Today, many different methods are applied for the correct use of foods and to prevent their deterioration. Ensuring healthy conditions for people in food consumption and consumption of healthy foods is very important for human welfare. In this study, food spoilage, the factors that cause food spoilage, its effects on a global basis, food transport systems (cold chain) and measures that prevent or delay food spoilage are discussed.

Background: Nowadays hazards of synthetic additives and preservatives have been identified, so researchers are looking to a naturaland safe alternative for them. The aim of this study was to evaluate antimicrobial effect of carotenoids of Rhodotorula glutinison the some pathogenic bacteria and fungi.Methods: This experimental study was done in Gorgan University of Agriculture and Natural Resources. After cultivating R. glutinisin 50mLYPG broth at 30oC for overnight, cells were harvested by centrifugation at 10, 000rpmfor 10 minutes and were washed threetimes with distilled water. Cells were ruptured 3 times with 12 mL of acetone and broken using homogenizer. Then the suspensionwas centrifuged and the supernatant collected. The supernatant (contain pigments) was powdered using freeze-dryer. Antimicrobialactivity was evaluated by disc diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidalconcentration (MBC) was determined by using the agar dilution method.Results: Giving the results, carotenoids of R. glutinis was effective on the growth of all the tested bacteria, so that Bacillus cereusand Salmonella enteritidis were the lowest and highest sensitivity to this pigment, respectively. The highest MIC and MBC among thetested bacteria were observed for S. enteritidis and Escherichia coli, respectively; whereas MBC was not observed for S. enteritidis atconcentrations of the tested pigment.Conclusions: Gram-positive bacteria were more sensitive than Gram-negative bacteria against the antimicrobial activity of pigmentsof R. glutinis. According to the results, pigments of R. glutinis can be used as an inhibitor of bacterial growth.

Background: Antibiotic resistance among bacteria is a worldwide problem. Enterobacteriaceae resistance to third-generation cephalosporins is typically caused by the production of β-lactamases.Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine antimicrobial susceptibility of environmental Enterobacteriaceae isolates from Karun River in Iran.Materials and Methods: A total of 600 water samples were collected from nine stations along Karun River in Iran, during spring and summer of 2012. In this research, different waterborne bacterial pathogens were isolated and identified using the membrane filtration technique and analytical profile index system for Enterobacteriaceae (API 20E). Then, disk diffusion method (CLSI, 2010; M2-A9) was used for testing the antibiotic resistance susceptibility.Enterobacteriaceae genera were tested against sixteen antibiotics: ampicillin, carbencillin, methicillin, cephalothin, cefotaxime, vancomycin, amikacin, ofloxacin, kanamycin, tetracycline, erythromycin, clindamycin, norfloxacin, nitrofurantoin, chloramphenicol, and amoxycillin.Results: The results of this study suggested that the level of fecal contamination in Karun water was very high. Among the isolated Enterobacteriaceae, there were 287 strains of (65%)Escherichia coli, 162 (27%) Enterobacter aeogenes, 73 (12.16%) Citrobacter freundii, 58 (9.66%)Proteus vulgaris, and 20 (3.3%) Salmonella typhi. All Enterobacteriaceae isolates showed 100% resistance to ampicillin, carbenicillin, methicillin, vancomycin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline. They failed to exhibit resistance to norfloxacin and ofloxacin.Other antibiotics showed intermediate activity, and some isolates were resistant.Conclusions: Detection of fecal indicator bacteria (E. coli) in more than 75% of water samples indicates the possible presence of other bacteria causing infectious diseases.

Background: Infective endocarditis occurs due to the presence of microorganisms in the endocardium or the heart valves. Nowadays, infective endocarditis is still a major cause of death with an incidence rate of 5 to 7. 9 per 100, 000 populations. The aim of the study was to determine antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial agents isolated from blood culture of patients with infective endocarditis. Methods: In this retrospective study, infective endocarditis patients who were admitted to Sina and Ekbatan hospitals in Hamadan City, Iran, from March 2005 to February 2014, were enrolled. All demographic data, clinical manifestations, physical examinations and echocardiography reports of the patients were recorded in a check list. For all patients, blood cultures in Mueller Hinton agar and antimicrobial susceptibility testing for ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, oxacillin, cefazolin, vancomycin, imipenem, clindamycin, etc. were done by disk diffusion method. All data analyzed by SPSS statistical software, version 16 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: A total of 61 patients with definitive infective endocarditis were included in the study, 50 of them (82%) were males and 11 patients (18%) were females. The mean age of the patients was 37. 45± 14. 79 (range 17-74) years and 37 (60. 7%) of the patients lived in urban areas. The mean duration of admission was 20± 13. 59 days. In addition, 38 patients (62. 3%) were injection drug users (IDUs) and 23 (37. 7%) non-IDU. Meanwhile, 54 (88. 5%) of them had normal valve endocarditis and 7 cases (11. 5%) had a prosthetic valve endocarditis. Moreover, the most common underlying disease in the natural valve endocarditis was rheumatoid fever (6. 6%). Blood cultures were positive in 44. 3% of the patients. The most common isolated organism was staphylococcus aureus in 15 cases (55. 55%), which had the highest resistance to oxacillin. Most patients were managed by antibiotic therapy, but 15 cases (24. 6%) underwent cardiac surgery. In follow up patients between 3 months to 9 years, 19. 7% of the patients had complete recovery and 8. 2% of them died. Conclusion: According to the findings, antibiotic resistance pattern of bacterial agents isolated from blood culture of patients with infective endocarditis was changed.

Background and Objective: Acute microbial diarrheal diseases are the major public health problems in the developing countries. People affected by diarrheal diseases have the lowest financial resources and poorest hygienic facilities. Children under five, primarily in Asian and African countries, are mostly the subjects affected by microbial diseases transmitted through water. The current study aimed at investigating the comparative inhibitory effect of Lactocare (commercial probiotic) on clinical samples and standard strains of Vibrio cholerae. Methods: A total of 20 clinical samples and a standard strain (ATCC 14035) were provided by Health Reference Laboratory and Biotechnology Institute, respectively. In order to confirm the samples, biochemical analysis and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed on intergenic space. Afterward, agar well diffusion method was performed in order to measure the minimum inhibitory concentration to monitor the antimicrobial activity of Lactocare. Results: Colony count of V. cholerae for the standard strain in 30% and mean for clinical samples in 50% concentration of Lactocare treatment revealed that it would propel to death phase. Since the number of colonies decreased to 100, it was considered that higher concentrations of Lactocare would completely inhibit the growth of V. cholera. Conclusion: Probiotics are employed to develop new pharmaceutical preparations and functional foods in order to promote the public health.

Background: The quick diagnosis and early initiation of antibiotic therapy in bacteria-induced infections is of paramount importance. Accordingly, the rapid identification of the causative agent, the short-term results of antibiotic sensitivity, the selection and use of right antibiotics for treatment further highlights the significance of this issue. Objectives: This study aimed to develop a new susceptibility testing method to provide rapid results in Escherichia coli clinical isolates and report the antibiotic susceptibility test results to clinicians in a short period. Methods: In the study, one hundred and ten E. coli clinical isolates were tested. In this regard, antibiotics recommended by the "Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI)" for testing the sensitivity of E. coli isolates, including amoxicillin-clavulanate, cefixime, ceftriaxone, ertapenem, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and nitrofurantoin were tested. For quality control, E. coli ATCC25922, E. coli ATCC35218, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC29213, and E. coli 13846NTCC strains were used. The broth microdilution method recommended by CLSI was used as the reference method. Minimum inhibitory concentration values were determined, and antimicrobial susceptibilities were then determined according to the “ European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST)” criteria. In the next phase, the results of the resazurin microplate method (RMM) were compared. Results: The comparison of the RMM developed in the present study with the reference method revealed that the calculated essential agreement ratios for eight antibiotics varied from 82. 72 to 100%, and the categorical agreement values ranged from 95. 45 to 100%. Conclusions: According to the findings, the RMMresults were highly in agreement with the results of the reference method. RMM allows the detection of antibiotic susceptibility quickly (e. g., within 5 hours) as such it is preferred, especially for laboratories with limited facilities. However, further multi-center studies are recommended to use this method in routine laboratories.

Background: Escherichia coliis an important cause of urinary tract, bloodstream, and surgical site infections.Objectives: We investigated the organism's antibiotic susceptibility in hospitalized patients under different clinical conditions. Methods: This prospective study was conducted in three referral hospitals located in Isfahan, Iran. Different clinical samples were tested using standard routine microbiological methods to identify E. coli strains and determine their antibiotic susceptibility patterns by the disk diffusion method according to CLSI recommendations. After conducting a clinical investigation, contaminated samples were excluded, and the hospital or community source and infection site were identified. Data on antibiotic susceptibility testing were extracted using WHONET software. Data analysis was then conducted using SPSS Statistics version 18.0. Results: Of 1248 E. coliisolates, 71.9% were from urine, 15.1% from blood, and 7.8% from skin and soft tissue samples. High susceptibility was observed to Imipenem (98%), Meropenem (98.0%), and Amikacin (94.6%); intermediate sensitivity to Gentamicin (68.6%) and Cefepime (51.9%); and low susceptibility to Ceftazidime (46.8%), Ceftriaxone (41.3%), Ciprofloxacin (39.5%), Cefotaxime (39.3%), and Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (32.4%). Conclusions: Antibiotics, including Imipenem, Meropenem, or Amikacin, would be beneficial in the empiric therapy of severe infections where E. coliis the main cause.

Enterococcus is the second cause of urinary tract infections in hospitals and the third most common cause of nosocomial bacteremia. Overuse of antibiotics for the treatment of nosocomial infections, causes antibiotic resistance in enterococci resistant to antibiotics through their ability to acquire resistance to antibiotics through mutation or acquisition of genetic material carrying a resistance gene by conjugation or other methods. This cross-sectional project, 60 patients with nosocomial infections admitted to the Khatam. Ol- Anbiya Hospital wards during 2013-2015 were studied. Samples were collected and sent to the microbiology laboratory. Drug-resistant of Enterococcus and Antibiogram test performed by ETest method. Relevant descriptive variables were analyzed by SPSS software version 21.34 (56.7%) of patients were male. The patient's mean age was 70.71± 18.39 years. Age group of 70-90 years, with 17 (27.9 %) which was the most frequent nosocomial infections. Enterococcus dominant species in these patients was 45 (75%) Enterococcus faecalis. Antibiogram E-Test results showed that 9 cases (18.3%) were resistance to linezolid, 22 (36.7 %) resistance to imipenem, 15 (25 %) resistance to meropenem, 6 patients (10%) resistance to teicoplanin, 9 (15%) were resistant to vancomycin Identification of common antibiotic resistance in every region has great importance and in addition prevents treatment failure. The result of these studies shows that antibiotic-resistance patterns have changed and vancomycin resistance especially among E. faecium, is rising because of nosocomial infections.

Background and Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the epidemiology and clinical therapy of candidemia in burn patients hospitalized in Velayat Hospital, Rasht, Iran. Materials and Methods: The blood samples of suspected patients were cultured and PCR-sequencing was performed. Antifungal susceptibility testing was done by the CLSI M27-A4 document. Results: Four blood samples were identified as positive. Candida parapsilosis complex (3 out of 4, 75%) was the predominant leading cause of candidemia. MIC values showed that all isolates were susceptible to itraconazole, amphotericin B, and 5-flucytosine. Conclusion: It seems necessary to pay attention to Candida non-albicans species in antifungal therapy.

Background: Asymptomatic bacteriuria can develop into symptomatic urinary tract infection.Objectives: This study investigated asymptomatic Escherichia coli bacteriuria among undergraduate students of Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nigeria, and the antimicrobial susceptibility of bacterial isolates from these subjects.Patients and Methods: Four hundred urine samples were collected from consenting healthy male and female students. The bacterial load of each sample was determined by spread plate count on nutrient agar.E. coli was isolated and antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates to common antibiotics was evaluated by the disc-diffusion method.Results: Of the urine samples, 80 (20%) showed significant bacteriuria, with a higher prevalence in females (25%) than in males (15%). While 60% of E. coli isolates from male samples were susceptible to pefloxacin or gentamicin, 3.3% were susceptible to amoxicillin/ clavulanic acid. Twenty-seven (90%) E. coli isolates from male samples had multiple antibiotic resistance (MAR), with 37% being resistant to 5 antibiotics and possessing MAR indices of 0.5. Forty-nine (98%) of the E. coli isolates from female samples had MAR, with 13 (26.5%) being resistant to 6 antimicrobial agents and possessing MAR indices of 0.6.Conclusions: Significant bacteriuria is observed among the students of Nasarawa State University, with a higher prevalence in females than in males. Pefloxacin, ofloxacin, and gentamicin are effective against E. coli isolates from the urine of these students.