The effective control of rodent populations on farms is crucial for food safety, as rodents are reservoirs and vectors for several zoonotic pathogens. Clear links have been identified between rodents and farm-level outbreaks of pathogens throughout Europe and Asia; however, comparatively little research has been devoted to studying the rodent–agricultural interface in the USA. Here, we address this knowledge gap by metabarcoding bacterial communities of rodent pests collected from Minnesota and Wisconsin food animal farms. We leveraged the Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencer to provide a rapid real-time survey of putative zoonotic foodborne pathogens, among others. Rodents were live trapped (n = 90) from three dairy and mixed animal farms. DNA extraction was performed on 63 rodent colons along with 2 shrew colons included as outgroups in the study. Full-length 16S amplicon sequencing was performed. Our farm-level rodent-metabarcoding data indicate the presence of multiple foodborne pathogens, including Salmonella spp., Campylobacter spp., Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium spp., along with many mastitis pathogens circulating within five rodent species (Microtus pennsylvanicus, Mus musculus, Peromyscus leucopus, Peromyscus maniculatus, and Rattus norvegicus) and a shrew (Blarina brevicauda). Interestingly, we observed a higher abundance of enteric pathogens (e.g., Salmonella) in shrew feces compared to the rodents analyzed in our study. Knowledge gained from our research efforts will directly inform and improve farm-level biosecurity efforts and public health interventions to reduce future outbreaks of foodborne and zoonotic disease.
The aims of the current study were to prepare pseudoephedrine gel formulations for skin permeability and to assess the effect of thyme oil on the permeability of the formulations. Thyme oil was used in the gel formulations at a range of concentrations (0-3%) and its effects on pseudoephedrine permeation profiles in vitro were observed. Several physicochemical characteristics of the formulated gels were analyzed to assess their suitability for topical application. A standard pseudoephedrine calibration curve was prepared to analyze the quantity of drug released from the samples. In vitro drug permeability was studied using a Franz diffusion cell apparatus with a cellulose membrane and excised rabbit skin. Several kinetic models were used to assess the drug permeability behavior, and the Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic model was found to correspond to the in vitro drug release profiles of the pseudoephedrine gels. The formulation was physiochemically stable, the drug was released, and thyme oil did enhance the permeation of the drug up to 69.87%.
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