The present study deals with the isolation and characterization of exopolysaccharides (EPS) produced by the plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) from arid and semiarid regions of Pakistan, and to investigate the drought tolerance potential of these PGPR on maize when used as bioinoculant alone and in combination with their respective EPS. Three bacterial strains Proteus penneri (Pp1), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa2), and Alcaligenes faecalis (AF3) were selected as EPS-producing bacteria on the basis of mucoid colony formation. All these strains were gram negative, motile, and positive for catalase. Strain Pp1 was positive for oxidase test and was phosphate solubilizing, while Pa2 and AF3 were negative. The isolated strains were sequenced using 16SrRNA. Total soluble sugar, protein, uronic acid, emulsification activity, and Fourier-transformed infrared spectroscopy of EPS were determined. Drought stress had significant adverse effects on growth of maize seedlings. Seed bacterization of maize with EPS-producing bacterial strains in combination with their respective EPS improved soil moisture contents, plant biomass, root and shoot length, and leaf area. Under drought stress, the inoculated plants showed increase in relative water content, protein, and sugar though the proline content and the activities of antioxidant enzymes were decreased. The Pa2 strain isolated from semiarid region was most potent PGPR under drought stress. Consortia of inocula and their respective EPS showed greater potential to drought tolerance compared to PGPR inocula used alone.

Drought stress not only effect the population and activities of microorganisms inhabiting the rhizosphere but also various physiological and biochemical process in plants that is, photosynthesis, respiration, translocation, uptake of ions, carbohydrates, and nutrient metabolism. Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and their exopolysaccharides (EPS) showed profound effects on plant growth and drought tolerance. Reactions of bacteria to drought stress at various organizational levels are different which depends on intensity of stress, duration, species, and growth stage. PGPR could be effectively utilized in developing strategies to facilitate water conservation strategies of plants. They have the ability to improve plant growth directly by enhancing level of phytohormones, siderophore, biofilm, and exopolysaccharides production and by increasing the nutrient availability in the rhizosphere or indirectly by protecting plants from pathogen attack. EPS producing bacteria are capable to maintain higher soil moisture content and growth of plants even under severe dried sandy soils. The evidence of survival of rhizobacteria under low moisture content obtained from the fact of rhizobacterial occurrence in the soil of desert and effective nodule formation in desert soil. Beside this, EPS produced by PGPR form rhizosheath around the roots and thus protect the plant roots from desiccation for a longer period of time. Important role exhibited by exopolysaccharides includes, protection from desiccation, microbial aggregation, plant-microbe interaction, surface attachment, bioremediation and its use by many industries for stabilizing, thickening, coagulating, gelling, suspending and for film forming. Plants inoculated with EPS-producing bacteria showed higher accumulation of proline, sugars, and free amino acids under water deficit stress. Biofilms formed by the PGPR around the roots are made up of bacterial populations or bacterial communities that encased inside the polymeric extracellular matrix formed by bacteria itself, they adhered to the external surfaces that contain sufficient moisture. It is concluded that the application of PGPR in combination with their EPS is a promising measure to combat drought stress thus, increasing global food security.

Enterobacter cloacae (E. cloacae) is an emerging nosocomial pathogen that had acquired antibiotic resistance against multiple classes of antibiotics. The current study was aimed to isolate and characterize lytic bacteriophage against E. cloacae. The bacteriophage EBP was isolated from a sewage water sample using E. cloacae as a host strain by double-layer agar technique. EBP was found stabile at a wide range of temperatures (25, 37, 60, and 80°C) and pH (5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) with antibacterial activity up to 24 h of infection. The latent period of EBP was 20 min with a burst size of 252 phages per cell. It showed a narrow host range and infected 12/21 (57%) isolates of E. cloacae tested. It has helical symmetry with a head size of 105 and 120 nm long tail with contractile sheath. The EBP has 179.1 kb long doublestranded DNA genome with 44.8% GC content. Majority of identified ORFs (187/281) were encoding putative proteins with unknown function. Necessary replication enzymes, structural proteins, and lytic enzymes were detected in the genome of EBP. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that EBP closely resembles with Coronobacter phage vB_CsaM_IeN, vB_CsaM_IeE, vB_CsaM_IeB, and Citrobacter phage Margaery. Based on electron microscopy and molecular characterization, EBP was classified as a Myoviridae phage.

Introduction Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is performed on sudden cardiac arrest patients. There is significant morbidity and mortality due to SCA and choking. This high incidence raises a question regarding knowledge of BLS in health care professionals. Therefore, we will be assessing knowledge of BLS among clinical and basic medical health care professionals. Methodology A cross-sectional study was conducted on the Medical professionals of Jinnah Sindh Medical University (JSMU) and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) to assess their knowledge of BLS, within a period of 10 months. Data was collected from 94 participants using a pretested questionnaire through convenient sampling technique. Adequate knowledge was assessed and compared between medical professionals of JSMU and JPMC. P-value was taken significant if it were <0.05 after applying chi-square test. Result The mean age of participants was 33.0 ± 8.66 years. 48% candidates were related to Academics Faculty whereas 52% were Clinical Faculty. Overall 60 (63.8%) responders had “Adequate Knowledge”. Out of those, 23 (38.3%) were from JSMU and 37 (61.6%) were from JPMC. There was a significant difference of knowledge of BLS among the institutes (p-value= 0.003). There was also significant difference of adequate knowledge of participants of JSMU who have had previous BLS training and those who haven’t (p value =0.05). Conclusion BLS knowledge of medical professionals should be frequently revised and updated because they should be competent enough to handle any emergency situation, be it in a hospital or outside of it. Furthermore, this updated knowledge will have a positive effect on their students.