Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) form a group of bacteria to which most probiotics belong and are commonly found in fermented dairy products. Fermented foods and beverages are foods made through desired microbial growth and enzymatic conversions of food components. In this study, 43 LAB were isolated from Ethiopian traditional cottage cheese, cheese, and yogurt and evaluated for their functional and safety properties as candidate probiotics. Twenty-seven isolates, representative of each fermented food type, were selected and identified to the species level. Limosilactobacillus fermentum was found to be the predominant species in all samples studied (70.4%), while 11.1% of isolates were identified as Lactiplantibacillus plantarum. All 27 isolates tested showed resistance to 0.5% bile salt, while 26 strains were resistant to pH 3. The LAB isolates were also evaluated for antagonistic properties against key pathogens, with strain-specific features observed for their antimicrobial activity. Five strains from cottage cheese (Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 54B, 54C, and 55A, Lactiplantibacillus pentosus 55B, and Pediococcus pentosaceus 95E) showed inhibitory activity against indicator pathogens that are key causes of gastrointestinal infections in Ethiopia, i.e., Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica var. Typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Shigella flexneri, and Listeria monocytogenes. Strain-specific immunomodulatory activity monitored as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and interferon regulatory factor (IRF) activation was documented for Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 54B, 55A and P. pentosaceus 95E. Antibiotic susceptibility testing confirmed that all LAB isolates were safe concerning their antibiotic resistance profiles. Five isolates (especially Lactiplantibacillus plantarum 54B, 54C, and 55A, Lactiplantibacillus pentosus 55B, and P. pentosaceus 95E) showed promising results in all assays and are novel probiotic candidates of interest for clinical trial follow-up.
Background: Immunophenotypic characterization of acute leukemia is an important clinical application of flow cytometry and has become a powerful tool contributing to proper diagnosis and classification. The aim of this study is to phenotype and classify acute leukemias by flow cytometry using commonly used markers for leukemia diagnosis.Methods: A total of 40 pediatric and adult patients diagnosed with acute leukemia were evaluated by flow cytometry with 17 surface and cytoplasmic markers known to be useful in discriminating different types of acute leukemia. These results were compared with classification results using standard morphological criteria.Results: 21 of 40 patients (52.5%) were classified as acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) while 19 (47.5%) were identified as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Of all the ALL cases, 10 of the 19 (52.6%) were B-ALL and 47.4% (9/19) were T-ALL based on flow cytometry. Markers of immaturity HLA-DR and CD34 antigens were co-expressed in 61% of AML cases and 33% of T-ALL cases, whereas CD34 was expressed in 50% of the B-ALL cases. cMPO and CD13 were the most expressed markers of AML, CD19 and cCD79a were present in all cases of B-ALL, and cytoplasmic CD3 and CD7 were positive on most all T-ALL cases. Discrimination of AML from ALL patients by flow cytometry was 80% concordant with traditional morphology. Notable discrepancies occurred in cases where leukemia cells expressed markers for more than one lineage.Conclusions: In the Ethiopia setting, flow cytometry represents a feasible and promising adjunctive diagnostic approach for acute leukemia.
Background Infectious diseases caused by pathogenic members of the family Enterobacteriaceae cause mortality and morbidity in humans. These are mediated mainly via toxins or virulence factors in combination with multiple antimicrobial resistance (MAR) against antimicrobials intended to treat infections. Resistance can be transferred to other bacteria, possibly also in association with other resistance determinants and/or virulence properties. Food-borne bacterial infections are one of the major causes of infections in humans. The level of scientific information about foodborne bacterial infections in Ethiopia is very limited at best. Methods Bacteria were isolated from commercial dairy foods. These were cultured in appropriate media for identification at the family level ( Enterobacteriaceae ) based on Gram-negative, catalase-positive, oxidase-negative, and urease-negative phenotypes, followed by testing for the presence of virulence factors and resistance determinants to various antimicrobial classes using phenotypic and molecular tests. Results Twenty Gram-negative bacteria isolated from the foods were found to be resistant to almost all antimicrobials belonging to the phenicol, aminoglycoside, fluoroquinolone, monobactam, and β-lactam classes. All of them were multiple-drug-resistant. The resistance to the β-lactams was due to the production of β-lactamases and were also mostly resistant to some of the β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations. Some isolates also contained toxins. Conclusion This small-scale study demonstrated the presence, in the isolates, of high levels of virulence factors and resistance to major antimicrobials that are in clinical use. Most treatment being empirical, there can be not only a high degree of treatment failure but also the likelihood for further development and dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Since dairy foods are animal products, there is an urgent need to control animal-food-human transmission mechanisms, restrict antimicrobial use in animal agriculture, and improve clinical treatment from the usual empirical treatment to more targeted and effective treatment.
Background: Urinary tract infection is a major health problem especially in developing countries. Information about bacterial pathogens isolated from urinary tract infection in diabetic patients and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns are limited in Ethiopia. Therefore, this study aimed at to isolate bacterial pathogens and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns.Methods: A hospital based cross sectional study was conducted at Debre Tabor. Urine sample was inoculated on to cysteine lysine electrolyte deficient (CLED) medium. Bacterial pathogens were identified using standard bacteriological methods. The data were cleaned and entered in to SPSS version 20. P- Value less than 0.05 is considered statistically significant. Result: A total of 250 study participants were included in the study. Of them, 28 (11.2%) bacterial pathogens were isolated. Gram positive bacteria were commonly isolated 19 (67.8%) than Gram negatives 9 (32.1%). The commonly isolated bacterial species were Staphylococcus aureus8 (28.6%),Escherichia coli5 (19.1%), Coagulase negative Staphylococci 8 (28.6%),Kelebsllapneumoniae4(14.3%), and Entrococcus(9.5%).Gram positive isolates were resistant to cotrimoxazole 10 (58.8%).Conclusion: Bacteriuria was significantly associated with sex and type of diabetes. Multidrug resistance to two or more antibiotics was observed in 56.7% of bacterial isolates. Rational use of antimicrobial agent should be thought to prevent the emergency of multidrug resistance.
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