Aerobic bacterial microbiota of the conjunctiva in diabetic patients with normal and altered glycated hemoglobin levels in two regions in Brazil / Microbiota bacteriana aeróbica conjuntival em pacientes diabéticos com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada em duas regiões brasileiras

Purpose: To study the aerobic bacterial microbiota of the conjunctiva in diabetic patients with regard to the management of diabetes, assessed using glycated hemoglobin levels. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using conjunctival smears of diabetic patients from both sexes and with different ages, residing in two different Brazilian cities (Sorocaba and Rio Branco). A control group of non-diabetic patients was also included. The diabetic patients were considered to have controlled diabetes when their glycated hemoglobin level was ≤7% and blood glucose level was ≤126 mg/dL. Patients with non-controlled diabetes were those with glycated hemoglobin levels >7% and blood glucose levels >126 mg/dL. The samples obtained were inoculated in Brain-Heart Infusion broth and in culture media for aerobic bacteria (blood and chocolate agars); bacterial growth was evaluated in a microbiology laboratory. Results: A total of 120 eyes of 120 patients were included in the present study. The percentage of cultures in which bacterial growth was observed was greater in diabetic patients, although the difference was not statistically significant (p=0.103). There was a greater trend toward bacterial growth in the conjunctiva of diabetic patients with altered fasting blood glucose. There was no difference in the frequency of bacterial growth on the conjunctiva between diabetic patients with normal or altered glycated hemoglobin levels. In Sorocaba, conjunctival bacterial growth was similar to that observed in Rio Branco. The microorganism most frequently detected in the present study was Staphylococcus epidermidis, followed by Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis, and Escherichia coli. Conclusion: There was no difference between diabetic patients with normal or altered glycated hemoglobin levels. The microorganisms found were similar to those found in studies investigating the conjunctival bacterial flora of diabetic and non-diabetic ...

Objetivo: Estudar a microbiota conjuntival bacteriana aeróbica dos pacientes diabéticos em relação ao controle glicêmico, verificado através da hemoglobina glicada, em duas cidades distintas. Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo transversal utilizando raspados de conjuntiva de indivíduos diabéticos de ambos os sexos e idades variáveis de duas cidades: Sorocaba e Rio Branco. O grupo controle foi constituído de pacientes não diabéticos. A amostra foi constituída de pacientes diabéticos que foram considerados controlados com hemoglobina glicada ≤7% e glicemia de jejum ≤126 mg/dl e não controlados com hemoglobina glicada >7% e glicemia de jejum >126 mg/dl. O material obtido foi semeado em meio líquido Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) e em meios de cultivo para bactérias aeróbicas (ágar sangue e ágar chocolate). O crescimento bacteriano foi avaliado em laboratório de microbiologia. Resultados: Foram incluídos 120 olhos de 120 pacientes. A porcentagem de culturas nas quais houve crescimento bacteriano foi maior em pacientes diabéticos, sendo a diferença não estatisticamente significante (p=0,103). Não houve diferença entre o crescimento bacteriano em pacientes com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada. Houve uma tendência maior de crescimento bacteriano em conjuntivas de pacientes diabéticos com glicemias de jejum elevada. Em Sorocaba houve crescimento bacteriano conjuntival semelhante a Rio Branco. O microrganismo mais frequente encontrado neste estudo foi Staphylococcus epidermidis, seguido de Staphylococcus aureus, Proteus mirabilis e Escherichia coli. Conclusões: Não ocorreu diferença entre pacientes diabéticos com hemoglobina glicada normal e alterada. Os microrganismos encontrados foram semelhantes aos estudos da flora bacteriana de conjuntivas normais e de diabéticos. .

Tellurite resistance and reduction during aerobic and anaerobic growth of bacteria isolated from sarcheshme copper mine

Tellurium compounds can be found in high concentrations in land and water near sites of waste discharge of industrial manufacturing processes and anodic sludge of copper mine. Potassium tellurite [K2TeO3] is toxic to many microorganisms at concentrations >1mg/mL. In this research, some species of facultative anaerobic bacteria [Bacillus sp.] were isolated from Sarcheshme copper mine[Kerman, Iran] which demonstrated high-level-resistance to tellurite and accumulation of metallic tellurium crystals. High-level-resistance was observed for Bacilli and cocci grown with certain organic carbon sources, implying that tellurite reduction is not essential to confer tellurite resistance. Level of adsorption was determined by inductively coupled plasma and spectrophotometer [Diethyldithiocarbamate method]. The level of tellurite concentration in the bacteria cell and the formation of tellurium nanocrystals were illuminated by transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope. The Te[0] crystals occur internally and each microorganism forms a distinctly different structure [for example Bacillus selenitreducens make tellurium nano rod]. In this study it was found that microorganism can grow 3.in 1500mg/L-2000mg/L and higher tellurite concentrations. The use of microorganisms to generate Te nanomaterials may be an alternative for bench-scale syntheses. Additionally, they may also generate products with unique properties unattainable by conventional physical/chemical methods. This study is important because native bacteria from Sarcheshme [Kerman, Iran] that may show high-level-resistance to tellurite, were isolated

Variation of a benthic heterotrophic bacteria community with different respiratory metabolisms in Coyuca de Benítez coastal lagoon (Guerrero, Mexico)

The fluctuations of the number, biomass and composition of the heterotrophic community were studied daily for two days, according to depth, pH, Eh, O2 and organic carbon concentration within a zone of the canal between the Coyuca de Benitez lagoon (Guerrero, Mexico) and the coastal waters. At the three moments of the day studied (6 am, 2 pm and 10 pm), the oxygen concentrations in the overlying water and in the superficial sediment layer were near air-saturation in the diurnal samplings (582 microM at 6 am and 665 microM at 2 pm), and sub-satured during the night (158 microM). In the sediments, the models of vertical distribution of Eh and organic carbon distributions were very irregular due to the bio-perturbation of the benthic, meio- and macrofauna, whose activity allows the superficial organic carbon to migrate towards sediment deeper layers. Vertical distribution of the different viable bacteria populations seems to be related to the hydrodynamic patterns of the communicating canal and sediments heterogeneity. In the sediment column, the heterotrophic bacteria total number varied from 6.8 to 20.3 x 108 cells cm(-3). The highest heterotrophic bacterial biomass values were encountered during the diurnal samplings (39.2 microgC.l(-1) at 6 am and 34.4 microgC.(l(-1) at 2 pm) and the lowest during the night (9.7 microgC.l(-1). The fluctuations of viable heterotrophic bacteria populations with different respiratory metabolisms (aerobic, microaerophilic and anaerobic) can be explained by the existence of suboxic microniches that appear when particles of sediment are resuspended due to the water circulation and the benthic infauna excavating activity, that allows the supernatant water oxygen to penetrate through its galleries towards deeper sediment zones. The statistical analysis (Multiple lineal regression model r2 > or = 0.5) showed that the on the whole, the hydrological parameters are not influence over the bacterial number and bacterial biomass...

The correlation between aerobic mesophilic microorganism counts and Dornic acidity in expressed human breastmilk

OBJETIVO: O estudo foi delineado para testar a existência de correlação entre a população total de microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos e os valores de acidez Dornic no leite humano ordenhado cru processado em banco de leite humano. MÉTODOS: Foram analisadas 200 amostras consecutivas de leite humano ordenhado, em banco de leite humano, antes da pasteurização. A acidez Dornic foi titulada nas amostras em triplicata. A seguir, foi realizada a contagem em placa para microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos. Os dados foram avaliados pela correlação de Pearson entre as variáveis, e o nível de significância foi estabelecido em p < 0,05. RESULTADOS: Os valores de acidez Dornic mostraram correlação positiva (R = 0,948) e estatisticamente significante (p < 0,001) com a população de microrganismos aeróbios mesófilos (UFC/mL) nas amostras analisadas. CONCLUSÃO: Os dados obtidos permitem concluir que a titulação Dornic é um método eficaz para avaliar indiretamente o crescimento bacteriano no leite humano ordenhado.

OBJECTIVE: The study was designed to test for the existence of a correlation between the total population of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms in processed raw breastmilk from a human milk bank and the Dornic acidity of that milk. METHODS: Two hundred consecutive samples of thawed expressed human breastmilk obtained from human milk bank, prior to pasteurization. Dornic acidity was titrated in triplicate for each sample. aerobic mesophilic microorganisms were then plate counted. Data were analyzed to detect correlations between variables, using Pearson's coefficient, and the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: In the samples analyzed, Dornic acidity levels had a positive (R = 0.948) and statistically significant (p < 0.001) correlation with the population of aerobic mesophilic microorganisms (CFU/mL). CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained here support to the conclusion that Dornic titration is an effective method for the indirect evaluation of bacterial growth in expressed human milk.

Evaluation of Petrifilm™ method for enumerating aerobic bacteria in Crottin goat's cheese / Evaluación de PetrifilmTM para la enumeración de bacterias aerobias en queso de cabra Crottin

The PetrifilmTM Aerobic Count Plate (ACP) developed by 3M laboratories, is a ready-to-use culture medium system, useful for the enumeration of aerobic bacteria in food. PetrifilmTMwas compared with a standard method in several different food products with satisfactory results. However, many studies showed that bacterial counts in PetrifilmTM were significantly lower than those obtained with conventional methods in fermented food. The purpose of this study was to compare the PetrifilmTM method for enumerating aerobic bacteria with a conventional method (PCA) in Crottin goat's cheese. Thirty samples were used for the colony count. The mean count and standard deviation were 7.18 ± 1.17 log CFU g-1 on PCA and 7.11 ± 1.05 log CFU g-1 on PetrifilmTM. Analysis of variance revealed no significant differences between both methods (t = 1.33, P = 0.193). The Pearson correlation coefficient (0.971, P=0.0001) indicated a strong linear relationship between the PetrifilmTM and the standard method. The results showed that PetrifilmTM is suitable and a convenient alternative to this standard method for the enumeration of aerobic flora in goat soft cheese.

PetrifilmTM Aerobic Count Plate (ACP) desarrollado por 3M es un sistema listo para usar, empleado para el recuento de bacterias aerobias en alimentos. PetrifilmTMfue comparado con los métodos estándar en diferentes productos alimenticios con resultados satisfactorios. Sin embargo, en alimentos fermentados, algunos estudios mostraron que el recuento de bacterias aerobias en PetrifilmTM fue significativamente menor que aquellos obtenidos con los métodos convencionales (PCA). El propósito de este estudio fue comparar el método PetrifilmTM para el recuento de bacterias aerobias con un método convencional en queso de cabra Crottin. Se usaron 30 muestras para el recuento de colonias. Las medias y desviaciones estándar fueron 7,18 ± 1,17 log UFC g-1 en PCA y 7,11 ± 1,05 log UFC g-1 en PetrifilmTM. El análisis de varianza mostró que no había diferencia significativa entre ambos métodos (t = 1,33, P = 0,193). El coeficiente de correlación fue 0,971 ( P = 0,0001) indicando una fuerte correlación lineal. Los resultados muestran a PetrifilmTM como un método apropiado y una alternativa conveniente a los métodos estándar para la cuantificación de flora aeróbica en queso blando de cabra.

Microbial flora variations in the respiratory tract of mice

A stable microbial system in the respiratory tract acts as an important defense mechanism against pathogenic microorganisms. Perturbations in this system may allow pathogens to establish. In an ecological environment such as the respiratory tract, there are many diverse factors that play a role in the establishment of the indigenous flora. In the present work we studied the normal microbial flora of different areas of the respiratory tract of mice and their evolution from the time the mice were born. Our interest was to know which were the dominant groups of microorganisms in each area, which were the first capable of colonizing and which dominated over time to be used as probiotic microorganisms. Our results show that Gram negative facultatively anaerobic bacilli and strict anaerobic microorganisms were the last ones to appear in the bronchia, while aerobic and Gram positive cocci were present in all the areas of the respiratory tract. The number of facultative aerobes and strict anaerobes were similar in the nasal passage, pharynx instilled and trachea, but lower in bronchia. The dominant species were Streptococcus viridans and Staphylococcus saprophyticcus, followed by S. epidermidis, Lactobacilli and S. cohnii I which were present on every studied days but at different proportions. This paper is the first part of a research topic investigating the protective effect of the indigenous flora against pathogens using the mice as an experimental model.

El efecto de los bloqueadores H2 en la flora bacteriana gástrica / Effect of H2 hisamine antagonists on gastric bacterial flora

El objetivo del presente trabajo es indagar, si hay crecimiento bacteriano y qué bacterias se encuentran en el estómago, después de la administración de bloqueadores H2, a diferentes dosis. Se formaron cuatro grupos de 10 pacientes cada uno en forma aleatoria en un estudio prospectivo, experimental, transverasal, comparativo y abierto. Se incluyeron pacientes menores de 50 años, sin antecedentes de enfermedad úlcero-péptica, y que fueron sometidos a cirugía electiva (colecistectomía), el grupo IV se formó con pacientes de la Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, a los cuales se les administró bloqueadores H2 como parte de su terapéutica, y con diagnóstico de sepsis severa. El grupo I se tomó como control, a los grupos II y III se les administró cimetidina a dosis de 200 mg y 40 mg respectivamente, por vía endovenosa, 8 y 2 horas previas a la cirugía. A todos los grupos se les tomó muestra de jugo gástrico. Para determinar pH, y realizar cultivo del mismo para gérmenes aerobios. El grupo I presentó desarrollo en el 20 por ciento de casos con pH medio de 2.1; los grupos II y III desarrollaron gérmenes en el 100 por ciento de casos y pH promedio de 7.1 y 7.2 respectivamente, el grupo IV desarrolló gérmenes en el 70 por ciento de casos y pH promedio 3.4. A partir de un pH de 4 se observa mayor crecimiento bacteriano. El análisis estadístico fue la t de Student la cual mostró r=0.4 y P=< 0.05. Se puede concluir que los bloqueadores H2, a dosis terapéuticas elevan el pH gástrico en el paciente sano, no así en el paciente séptico. Este incremento produce desarrollo bacteriano tanto de gérmenes aerobios como anaerobios. En este estudio, la administración de bloqueadores H2 en pacientes que se operaron en forma electiva, no produjo sepsis postoperatoria. La administración de antibióticos en el paciente grave no reduce el crecimiento bacteriano gástrico aerobio, sí el anaerobio

Bacteriological quality of holywater from Thai temples in Songkhla Province, southern Thailand.

Seventy-six holy water samples were collected from seventy-six Thai Buddhist temples in Songkhla Province, southern Thailand. The samples were examined for total heterotrophic aerobic bacterial count and total coliform count. The range of total heterotrophic aerobic bacterial count was 6.5 x 10(1)-1.6 x 10(5) CFU/ml, while the total coliform count was < 2- > 1,600 MPN/100 ml. Escherichia coli was isolated from positive coliform tests in a total of 22 samples (28.95 per cent). According to the World Health Organization's (WHO) standards for drinking water (1993), only 9 of the samples (11.84 per cent) qualified. Interestingly, these 9 samples had originated from rain water.

Aerobic growth of motile and non-motile bacteria an the surface of solid culture medium in the presence of the heavy metal and ionic salts at two temperatures

Threshold concentrations of heavy metal and ionic salts defining the range of Concentrations, that do not suppress growth, were determined in tryptic soya agar medium. It has been found that the salts of NH4, Mg, Cd and Hg at low concentrations disrupt the symbiotic relationship between the solid surface culture medium and the microorganisms, but do not suppress the growth of the bacteria. These compounds have been included under two different groups as infection inhibitors [Cd and Hg] and as an infection stimulators [NH4, Mg and K]