Characterization of Biofilm production in XDR Proteus mirabilis isolated from Baghdad city hospitals

Objective(s): P. mirabilis is considered as extensive drug resistant pathogen in many studies as it can resist complex antibiotic regimes, such pathogen can be threat to public health, especially when it has the ability to produce biofilm. Therefore, biofilm production was characterized among XDR P. mirabilis local isolates in this research. Material and Methods: 100 P. mirabilis isolated from wound infections from patients admitted to Baghdad hospitals. They were identified using biochemical test and Vitek2 system. The MIC test for antibiotic sensitivity was done by Vitek 2 automated system. Biofilm production was identified phenotypically by twitching motility test, scanning electron microscope, and microtiter plate assay. Results: It could be revealed that 8/100 isolates were MDR, 90/100 isolates were XDR and pan drug resistance level was shown in only two isolates. 80% of isolates had motile ability through twitching assay, and scan electron microscope study revealed that 76% of XDR isolates could produce different stages of biofilm on coverslip placed in MacConkey broth. Microtiter plate assay revealed 81% of XDR isolates were biofilm producers. Conclusion: it could be concluded that extensive drug resistant P. mirabilis can produce biofilm hence resist several important antibiotics; making treatment of infection among wounded patients is such a challenge in many hospitals in Baghdad.

Effect of level of monensin on rumen fermentation characteristics in Awassi lambs

The current study was conducted in the Animal field of the Department of Animal Production – College of Agriculture - Al-Qasim Green University for the period from 10/10/2019 to 19/1/2020 to investigate the effect of addition of monensin at levels of 15, 30 and 45 mg/kg concentrate on growth performance of Awassi lambs. First treatment in which lambs were fed concentrate diet without addition of monensin was considered the control treatment. Sixteen male Awassi lambs were used with an average weight of 24.85 and 4-6 months of age. The lambs were randomly distributed to the experimental treatments, four lambs per each using the individual feeding in the cages. The concentrate diet was offered at a level of 2.75% of the body weight at 2 meals, morning and evening meals, while the ground wheat straw was offered at free choice. Results revealed no significant effect of level of monensin on pH values, whereas ruminal ammonia concentrations were significantly decreased (P˂0.05) from 7.54 in the control treatment to 6.08 and 6.45 mg/100 ml due to addition of monensin at levels of 30 and 45 mg/kg. Moreover, addition of monensin at a level of 30 mg/kg concentrate diet significantly increased (P˂0.05) ruminal concentration of total volatile fatty acids to 13.76 as compared with 10.99 mM/100 ml for control treatment. Concentrations of all rumen fermentation characteristics were significantly affected (P˂0.01) by time of ensiling.

Isolation and molecular characterization of staphylococcus aureus isolated from clinical cases in broilers

Background: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) causes a difficult problem in the poultry industry because it causes diseases that are difficult to treat due to the resistance of these bacteria to antibiotics and their possession of a battery of virulence and resistance genes in addition to their ability to produce thick biofilms. Method: A cross-sectional study conducted to collect a total of 53 samples from different clinical cases in broilers during the period from August 2019 to February 2020 in Al-Najaf and Karbala cities, The clinical isolates were determined by using the conventional standard biochemical tests. All the specimens cultured on blood agar medium supplemented with 5% blood for primary isolation and selected by using selective media mannitol salt agar (MSA) for confirmation the mannitol fermentation, then subjected to gram’s staining, catalase, oxidase, and further slide coagulase test, then all S. aureus isolates tested by antibiotic susceptibility test, and screened for the presence of mecA and mecC genes using PCR for the detection of MRSA isolates, then subjected to the detection of virulence genes (pvl and eta), antibiotic resistance gene (cfr), identification of integron class 1, biofilm formation assay, the multi-druge resistance profiles (MDR) and multible antibiotics resistance (MAR) indexes were calculated. Results: the isolation rate of S. aureus from the broilers' clinical samples was 37.7%. The antibiotic susceptibility test revealed that 85% of S. aureus isolates were resistant to one or more of the antibiotic tested. All 53 isolates were assessed for the presence of mecA and mecC genes by using PCR. The mecA gene-specific PCR product was seen in 7 (35%) isolates and considered as MRSA. Among all S. aureus isolates, two isolates were positive for the eta gene, and 15 (75%) isolates harboring integron class 1, while the biofilm formation test revealed that 7 (35%) was positive biofilm producers and three of them were strong producers, consequentlly, 13 (65%) of the isolates were resisted to three or more antibiotics and considered as MDR strains. While pvl, cfr, and mecC gene were not detected among S. aureus isolates. Conclusion: the current study revealed that S. aureus possess a real threat in the poultry industry reflecting a public health problem due to the large acquisition of antibiotic resistance genes by these bacteria, the results indicated a high percentage of isolates having MDR characteristic, and two of them were resistant to all antibiotics tested. In addition to the presence of two MRSA isolates carrying the eta gene, this indicating that they are of human origin.

Comparative histophysiological study the effective treatment of induced eczema in rats that treated with Lanolin and glycerine with Vaseline in rats

The present study has been designed to evaluate the potent role of healing efficacy of lanolin (which is also called wool wax), is an oily product secreted by the sebaceous glands beneath the skin of sheep which is have anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, skin protecting properties, a forty-eight mature albino rats (weighted 250-350 g) were randomly assigned to two groups; control group and eczema group which is induced by 99.9% pure acetone. By squad cotton and put it on shaved skin, after 3 days of acetone application the eczema group were divided randomly into two equal groups each group 16 rats, treat these 32 rats with glycerin and lanolin, after 24h five rats from each group were sacrificed, and remaining rats were treated with glycerin and lanolin for 72h and then sacrificed at the third day, the histopathology there is a lot of histopathological changes occur in tissue section in eczematous skin in comparison with control section; there were obvious thickness and enlargement in the length of outermost layer of skin, also there is fissures and cracks in the epidermal layer due to the dryness of skin and aggregation of inflammatory cells. And as well as keratinization of epithelial layer and changes in skin color, the results indicate there were optimum healing effect of lanolin group in compare with glycerin group after 72h, Showed back the outer most layer of the skin to its normal length, also decrease in inflammatory cells number.

Effect of level of monensin on rumen fermentation characteristics in Awassi lambs

The current study was conducted in the Animal field of the Department of Animal Production – College of Agriculture - Al-Qasim Green University for the period from 10/10/2019 to 19/1/2020 to investigate the effect of addition of monensin at levels of 15, 30 and 45 mg/kg concentrate on growth performance of Awassi lambs. First treatment in which lambs were fed concentrate diet without addition of monensin was considered the control treatment. Sixteen male Awassi lambs were used with an average weight of 24.85 and 4-6 months of age. The lambs were randomly distributed to the experimental treatments, four lambs per each using the individual feeding in the cages. The concentrate diet was offered at a level of 2.75% of the body weight at 2 meals, morning and evening meals, while the ground wheat straw was offered at free choice. Results revealed no significant effect of level of monensin on pH values, whereas ruminal ammonia concentrations were significantly decreased (P˂0.05) from 7.54 in the control treatment to 6.08 and 6.45 mg/100 ml due to addition of monensin at levels of 30 and 45 mg/kg. Moreover, addition of monensin at a level of 30 mg/kg concentrate diet significantly increased (P˂0.05) ruminal concentration of total volatile fatty acids to 13.76 as compared with 10.99 mM/100 ml for control treatment. Concentrations of all rumen fermentation characteristics were significantly affected (P˂0.01) by time of ensiling.

Pathological investigation of liver lesions in slaughtered cattle in Al-Najaf abattoir

This study has been conducted to examine the macroscopic and histopathologic lesions of liver in slaughtered cattle at Al-Najaf City, and then the prevalence of these lesions has been listed. Liver of two hundred cattle slaughtered at the city slaughterhouse of Al-Najaf were collected from beginning of January to the end of March, 2019 for gross and microscopic investigations. Tissue processing has been carried out for specimens inspected as tissue lesions were examined under light microscopy. The results of the macroscopic and microscopic survey showed that there were variable liver affections in slaughtered cattle. The lesions were arranged from high percentages of lesions such as fasciolosis (32%) and abscesses (32.5%), to moderate to low percentages such as hydatidosis (19.5%), tuberculosis (7.5%), fatty degeneration (3%) and coagulative necrosis (1.5%). The main conclusion of our study revealed that there were high prevalence of liver lesions in slaughtered cattle in Al-Najaf slaughterhouse (4.69%), that lead to liver condemnation and economic losses.

An overview: the virulence capacity, resistance mechanism, integron association, biofilm formation ability, and methicillin- resistance traits among staphylococcus aureus

The ability of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) to acquire variety and many virulence genes that leads to its the ability to cause different diseases in many hosts species, these bacteria have many mechanisms for antibiotic resistance and their ability to produce biofilm and gain various genes through integrons, that will lead to difficult treatment. Consequently, the acquisition of the mecA gene made it more virulent and resistant to antibiotics, and this indicates that the spread of these bacteria in human and animal communities besides health institutions and their frequent transmission between these communities may have a problem of dealing with it.