Systematic Review Protocol for the Current State of Chemical Exposure in Infants via Breast Milk, Artificial Milk and Dairy Products.

Many studies have shown that human breast milk is contaminated with various chemicals. In the proposed systematic review, the aim is to identify and summarize the available literature regarding chemical exposure via breastfeeding or the feeding of artificial formula. MEDLINE (PubMed) will be the primary source in this literature search. Primary studies that analyzed one or more chemicals of interest in breast milk or artificial milk and that reported information on concentrations will be eligible for this review. Conference abstracts will not be included in the review unless access to the data is easy. First, the titles and abstracts of identified articles will be screened by two or more researchers. Then, a full-text review will be conducted to extract data from the included articles and code them for classification. The results of the search and classification will be summarized narratively and bibliometrically. The aim of the review is to analyze trends in publications according to year and region from the viewpoint of target chemicals, location, range of concentrations, and health outcomes.

Effect of zinc oxide nanoparticles on broilers' performance and health status.

The current study investigated the effects of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZONPs) and oxytetracycline (OTC) supplementation on broilers' behavior, performance, carcass quality, biochemical parameters, and intestinal microbial populations and birds' response to Newcastle disease (ND) vaccine. A total of 336 seven-day-old IR broiler chicks were randomly allotted to six dietary treatments containing 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 ppm ZONPs or 50 ppm OTC. Each diet was fed to 7 replicates (8 birds/pen). The results clarified that 10 ppm ZONPs significantly improved the body weight gain and feed conversion in comparison to the control. No changes in behavior were recorded. The 10 ppm and 30 ppm ZONPs and OTC significantly reduced the gizzard weight in comparison to the control. While, 10 ppm ZONPs significantly increased the spleen weight, and all ZONPs doses increased bursa weight in comparison to the control and OTC groups. 20 ppm ZONPs increased the eviscerated yield and edible yield in comparison to the control and OTC groups. 40 ppm ZONPs increased pH, reduced meat color and overall acceptability in comparison to the control. In addition, results revealed that the 20 ppm ZONPs increased Calcium (Ca), High density low cholesterol (HDL-C), reduced urea (UA) and triglyceride (TG). Also, 40 ppm ZONPs and OTC increased creatinine (Cr) and reduced ND-HI titer in comparison to the control. For microbial population, OTC group was significantly lower than ZONPs groups in the total anaerobic, aerobic and lactobacilli count. In conclusion, the dietary inclusion of ZONPs can be applied as antibiotic growth promoter substitutions in broilers' diet. However, further investigations are still needed.

Hysterical tetracycline in intensive poultry farms accountable for substantial gene resistance, health and ecological risk in Egypt- manure and fish.

Although the poultry production sector plays a key role in sustaining the majority of animal protein demand in Egypt, the deleterious effects of widespread antibiotic resistance on health and environment are currently not well recognized. Litter and dropping samples from broiler and layer poultry farms as well as, tilapia samples from the Nile River and aquaculture farms were collected from Upper Egypt. Samples were extracted and examined for tetracycline residues [tetracycline (TC), chlortetracycline (CTC), oxytetracycline (OTC) and doxycycline (DC)] using HPLC. In addition, tetracycline resistance genes [tet (M), tet (W), tet (Q) and tet (G)] were screened from pooled intestinal contents collected from twelve broiler farms in Upper Egypt. The antibiotic resistance genes results revealed that tet (W) was confirmed to be expressed in all intestinal samples. In contrast, tet (Q) and tet (M) were detected only in 42% and 17% of the samples, respectively. CTC and OTC were the antimicrobial compounds with the highest concentrations in poultry litter and droppings, with concentrations of 6.05 and 2.47 µg g-1 (CTC) and 5.9 and 1.33 µg g-1 (OTC), respectively. However, the concentrations of DC were significantly higher than those of the other compounds in both aquaculture and Nile River tilapia. The tetracycline residue levels in aquaculture tilapia were significantly higher than those in Nile River tilapia. The hazard quotients (HQs) exceeded 1 for OTC, CTC and DC, which highlights the great risk of using broiler litter to fertilize agricultural land. Moreover, the presence of DC and CTC indicates that consumption of aquaculture tilapia poses a considerable health risk. Therefore, poultry litter or droppings containing tetracycline residues and tet resistance determinants used for aquaculture or as farmland fertilizers could be major sources of antibiotic resistance in fish, humans and environment.

Characterization and partial purification of a bacteriocin-like substance produced by thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis H1 isolated from cow manure compost.

The production and partial characterization of bacteriocin-like substances (BLSs) produced by bacteria isolated from cow manure compost were investigated. Eight BLS producers, which exhibited inhibitory activity against pathogenic bacteria, were isolated from cow manure compost at different stages of the composting process. The pile temperature ranged from 9.1 °C to 73.2 °C. The BLSs showed thermostability, but the BLS producers were not thermostable except for the H1 producer. Thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis H1 was further characterized. The culture supernatant of B. licheniformis H1 exhibited antagonistic activity against various species of Gram-positive bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes ATCC19111 but not against Gram-negative bacteria except Pseudomonas fluorescens ATCC11251. Inactivation of bacteriocin-like activity by α-chymotrypsin, trypsin, and papain was highly significant (P<0.001). The BLS was found to be stable under a pH range from 3 to 9 and at temperatures up to 75 °C for 60 min, but it lost activity after being autoclaved at 121 °C for 15 min. The optimum production of BLS by B. licheniformis H1 was obtained at a temperature of 55 °C. Sodium dodecyl sulfate - polyacrylamide electrophoresis analysis of concentrated partially purified supernatants collected after resting the bacterial cells at 55 °C revealed a bacteriocin-like protein with a molecular mass of approximately 3.5 kDa. This study is the first report of a BLS from thermophilic B. licheniformis with an animal compost origin.

Isolation of bacteriocin-like substances producing bacteria from finished cattle-manure compost and activity evaluation against some food-borne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria.

A finished compost sample was examined for bacteriocin-like substance production against five pathogenic bacteria: Salmonella typhimurium EF 85-9, Escherichia coli O157:H7 ATCC 43888, Enterococcus faecalis JCM 8726, Staphylococcus aureus JCM 2151, and Yersinia enterocolitica JCM 7577. At the preliminary detection of bacterial strains exhibiting antimicrobial activity from the compost sample, thirteen strains could be isolated. Screening of the inhibitory activity was done using agar-well diffusion assay and Microtiter plate growth assay. Six bacterial strains from the compost showed an antimicrobial activity against one or more of the tested indicator strains. Four strains (M1-M4) belonged to Shigella species and the other two strains (M5 and M6) belonged to Salmonella species. The antimicrobial activity was sensitive for alpha-chymotrypsin and papain. The antimicrobial substances from M3, M4 and M6 were heat stable when heated for 15 min at 121 degrees C with 100% relative activity. The bacteriocin-like substance produced by strain M2 was partially characterized. It exhibited an inhibitory activity against the tested food-borne pathogenic and spoilage bacteria, except Enterobacter aerogenes JCM 1235 and Lactobacillus plantarum subsp. plantarum JCM 1149. It was stable at a wide range of pH (3-11). There was no loss of activity for up to 3 weeks when stored at 4 and -20 degrees C or for up to 2 weeks when stored at 28 and -80 degrees C. This is the first report indicating the presence of bacteriocin-like activity in animal manure compost.

Development and analysis of microbial characteristics of an acidulocomposting system for the treatment of garbage and cattle manure.

An acidulocomposting system for the treatment of cattle manure with little emission of ammonia gas was developed, and the structure of its microbial community was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and clone library construction. An acidulocomposting apparatus (BC20, 20 L) was operated for 79 days to treat 2 kg (wet wt) of garbage per 1 or 2 days. On day 80 of operation, the substrate was changed from garbage to cattle manure (1 kg of beef cattle manure was added to the apparatus every 2 or 3 days), and the system continued operating from days 80 to 158. The compost in the vessel was under acidic conditions at pH 5.2-5.8, and ammonia emission was below the detectable level (<5 ppm) throughout the period of cattle manure feeding. Total nitrogen and total carbon in the compost were 26-29 and 439-466 mg/g of dry weight, respectively, which are higher than those in general cattle manure compost. The main acids accumulated during operation were lactic and acetic. Sequencing analysis targeting the 16S rRNA gene revealed the stable dominance of the bacterial phylum Firmicutes, with a high proportion of the isolates belonging to the genus Bacillus. Using a culturing method with MRS agar, we isolated lactic acid bacteria (LAB) related to Pediococcus acidilactici, Weissella paramesenteroides, and Lactobacillus salivarius, indicating the existence of LAB in the system. These results indicate that acidulocomposting treatment of cattle manure is not accompanied by ammonia emission and that Bacillus and LAB may be the key components in the system.