Bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility profile of superficial and deep-seated skin and soft tissue infections.

Background: Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are caused by microbial invasion of healthy or damaged skin. SSTIs are difficult to manage and contribute to chronicity and emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Objectives: To ascertain the prevalence of bacteria causing SSTIs and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns. Methods: A prospective study between November 2020 and May 2021. A total of 447 samples from SSTIs were analyzed. Results: A total of 347 samples revealed mono-bacterial growth, of which 67% were male. SSTIs are common among patients aged 21-50 years with the dominance (78%) of gram-negative rods (GNRs). Escherichia coli (36%), Klebsiella spp. (22%), Staphylococcus aureus (16%), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (11%) were predominant organisms. GNRs were highly resistant (>65%) to ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. For injectable antibiotics, the highest resistance was determined against ceftriaxone, and the least resistance was determined against amikacin. Resistance against carbapenem was the highest among P. aeruginosa (53%) and Klebsiella spp. (32%). S. aureus showed the highest resistance against ciprofloxacin, and the least resistance was determined against clindamycin. Of 57 S. aureus isolates, 86% isolates were methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). All isolates of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus were sensitive to polymyxin B and vancomycin, respectively. The prevalence of multidrug-resistant E. coli and Klebsiella spp. was higher among deep-seated SSTIs (dSSTIs). Conclusions: The predominant etiology of SSTIs is GNR. Currently, there is very high resistance against oral antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance against carbapenem has also increased. Moreover, there is a high frequency of MRSA. MDR E. coli and Klebsiella spp. isolates are frequently involved in dSSTIs.

Genomic analysis of Chryseobacterium indologenes and conformational dynamics of the selected DD-peptidase.

Chrysobacterium indologenes is an emerging MDR pathogen that belongs to the family Flavobacteriaceae. The genome of the C. indologenes, isolated from the nephrotic patient, was sequenced through Illumina MiSeq. The pangenomics of available 56 C. indologenes strains using BPGA revealed an open pangenome (n=5553 CDS), core genome (2141), and accessory genome (2013). The CEG/DEG database identified 662 essential genes that drastically reduced to 68 genes after non-homology analyses towards human and gut microbiome. Further filtering the data for other drug target prioritizing parameters resulted in 32 putative targets. Keeping in view the crucial role played in cell wall biosynthesis, dacB was selected as the final target that encodes D-alanyl-d-alanine carboxypeptidase/endopeptidase (DD-peptidase). The 3D structure of dacB was modelled and rendered to docking analyses against two compound libraries of African plants (n=6842) and Tibetan medicines (n=52). The ADMET profiling exhibited the physicochemical properties of final compounds. The MD simulations showed the stability of inhibitor-DD-peptidase complex and interactions in terms of RMSD, RMSF, binding free energy calculation and H-bonding. We propose that the novel compounds Leptopene and ZINC95486338 from our findings might be potent DD-peptidase inhibitors that could aid in the development of new antibiotic-resistant therapy for the emerging MDR C. indologenes.

Molecular and Functional Characterization of CaNAC035, an NAC Transcription Factor From Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.).

NAC (NAM, ATAF1/2, and CUC2) proteins are the plant-specific transcription factors (TFs) which are important in plant response to abiotic stresses. However, knowledge about the functional role that NACs play in pepper abiotic stress tolerance is limited. In this study, we isolated a NAC TF gene, CaNAC035, from pepper (Capsicum annuum L.), where the protein is localized in the nucleus and functions as a transcriptional activator. CaNAC035 expression is induced by low and high temperatures, osmotic stress, salt, gibberellic acid (GA), methyl-jasmonic acid (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and abscisic acid (ABA). To understand the function of CaNAC035 in the abiotic stress responsep, we used virus-induced gene silencing in pepper to knockdown the CaNAC035 and overexpressed the CaNAC035 in Arabidopsis. The results showed that pepper seedlings in which CaNAC035 was silenced, showed more damage than the control pepper plants after cold, NaCl, and mannitol treatments. Correspondingly increased electrolyte leakage, a higher level of malondialdehyde (MDA), H2O2, and superoxide radicals were found after cold treatments. CaNAC035-silenced seedlings exhibited lower chlorophyll content while CaNAC035-overexpressed Arabidopsis plants had higher germination rate and fresh weight after mannitol and NaCl treatments. We also reported 18 proteins that potentially interact with CaNAC035 and may participate in processes such as the stress response, resistance, and photosynthesis. Our results suggest that CaNAC035 is a positive regulator of abiotic stress tolerance in pepper which acts through multiple signaling pathways.

Forensic Analysis of Tor Browser: A Case Study for Privacy and Anonymity on the Web.

Web browsers are among the most commonly used applications to access the web from any platform nowadays. With recent digital incidents involving breach of data, users are becoming more cognizant of the threat posed by malicious actors having access to personal data as well as vulnerable applications which may compromise their data. For this very reason, users are being offered privacy preserving solutions for trust maturity. The onion router (Tor) browser is one such application which not only ensures the privacy preservation goals but also provides promising anonymity. Due to this feature, majority of the users use Tor browser for normal use as well as malign activities. In order to validate the claims of Tor browser and help digital forensic investigators and researchers, we created different scenarios to forensically analyze the Tor browser privacy and anonymity. As a result of the findings, it can be concluded that the Tor browser leaves plethora of sensitive digital artifacts on host machine, which can be further used to compromise user data.