) can facilitate community engagement, greater environmental awareness and small steps towards the improved environmental practices that Kulundu-Bolus et al. have called for.

The objective of this study was to determine and compare the biofilm elimination concentrations (BEC: the concentration which reduced the viability of biofilm organisms by at least 99.9%) of ciprofloxacin and tobramycin for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common cause of nosocomial biomaterial-related infections. Bacterial biofilms were produced in the modified Robbins device using continuous culture flow at 60 ml/h for 40-44 h, and the sessile organisms were then exposed to either ciprofloxacin or tobramycin at a range of concentrations for 12 or 36 h. The BEC of ciprofloxacin was 5 μg/ml for the 12 and 36 h treatments, a value 10 x greater than the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). In contrast, the BEC of tobramycin was > 100 μg/ml after 12 h and 75 ug/ml following 36 h of drug exposure that is 75-100 x the MIC and MBC. The results demonstrated that the BEC is a more suitable indicator of the antibiotic susceptibility of P. aeruginosa biofilms than the MIC and MBC. Ciprofloxacin was significantly more effective than tobramycin in the treatment of P. aeruginosa adherent to biomaterials. With respect to clinical application, if the intention of antibiotic use is to eradicate bacteria adherent to devices, only biofilm-active agents should be used.

We now report the development of gelatin suppositories containing freeze dried Lactobacillus casei GR-1 and L. fermentum B-54 chosen for their ability to adhere to uroepithelial cells and inhibit the growth of E. coli and Enterococcus faecalis in vitro. The product has a long shelf life, and is easily and safely utilized. In a preliminary study of 10 female patients who received the therapy at weekly intervals for 12 months, there was a net reduction of 66.3% in the incidence of recurrent urinary tract infections. Lactobacilli were isolated from the vagina of the patients for the duration of treatment. Examination of random specimens showed some degree of correlation between numbers of lactobacilli adherent to vaginal epithelial cells and viable organisms recovered from swabs. © 1992 The International Urogynecology Journal.

A type I and P fimbriated uropathogenic Escherichia coli Hu734 was found to be more hydrophilic than Staphylococcus epidermidis 1938 and Lactobacillus acidophilus T-13. The correlation with substrata surface tension and adhesion was linear only for the lactobacillus. There was no evidence that patients with a history of recurrent urinary tract infections had urinary surface tensions consistently higher or lower than healthy controls. However, relative surface tensions differed by up to 21 mJ·m between urine samples from patients. Free energy of adhesion values demonstrated that bacterial culture conditions could alter the adhesion potential. In addition, hydrophilic E. coli were found more likely to adhere to hydrophilic substrata in urine of low surface tension. L. acidophilus T-13 were more likely to adhere to biomaterials than E. coli, when the urinary surface tension was high. The findings indicate the complexity of the process of bacterial adhesion related to catheter-associated urinary tract infections. © 1991, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved. -2