• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.89-94
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• 2022

Triclosan (TCS) is an antimicrobial agent used in various human personal care products against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the presence of TCS-resistant bacteria in sewage water in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan, for the first time. TCS-supplemented Luria Bertani (LB) agar was used to isolate TCS-tolerant bacteria. A total of 17 TCS-resistant isolates were randomly selected from a large pool of bacteria that showed growth on TCS-supplemented LB agar. Based on gram staining and physiochemical characteristics, the isolated strains were identified as Salmonella typhi (n = 6), Escherichia coli (n = 4), Citrobacter freundii (n = 4), Proteus mirabilis (n = 1), Enterobacter cloacae (n = 1), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 1). The Triclosan mean minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) for the isolates of Salmonella typhi, Escherichia coli, Citrobacter freundii, Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter cloacae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were 23.66 ㎍ ml^-1, 18.75 ㎍ ml^-1, 42 ㎍ ml^-1, 32 ㎍ ml^-1, 64 ㎍ ml^-1, and 128 ㎍ ml^-1, respectively. The antibiogram revealed that all isolates were resistant to penicillin G (100%) and linezolid (100%), followed by ampicillin (94%), tetracycline (76%), tazobactam (76%), sulbactam/cefoperazone (64%), polymyxin PB (58%), amikacin (29.41%), aztreonam (29.41%), imipenem (5%), and gentamicin (5%). This is the first known study regarding the isolation of TCS-tolerant bacteria from sewage water in Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan. It was concluded that all the TCS-resistant isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) gram-negative rod-shaped bacteria, mostly belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2008

Alcaligenes xylosoxidans is a catalase and oxidase positive, motile, nonfermentative and gram-negative rod bacterium. A. xylosoxidans infection is a rare cause of pulmonary infection and little information concerning treatment is available. The majority of patients that develop A. xylosoxidans infection belong to a high-risk group due to an immunocompromised condition or due to pulmonary cystic fibrosis. We report two rare cases of immunocompentent patients that developed a pulmonary infection due to A. xylosoxidans. A 77-year-old man was admitted with a lung abscess. The patient denied having any prior medical illness. A culture of bronchial washing fluid showed the presence of A. xylosoxidans. Despite appropriate antibiotic treatment, the patient died from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Another patient, a 61-year-old man without an underlying disease, was admitted with empyema. Under the condition of a closed thoracostomy, a high fever persisted and the empyema was also aggravated. A. xylosoxidans was detected from a culture of pleural fluid. Susceptible antibiotic treatment was provided and surgical intervention was performed. We report these cases with a review of the literature.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 2001

Biological Treatment of Wastewater Containing Chlorinated Phenols by a Mixed Culture. Lee, Wan-Seok1, Sang-Wook Jung, Chan-Sun Park, Byung-Dae Yoon, Jang-Eok Kim\ and Hee-Mock Oh*. Environmental Bioresources Laboratory, Korea Research Institute of Biosicence and Biotechnology, Taejon, Korea, 1 Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Kyungpool< National University, Taegu, Korea - The biodegradation of chlorinated phenols in an artificial wastewater was investigated using a mixed culture. The mixed culture was composed of 8 microorganisms isolated from the soil contaminated with various chlorinated phenols. Pseudomonas sp. BM as a main constituent of a mixed culture was Gram-negative, catalase- and oxidase-positive, and rod-shaped, and did not grow at 41°C. It degraded 99% of initial 500 mg!1 of pentachlorophenol (PCP) in the minimal salts medium as a sole source of carbon and energy within 3 days. The degradation efficiency of Pseu.domon.as sp. BM was not affected by the other organic carbon and nitrogen compounds. Pseudomonas sp. BM was able to grow in a broad range of pH 5 - 8, and degrade 2,000 mg/1 PCP. In the experiment with an artificial wastewater containing chlorinated phenols, the degradation efficiency of the mixed culture was the range of 73% (2,4-dichlorophenol) -96% (2-chlorophenol) during an incubation of 7 days. In a continuous culture experiment, the degradation efficiency of mixed culture plus activated sludge was about 2 times higher than that of the control containing only activated sludge. These results indicate that it is possible to apply the mixed culture to other wastewaters containing chlorinated phenols. Key words: Biodegradation, chlorinated phenols, pentachlorophenol, Pseudomonas sp. BM

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.1341-1349
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• 2000

The addition of 5% NaCI to standard plate count (SPC) and bromcresol purple (BCP) agar showed the highest viable cell counts for Jeot-kal samples. The use of 15% glycerol as cryoprotectant showed the highest microbial survival rate at both temperatures, $-20^{\circ}C$ and $-170^{\circ}C$, and on both colony count media, SPC and BCP. During the aging, the pH of Bajirak Jogae-Jeot (fermented clam) decreased from 6.8 to 5.0. Crude protein content was 10% for Bajirak Jogae-Jeot and $6{\sim}7%$ for Myeolchi-Jeot (fermented anchovy). Microbial population of Bajirak Jogae-Jeot was $10^9\;CFU/g$ after 4 weeks of aging, but was only $10^{3-5}\;CFU/g$ in the case of Myeolchi-Jeot. The proportion of Gram positive and catalase negative bacteria in Bajirak Jogae-Jeot increased drastically during the 4 weeks of aging, which showed typical lactic bacterial fermentation. After 2 years' storage of Jeot-kal in liquid nitrogen tank, the cell counts of total aerobic or lactic bacteria were decreased, resulting in about 10% survival rate. Microbial floral change of Jeot-kal was also investigated. In the case of Bajirak Jogae-jeot, the ratio of rod to cocci and that of Gram negative to positive increased after liquid nitrogen storage. But, rod to cocci ratio of Myeolchi-jeot decreased after liquid nitrogen storage. The ratio of yeasts decreased in both cases after storage.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.139-147
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• 2004

We have isolated two bacterial strains, FM-02 and AL-02, which produced EPS from forest soil for the restoration of forest fire by promoting soil aggregation. FM-02 was found to be Gram negative rod and belong to Beta Proteobacterium sp. through 16s-rDNA sequence analysis, and AL-02 was Gram positive rod and showed 81% of similarity to Zoogloea sp. through the analysis of 16s-rDNA sequence. FM-02 and AL-02 produced about 1.8g and 8.3g of EPS, respectively, per 1L of culture as dry weight. Flocculation activity (FA) was also measured in two strains. FM-02 showed 2.31 FA against active carbon, and AL-02 showed 6.21 FA against kaolin clay. From these results, we expect that AL-02 strain will be applied as a good biological material for the reduction of forest soil erosion by wild and rain after fire through promoting coagulation of soil particles.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.105-110
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• 1999

Acetobacter sp. were isolated from persimmon vinegar. We studied about conditions of Aloe vinegar fermentation by an isolated strain and inhibitory effect against lipase activity. Strains DS-118 was strictly aerobic, motile, gram negative, non-spore-forming and short rod shaped. It reacted positively in catalase test, was oxidase test negative, was ureas negative, was produced acetic acid from alcohol. On the basis of these results, it was identified as a strain of Acetobacter sp. In the preparation of Aloe vinegar, optimun initial alcohol concentration, acidity, and fermentation temperature were 10%, $3{\sim}4%$ and $25^{\circ}C$, respectively. The major organic acid in Aloe vinegar was acetic acid (12%), but malic acid and ${\delta}-galactronic$ acid were also present in trace. The Aloe vinegar(acidity : 12%) inhibited lipase activity and it's $IC_{50}$ was 43%.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.107-114
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• 2015

Endophytes provide multifarious benefits such as promotion of plant growth and yield, suppression of phyto-pathogens, phosphate solubilising and fixation nitrogen. A study has been carried out to explore growth promotion and antifungal activities of endophytes of mulberry (Morus spp.). Endophytic bacteria were isolated from mulberry plants and studied their cultural, morphological characters, growth promotion as well as their antifungal activity against Rhizoctonia bataticola and Fusarium oxysporum , two mulberry root rot associated pathogens. Except two isolates, all bacteria were colourless and the colony size of eight isolates was small. The margin of five isolates was irregular and the consistency of three isolates was creamy, six isolates was slimy and one was mucoid. Texture of seven isolates was convex and others were flat. Eight isolates were gram positive and the rest Gram negative, five were cocci and others were bacilli (rod shaped). Four isolates were motile and all were catalase positive and only three isolates were oxidase positive. Spore staining was positive only for two isolates. The growth promotion study showed that there was significant difference in root length and seedling length. The antagonistic effect of the bacterial isolates was tested against R. bataticola showed significant (p <0.05) influence of the bacteria, days after inoculation and their interaction on the inhibition of fungal growth. The isolate En-7 completely inhibited the fungus followed by En-5 (66.67%). The bacterial isolates significantly (p <0.05) inhibited growth of F. oxysporum in PDA. The mean inhibition was higher (70.45%) in case of En-7 followed by En-8 (68.65%) and En-10 (66.44%). The study reveals that some endophytic bacteria associated with mulberry have growth promotion and antifungal activity and could be explored for promotion of mulberry growth and managing root rot disease.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.117-125
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• 2001

This study was performed in order to evaluate the risk factors for nosocomial urinary tract infection and the frequencies of organisms isolated, and to provide the epidemiologic and basic data of hospital acquired urinary tract infection in intensive care unit. A prospective analysis was performed with 1,235 urine samples following urinary bladder catheterization in 569 patients, who had no evidence of UTI at the time of catheter insertion, admitted to intensive care unit in Pusan P hospital between June 1997 and May 1998. To identify risk factors for UTI, clinical characteristics of infected patients were analyzed. We analyzed these data by percentage, chi-square and odd ratio. Obtained results were as follows: A total of 569 patients (male 341 and female 228) were an average age of 50.8 years and catheterization of 8.04 days. Incidence of UTI was 16.1% (199/1,235) and The risk factors of UTI were duration of catheterization over 7 days, no use of systemic antibiotics, summer and female, and During the first 7 days these risk factors were no use of systemic antibiotics, summer, place of first catheter insertion (ICU) and type of intensive care unit (NSICU). A total of 220 the isolated strains were Gram negative rod 83 (37.7%), yeast like fungi 74 (33.6%) and Gram positive cocci 63 (28.6%). The common organisms isolated were Enterococcus faecalis 23 (10.5%), Serratia marcescens 19 (8.6%), Pseudomonu spp.17 (7.7%), E. ooh 16 (7.3%), Staphylococcus epidemidis 11 (5.0%) mdklebsiellapneumoniae 8 (3.6%). Therefore, in these results 199 of 569 (35%) patients in ICU with indwelling urinary catheter developed UTI. The risk factors for UTI are prolonged duration of catheterization, no use of systemic antibiotics, summer, and female.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.394-398
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• 2002

Acetic acid bacteria have been isolated from running high-acid vinegar fermentation. The color of the isolated colony was beige-yellowish. Isolated cell was rod-shaped, small, pale, absolutely aerobic and gram-negative. Microscopically the cells appeared as non-motile and non-flagellated, preferentially occuring in pairs. The optimum temperature and pH for culture were 30$\^{C}$ and 2.7, respectively. The strain was able to grow in the presence of acetic acid, ethanol and glucose. Ethanol was oxidized to acetic acid which was not oxidized any more. The isolated strain utilized glucose, fructose, maltose, sucrose, mannitol and sorbitol as carbon source. Cellulose formation was not detected on bouillon. The DNA (G +C) content of isolated strain was determined to be 56.2 mol%. The strain isolated from industrial vinegar fermentation was identified as Gluconacetobacter europaeus.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.169-173
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• 2000

For the development of enzyme detergent capable of effectively washing at low temperature, a bacterium producing alkaline protease was isolated from soil samples, and properties of the enzyme were investigated. The selected strain was Gram negative, rod shape$(0.6{\sim}0.7{\times}1.3{\sim}2.6\;{\mu}m\;in\;size)$ and motile. It had the degradation activity of aesculin, gelatin and casein, and was catalase-positive. The cell wall components was meso-DAP, and G+C mole contents was 43.3%. From these results, the strain was identified as Acinetobacter sp. KN-27. The activity of alkaline protease by this strain peaked with 3,300 D.U/mL after 36 hours in the liquid culture at $40^{\circ}C$. The optimal pH and temperature of the enzyme were pH 9 and $60^{\circ}C$, respectively. Alkaline protease produced by Acinetobacter sp. KN-27 has shown two active bands on the electrophoresis of native gel.