One of the major routes of transmission of rickettsial and ehrlichial diseases is via ticks that infest numerous host species, including humans. Besides mammals, reptiles and amphibians also carry ticks that may harbor Rickettsia and Ehrlichia strains that are pathogenic to humans. Furthermore, reptiles and amphibians are exempt from quarantine in Japan, thus facilitating the entry of parasites...

Bacteriocins are secreted oligopeptides, proteins or protein complexes with antimicrobial activity against strains taxonomically related to the producer organism (2, 10). In recent years, numerous reports have been published on antimicrobial peptides or proteins produced by gram-positive bacteria, including lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (4, 7), and bacteriocins for lactobacilli from different envi...

Dairy products are colonized with three main classes of lactic acid bacteria (LAB): opportunistic bacteria, traditional starters, and industrial starters. Most of the population structure studies were previously performed with LAB species belonging to these three classes and give interesting knowledge about the population structure of LAB at the stage where they are already industrialized. Howe...

OBJECTIVES To determine MICs of 16 antimicrobials representing all major classes for 473 taxonomically well-characterized isolates of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) encompassing the genera Lactobacillus, Pediococcus and Lactococcus. To propose tentative epidemiological cut-off (ECOFF) values for recognizing intrinsic and acquired antimicrobial resistances in numerically dominant species. METHODS ...

Background: Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) are an important group of microorganisms responsible for the fermentation dairy products. This study was done to identify the dominant lactic acid bacteria in naturally fermented milks from Messinese goat’s breed. Methods: Eighteen individual raw milk samples collected from Messinese goat’s breed were acidified at pH 5.20 and left to spontaneously ferment...

Knowledge of bacteriophage ecology in vegetable fermentations is essential for developing phage control strategies for consistent and high quality of fermented vegetable products. The ecology of phages infecting lactic acid bacteria (LAB) in commercial sauerkraut fermentations was investigated. Brine samples were taken from four commercial sauerkraut fermentation tanks over a 60- or 100-day per...

We develop an approach to utilize anisotropic metamaterials to solve one of the fundamental problems of modern plasmonics--parasitic scattering of surface waves into free-space modes, opening the road to truly two-dimensional plasmonic optics. We illustrate the developed formalism on the examples of plasmonic refractor and plasmonic crystal, and discuss limitations of the developed technique an...

Cover crops are important components of a sustainable crop-production system in plantation crops such as cacao (theobroma cacao), coffee (Coffee arabica), oil palm (Elaeis Spp.), and banana (Musa Spp.). Optimal growth of cover crops in plantation agriculture is determined by adaptability of crop species, light intensity reaching their leaf canopies, and their nutrient-use efficiencies, includin...

BACKGROUND Workforce and leadership development is imperative for the advancement of public health along the U.S./Mexico border. The Leaders across borders (LaB) program aims to train the public health and health-care workforce of the border region. The LaB is a 6-month intensive leadership development program, which offers training in various areas of public health. Program curriculum topics i...