African Journal of
Microbiology Research

  • Abbreviation: Afr. J. Microbiol. Res.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 1996-0808
  • DOI: 10.5897/AJMR
  • Start Year: 2007
  • Published Articles: 5233

Table of Content: 30 September, 2011; 5(20)

September 2011

Chromobacterium violaceum infection in China: Three case reports and literature reviews

Chromobacterium violaceum, Gram-negative Bacillus, is a common inhabitant of soil and stagnant water found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a rare cause of severe, often fatal, human disease. In the report, 3 cases of patients infected with C. violaceum were described in Anhui Province, China. Routine and bacteriological investigations were carried out to establish the...

Author(s): Tai Ma, Wei Shi, Jun Cheng, Jian-Kang Zhang, Li-Fen Hu, Ying Ye, and Jia-Bin Li,

September 2011

Applications of molecular biology and biotechnology in oil field microbial biodiversity research

In recent years, with more and more attention given to the study of microorganisms in oil fields, molecular biology and biotechnology methodology has been applied prosperously.This article described the most commonly-used molecular biology techniques and related biotechnological advances in oil fields research at present, which are based mainly on 16s rRNA, such as 16S rRNA sequencing, denaturant gradient gel...

Author(s): Zhuang Wen, and Shao Hong-Bo,

September 2011

Optimized antibacterial measures against Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus

Varied mixtures of different concentrations 1, 1.5 and 2% of acetic (AA), lactic (LA), propionic (PA) and formic (FA) acids at 1:1 ratio were spray-washed on inoculated meat to evaluate their efficacy in reducing loads of Escherichia coli O157:H7 andStaphylococcus aureus on meat tissue. It was found that increasing the concentration of the used organic acids increased the bacterial lethality...

Author(s): Raftari, M., Azizi Jalilian F., Abdulamir, A. S., Sobhan Ghafurian, Radu S., Sekawi Z., Abu Bakar F.

September 2011

Treatment guidelines and nosocomial infections: The South African experience

Nationally-devised standard treatment guidelines (STGs) for nosocomial infections were evaluated in the context of antibiotic resistance within the public health care system in Kwazulu-Natal. A multi-centre surveillance study instituted in 3 hospitals at 3 progressive levels of health care (district, regional and tertiary) collected consecutive, non-repetitive isolates commonly implicated in nosocomial infections...

Author(s): Essack, S. Y. and Connolly, C.

September 2011

Prevalence of bacterial and Candida albicans infection amongst women attending Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital, Irrua, Nigeria

Bacterial and other pathogens often infect the female genital tract causing disease in most women, sometimes with severe complications. A number of vaginal infections present with few or no symptoms and yet could still be transmissible to sexual partners of infected persons. Poor socio- economic status, lack of diagnostic facilities and shortage of effective treatment all contribute to the high incidence of sexually...

Author(s): Isibor, J. O., Samuel, S. O., Nwaham, C. I., Amanre I. N., Igbinovia, O. and Akhile, A. O.

September 2011

Quick isolation and characterization for the confirmation of a novel Bacillus thuringiensis strains from chicken manure samples

Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner) (Bt) based pesticides has become the greatest successes among the microbial pesticides. This research was focused on the isolation and characterization of Bt from chicken manure samples as a comprehensive effort to contribute to the establishment of native Bt strains from various types of habitats in Malaysia. Initially, selection was done mainly based on colony morphology, Gram...

Author(s): Suguna Muniady, Xavier Rathinam and Sreeramanan Subramaniam

September 2011

Antioxidant, antibacterial and antiviral properties of Goniothalamus umbrosus leaves methanolic extract

The antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiviral effects of crude methanol extract from the leaves of Goniothalamus umbrosus were studied. Good free radical scavenging activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay was shown by the extract at EC50 of 0.263 mg/ml compared to 0.01 mg/ml for trolox as the positive control. The extract showed greater antibacterial activity against Gram-positive...

Author(s): Noor-Zarina Abdul-Wahab, Saleha Shahar, Halimah Abdullah-Sani, Azimahtol Hawariah Lope Pihie and Nazlina Ibrahim

September 2011

Nutritional and sensory properties of soybean fortified composite ogi – A Nigerian fermented cereal gruel

The effect of soyabeans fortification on acceptability and shelf life of ogi was investigated. The pH of the fermenting ogi decreased steadily with a corresponding increase in titratable acidity (TA). The pH and TA ranged between 3.03 and 4.30; and 1.07 and 1.54 (mg/100 g) respectively. During fermentation, a significant increase in yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts was observed. The aerobic plate count (log...

Author(s): Adesokan I. A., Fawole A. O., Ekanola Y. A., Odejayi D. O. and Olanipekun O. K.

September 2011

Antimelanogenic and antioxidant activities of Bifidobacterium infantis

The study was aimed at investigating the antimelanogenic and antioxidative effects ofBifidobacterium infantis culture filtrate. The efficacy of the bacterial culture filtrate wasevaluated spectrophotometrically. The results revealed that B. infantis culture filtrate effectively scavenge 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2’-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) ABTS...

Author(s): Huey-Chun Huang, Shao-Hua Chiu, Hui-Ju Ke, Shu-wen Chiu, Sze-Yun Wu and Tsong-Min Chang

September 2011

A surveillance study of antimicrobial susceptibility in 11 hospitals in Kurdistan Province

Antimicrobial resistance has become a serious public health concern all over the world. The objective of this study was to determine susceptibility patterns of microorganisms to antibiotics in 11 hospital laboratories in Kurdistan province. During one month period (February, 2010), all the clinical specimens which were received from the laboratories were processed for isolation and identification of bacteria to the...

Author(s): Ahsan B., Beiranvand S., Abdulmaleki N. and Mohamadi H., Kalantar E. 

September 2011

Comparison of CAV antibody titers in a vaccinated and naturally infected broiler breeder flocks

The objective of the present work was to perform the efficacy of one attenuated live vaccine Nobilis CAV P4 (Intervet Co., Netherland) in broiler breeder and their progenies compared to naturally infected flock. The vaccine was administrated to Ross 308 broiler breeder at 6 week old through S.C. rout. A total of 352 serum samples were collected from vaccinated and unvaccinated breeder flocks (that infected...

Author(s): Payam Haghighi Khoshkhoo, Gita Akbariazad and Mehrdad Tashakori

September 2011

People living with HIV/AIDS and the utilization of home-based care services

Namibia is one of the most affected countries by human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic in the world and in the sub-Saharan Africa with an adult prevalence of 19.7%. The health care services are overstrained with patients and home-based care (HBC) is seen as a possible solution to the overstrainedhealth care services in Namibia and this challenge impact on the...

Author(s): O. O. Oguntibeju, K. T. Ndalambo and M. Mokgatle-Nthabu

September 2011

The influence of mitochondrial inhibitors on the life cycle of Phytophthora

The anti-mitochondrial antifungal hypothesis implies a link between mitochondrial activity, fungal fruiting structures and susceptibility towards mitochondrial inhibitors. Here it is shown that the oomycete, Phytophthora nicotianae fits the hypothesis. Fruiting structures (zoosporangia) of this oomycete showed increased beta (β)-oxidation when probing levels of 3-hydroxy fatty acids (3-OH...

Author(s): Chantel W. Swart, Pieter W. J. van Wyk, Carolina H. Pohl, Wilma M. Kriel and Johan L. F. Kock

September 2011

Distribution of sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim constin in Vibrio cholerae isolated from patients and environment in Iran

The  occurrence  of  drug-resistant  Vibrio  cholerae  is  being  reported  with  increasing  frequency  worldwide. Spread of resistant strains has been attributed, in part, sulfamethoxazole trimethoprim-constin (SXT-C). Sixty V. cholerae isolates obtained from cholera patients from different provinces in Iran during 2004 to 2006 and...

Author(s): Maryam Adabi, Mosadegh Jabbari and Abdolaziz Rastegar Lari

September 2011

Effect of different soil tillage methods on rhizobial nodulation, biyomas and nitrogen content of second crop soybean

The effects of different soil tillage methods on rhizobial nodulation, biomass yield (root, shoot and nodule) and nitrogen content of soybean as a second crop have been investigated. The experiment was conducted as a field trial in Cukurova Region, Turkey in 2008. Six different tillage methods have been studied in this research. These methods were conventional tillage with residue (CTR), conventional tillage with burnt...

Author(s): Kemal Dogan, Ismail Celik, Mustafa Gok and Ali Coskan

September 2011

Cloning and characterization of a psychrophilic catalase gene from an antarctic bacterium

The gene of psychrophilic catalase BNC from Antarctic Bacillus sp. N2a was cloned by degenerate PCR and inverse PCR. BNC gene revealed a 1,461 bp open reading frame for a protein with 486 amino acids. The phylogenetic tree based on the amino acid sequences of BNC and representative psychrophilic microbial catalases manifested that BNC belonged to the Group III of the monofunctional catalase. The active-site...

Author(s): Wei Wang, Fang Wang, Xiaofeng Ji, Shanhong Liu, Cui Yuan, and Mi Sun

September 2011

Investigation into the microbial contamination in a spring water distribution system, Western Cape, South Africa

The microbial contamination in a spring water distribution system in the Western Cape, South Africa was investigated. Sampling at various points from the spring and throughout the bottling system started in February and continued until November 2004. The number of culturable cells was determined using the heterotrophic plate count (HPC) and total microbial counts were evaluated by flow cytometric analysis (FCM)....

Author(s): Latiefa Behardien, Arnelia Paulse, Vanessa Jackson, Sehaam Khan and Wesaal Khan

September 2011

The relationship and diagnostic value of C-reactive protein (CRP) and high-sensitivity- reactive protein (hsCRP) for myocardial infarction

Atherosclerosis is the main cause of myocardial infarction (MI) and inflammation is considered as a main cause of atherosclerosis. Inflammatory indicators such as C-reactive protein (CRP) are considered as a diagnostic marker for MI in recent years. We studied the relationship between seropositivity to CRP and high-sensitivity- reactive protein (hsCRP) with MI and compared their relationship and diagnostic values. All...

Author(s): H. Honarmand, E. Mirzajani, M. Rahbar-Taromsari, F. Saadat, F. Mirblock and F. Mashayekhi

September 2011

Chitinase produced by Serratia marcescens SMG isolated from decomposed Volvariella volvacea

Serratia marcescens strain was isolated at the laboratory from decomposed stalk of paddy straw mushroom (Volvariella volvacea) by using swollen chitin as a source of carbon. Morphological and biochemical characteristics of the bacterium were studied. The bacterium showed exponential growth up to 18 h after inoculation in batch culture. The maximum enzyme production by the bacterium was analyzed at 92...

Author(s): Manoja Das

September 2011

Detection and characterization of multidrug resistance and extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase-producing (ESBLS) Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates in teaching hospital

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most common pathogen causing nosocomial infections. The objective of this study was to investigate the extended-spectrum-beta-lactamase (ESBLs) producing and multidrug resistance of hospital isolates of P. aeruginosa and to determine the presence of several resistance genes. A total of 86 isolates of P. aeruginosa were collected from teaching hospital in Kashan,...

Author(s): Zahra Tavajjohi, Rezvan Moniri and Ahmad Khorshidi

September 2011

Carvacrol and thymol components inhibiting Pseudomonas aeruginosa adherence and biofilm formation

Pseudomonas aeruginosa has a high propensity to develop biofilms that are resistant to exogenous deleterious agents. The aim of this study was to investigate whether carvacrol and thymol can interfere with adherence phenomena as well as acting on biofilm formation. Tests of P. aeruginosa strains showed that carvacrol and thymol interferes with the starting phases of adherence as well as with P....

Author(s): El abed Soumya, Ibnsouda koraichi Saad, Latrache Hassan, Zineb Ghizlane, Mouradi Hind and Remmal Adnane

September 2011

Urinary tract infection in apparently healthy individuals in Ile-Ife, Nigeria: Detection of predominant microorganisms and antibiotics susceptibility profile

The incidence of urinary tract infections in apparently healthy individuals was conducted in Ile –Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. A total of 500 urine samples were collected from apparently healthy subjects who have not taken antibiotic therapy at least one month prior to the time of sample collection. The age of chosen ones ranged between 1 and 70 years. Thereafter, 27.2% of the volunteers were positive for significant...

Author(s): Onifade A. K., Anibijuwon I. I. and Azariah E. J

September 2011

Genetic characterization of food-and-mouth disease virus WFL strain

The complete genome of the foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) strain WFL was cloned and sequenced. The results showed that the complete genome was 8155 nucleotides (nt) in length (including the poly(C) tract, but excluding poly(A) tail) and was composed of a 1059-nt 5'-untranslated region (UTR), a 6969-nt open reading frame, and a 127-nt 3'-UTR. cre region of 5’UTR was 55nt with 45.5%...

Author(s): Linzhu Ren, Lin Wang, Yunzhi Ma and Xinglong Wang

September 2011

Optimization of Paramecium tetraurelia growth kinetics and its sensitivity to combined effects of azoxystrobin and cyproconazole

For using an organism for ecotoxicological studies, it is important to understand its model of growth under some physicochemical parameters that influence with a direct manner its development. The knowledge of the optimal parameters for the paramecia development leads to realize a model of growth with clear stages. For that, we tried to study the influence of temperature, pH, nutrient...

Author(s): AZZOUZ Zoubir, BERREBBAH Houria and DJEBAR Mohamed Reda

September 2011

Novel approach for quantitative estimation of antifouling activity in marine paint

Biofouling and biofilm formations are of great concern to many modern industries, including marine, food, water, mining and medical field. The shipping industry has serious problems with biofouling (complex communities of marine organisms) on most surfaces submerged in seawater. This leads to problems such as increasing water resistance, fuel consumption and microbial corrosion of metal surfaces. The primary fouling...

Author(s): A. M. Chandak, Shastri P. N. and Gogte B. B.

September 2011

Purification and characterization of a novel glucose oxidase-like melanoidin decolorizing enzyme from Geotrichum sp. No. 56

A novel melanoidin decolorizing enzyme (MDE) produced by Geotrichum sp. No. 56, which exhibits decolorization activity against synthetic melanoidin and molasses containing wastewater, was purified and characterized. The purification process was performed using ammonium sulfate fractionation, DEAE-Cellulose and Sephadex G-150 column chromatography. The melanoidin decolorization activity of the MDE was improved...

Author(s): Chin-Fa Hwang, Ying-Shu Jiang, Shyang-Chwen Sheu, Pao-Chuan Hsieh and Jia-Hsin Guo

September 2011

Elucidation of the response of heavy elements levels to intraperitoneal administration of different gold nanoparticles into rats for period of 3 days in vivo

Nanoparticles (NPs) can potentially cause adverse effects on organ, tissue, cellular, subcellular, and protein levels due to their unusual physicochemical properties. Advances in nanotechnology have identified promising candidates for many biological and biomedical applications. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) are being increasingly exploited for medical uses and other industrial applications. The aim of the present study was...

Author(s): Mohamed Anwar K. Abdelhalim, Mohammed S. Al-Ayed and Sherif A. Abdelmottaleb Moussa

September 2011

Enhancement of fungal degradation of starch based plastic polymer by laser-induced plasma

Fourteen fungal species (Alternaria alternata, Aspergillus candidus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus ochrochus, Botrytis  cinerea, Chaetomium globosum, Fusarium moniliforme, Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Penicillium  chrysogenum, Penicillium  funiculosm, Penicillium  italicum and Phanerochaete chrysosporium) belonging to Ascomycete, Basidiomycete and ...

Author(s): Neveen S. Geweely and Salama A. Ouf

September 2011

Characterization of a Labrys sp. strain Wy1 able to utilize 2,2-dichloropropionate (2,2-DCP) as sole source of carbon

Industrial chemicals and pesticides from agricultural activities cause a considerable threat to the environment. 2,2-dichloropropionate (2,2-DCP) is a synthetic halogenated compound used as herbicide. High concentration of 2,2-DCP is toxic if released to the environment and may pollute the soil and ground water source. Using current enrichment technique it was expected to isolate a new bacteria species able to...

Author(s): Wen-Yong Wong and Fahrul Huyop

September 2011

Prevalence of Eimeria species in scavenging native chickens of Shiraz, Iran

The present study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of Eimeria species in native chickens reared under semi-scavenging system and were allowed to scavenge in the yard, in crop fields near water reservoirs. We studied 200 scavenging native chickens in villages around Shiraz City in Southwest Iran. These chickens had no history of vaccination against coccidiosis and had never been given coccidiostat...

Author(s): Mohammad Mehdi Hadipour, Ahad Olyaie, Mohammad Naderi, Fariborz Azad and Omid Nekouie

September 2011

Isolation and identification of lactobacillus species from the vagina and their antimicrobial properties

The microbial resident in the vagina is a heterogeneous flora containing bacteria. This microbial flora plays an important role in regular vagina function and support host defense from attack by pathogens. In this study Lactobacilli spp. isolated from healthy women and their antimicrobial activity was evaluated. One hundred and three healthy women referred to women clinics in Ahvaz-Iran were subjected for this...

Author(s): Mansour Amin, Hamed Goodarzi, Ziba Orang, Sakineh Farsi and Maasomeh Jorfi

September 2011

Multiple drug resistance of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from children with diarrhea in Kashan, Iran

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) is a major cause of diarrhea in infants and children in developing countries. However, recent studies have shown its prevalence in developed countries. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the multi-drug resistant (MDR) of EPEC isolated from children less than five years old with diarrhea hospitalized in Kashan Shahid Beheshti hospital during 2009-10. Stool samples...

Author(s): Motallebi Mitra, Piroozmand Ahmad, Rohani Mehdi, Akbari Hosein and Khorshidi Ahmad

September 2011

Phylogenetic analysis of dematiaceous fungi isolated from the soil of Guangdong, China

To search for the dematiaceous fungi in nature, clarify their habitat and the environmental circumstances in which they may infect man, we studied the phylogenetic relationships of these isolates. 60 dematiaceous fungal strains out of 367 soil samples were isolated. They were further identified by molecular biological method. The phylogenetic relationships were demonstrated by using internal transcribed spacer (ITS)...

Author(s): Xiaoyan Hu, Liyan Xi, Hongyun Lu, Jiawang Feng, Sa Lu, Changming Lu and Jiufeng Sun

September 2011

Study of the antibiotic resistance pattern among the bacterial isolated from the hospital environment of Azzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran

Hospital surfaces play an important role in nosocomial infection (NI), in that the health-care environment contains a diverse population of microorganisms. Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a micro-organism to withstand the effects of an antibiotic, which is a specific type of drug resistance. Antibiotic resistance evolves naturally from a natural selection through random mutation, but could also be engineered by...

Author(s): Shilla Jalalpoor

September 2011

Cryomazine concentration and host type effects on the biology of the southern cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus F.

In this study we investigated the effects of different cryomazine concentrations and host type on the biology of the southern cowpea weevil Callosobruchus maculatus F. (Coleoptera: Bruchidae). Our results showed that increasing cryomazine concentration led to the increase in the average incubation period of eggs and low hatching rate, reaching the highest average of egg incubation period 13.25 days for insects...

Author(s): Fahd Abdu Al-Mekhlafi, Ashraf Mohamed Ali Mashaly, ,Mohamed Ahmed Wadaan and Nazar M. Al-Mallah

September 2011

Optimization of culture conditions for phosphate solubilizing by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus YC-5a using response surface methodology

Response surface methodology was employed to optimize the composition of medium for phosphate solubilization by Acinetobacter calcoaceticus YC-5a, which is less well known as phosphate solubilizing plant-associated bacteria. (NH4)2SO4, Ca3(PO4)2 and KCl were found to have significant effects on phosphate solubilization by the Plackett-Burman design. The steepest ascent method was used to access the...

Author(s): D. D. Fan, Y. X. Ren, X. L. Zhu, P. Ma, and L. H. Liang,

September 2011

Isolation and characterization of a thermostable α-amylase from Bacillus subtilis

The present study is aimed at assessing the ability of Bacillus subtilis to convert starch into reducing sugars. Maximum enzyme activity showed by B. subtilis was 236 Uml-1. B. subtilis showed optimum growth at pH 8 and optimum temperature for the growth of bacterial isolate was found to be 45°C. The optimal pH and temperature of the amylase activity were 7.0 and 37°C,...

Author(s): S. Shafaat, M. Akram and A. Rehman

September 2011

Investigation of antimicrobial activity of Punica granatum L. fruit peel ash used for protection against skin infections as folk remedies especially after male circumcision

Antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, antitumor, antiviral, antimalarial and antimutagenic effects of Punica granatum (PG) have already been supported by different studies. PGhas a rich history of traditional use in medicine. For centuries, the barks, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of this plant have been used to heal several diseases. However, in South Anatolia, Turkey, some people employ the ashes...

Author(s): Ergin Murat Altuner

September 2011

Sugars waste, an alternative growth and complete medium for fast growing Rhizobium cells

  The sugar waste (molasses) was tested for various physiochemical parameters. After examination of various physiochemical parameters, growth and population count ofRhizobium meliloti MTCC-100 was monitored at different concentrations of sugar waste (10, 20, 30 and up to 100%) in terms of optical density (OD) and colony forming unit (C.F.U.). Growth and cell count of Rhizobium were highest in 10%...

Author(s): A.     K. Singh, G. Singh, R. P. Bhatt, S. Pant, A. Naglot and L. Singh