Hassan Hassanzadazar; Ali Ehsani; Karim Mardani
Volume 5, Issue 3 , July 2014, , Pages 169-175
Abstract
Viability of probiotic bacteria in food during maintenance and time of consuming in food has become a challenge in food hygiene and technology and is important for representing their beneficial health effects. The aim of this study was to determine the survival of probiotic Enterococcus faecium derived ...
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Viability of probiotic bacteria in food during maintenance and time of consuming in food has become a challenge in food hygiene and technology and is important for representing their beneficial health effects. The aim of this study was to determine the survival of probiotic Enterococcus faecium derived from Koopeh cheese added to industrial Iranian ultra-filtrated (UF) cheese and screening for antimicrobial activity of Enterococcus faecium against Listeria monocytogenes during two months of cheese ripening. Physiochemical and standard microbial methods were used for isolation of Enterococcus strains in cheese samples. The initial number of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) as starter culture was 6 Log g-1 in control samples. The counts started to decrease slightly after day seven (p < 0.05) and dropped to 5 Log g-1 at the end of 60 days. The count of LAB in the test groups decreased to 11 Log g-1 on the day 60 of ripening. The number of Enterococcus faecium was 6 Log g-1 on the day 60. The count of Listeria monocytogenes after 60 days of ripening in blank sample decreased 1 Log but in test samples with protective strain decreased 3 Log in 30 days and reached to zero at 45 days. There were not significant (p < 0.05) changes in chemical parameters such as fat, protein and total solid of UF cheese treatment groups. The results showed that Enterococcus faecium of Koopeh cheese was suitable for development of an acceptable probiotic UF cheese and could be adapted to industrial production of UF cheese.
Farhad Farhang-Pajuh; Mohammad Yakhchali; Karim Mardani
Volume 5, Issue 3 , July 2014, , Pages 181-186
Abstract
Sarcocystis is one of the most prevalent parasites of domestic ruminants worldwide. This study was aimed to determine prevalence of Sarcocystis infection and molecular discrimination of Sarcocystis gigantea and Sarcocystis medusiformis infecting domestic sheep. Tissue samples from 638 sheep slaughtered ...
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Sarcocystis is one of the most prevalent parasites of domestic ruminants worldwide. This study was aimed to determine prevalence of Sarcocystis infection and molecular discrimination of Sarcocystis gigantea and Sarcocystis medusiformis infecting domestic sheep. Tissue samples from 638 sheep slaughtered at Urmia abattoir were randomly collected from February 2011 to January 2012. Genomic DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed to amplify a 964 bp fragment of nuclear 18S rRNA gene. The PCR products were subjected to digestion with endonuclease MboII and/or MvaI for discriminating S. medusiformis and S. gigantea. Results indicated that the overall prevalence of Sarcocystis unspecified species was 36.83% (235/638) in which male (7.63%, 38/498) and female (35.00%, 49/140) sheep over 4 years-old had the highest prevalence. There was no significant difference between prevalence of macrosarcocysts and sex. Two macrosarcocysts forms were found as fat (27.90%, 178/638) and thin (8.93%, 57/638) in striated muscles. There was significant difference between frequency of macrosarcocysts and body distribution. Mixed infection with both fat and thin macrosarcocysts was also found in 11.13% (71/638) of infected sheep. There was no significant difference regarding the prevalence of mixed infection in both age classes. The PCR-RFLP patterns showed that fat sarcocysts were S. gigantea (29.31%, 187/638) and thin sarcocysts were S. medusiformis (7.52%, 48/638). It was concluded that ovine Sarcocystis infection was prevalent in Urmia and a combination of conventional methods and molecular study for sheep sarcocysts could be informative.
Yousef Mirzai; Mohammad Yakhchali; Karim Mardani
Volume 5, Issue 1 , March 2014, , Pages 55-60
Abstract
The protozoan intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium commonly infects cattle throughout the world and Iran. The present study was undertaken to determine the abundance and associated risk factors of Cryptosporidium infection in cattle herds of northwestern Iran. A total number of 246 fecal samples from ...
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The protozoan intestinal parasite Cryptosporidium commonly infects cattle throughout the world and Iran. The present study was undertaken to determine the abundance and associated risk factors of Cryptosporidium infection in cattle herds of northwestern Iran. A total number of 246 fecal samples from 138 (56.1%) diarrheic (D) and 108 (43.9%) non-diarrheic (ND) cattle were randomly collected and examined by fecal smears stained with Ziehl-Neelsen. For molecular specification, DNA was extracted from collected Cryptosporidium oocysts and a fragment of 1325 bp in size from 18S rRNA gene was amplified. The overall prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection was 22.3% (55/246). The prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in examined calves less than 6 month-old was significantly higher than adult cattle. C. parvum and C. andersoni were identified in 20.3% (50/246) and 2.03% (5/246) of examined cattle, respectively. The highest prevalence of C. parvum infection was found in D calves < 6 month-old (13.4%, 33/246), while C. andersoni was only detected in ND cattle (8.9%, 22/246). There was significant difference in the prevalence between male than female cattle. There was no significant difference between prevalence and seasons of investigation. It was concluded that C. parvum was the prevalent species in younger animals compared to older ones as a potentially zoonotic agent in the region.
Hossein Naghili; Hossein Tajik; Karim Mardani; Seyed Mehdi Razavi Rouhani; Ali Ehsani; Payman Zare
Volume 4, Issue 3 , September 2013, , Pages 179-183
Abstract
Drop plate technique has a priority and preference compared with the spread plate procedure, because of less time, quantity of media, effort requirement, little incubator space, and less labor intensive. The objective of this research was to compare the accuracy and fidelity of drop plate method vs. ...
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Drop plate technique has a priority and preference compared with the spread plate procedure, because of less time, quantity of media, effort requirement, little incubator space, and less labor intensive. The objective of this research was to compare the accuracy and fidelity of drop plate method vs. spread plate method by parametric and nonparametric statistical tests. For bacterial enumeration by drop and spread plate methods, successive dilutions of second subculture of Lactobacillus casei and Salmonella Typhimurium were transferred to selective agar. The correlation of agreement between both methods was evaluated by using statistical proofs. Results showed that mean value (parametric unpaired t-test) comparison at 95 percent confidence level did not reject null hypothesis, which it meant that the equality of the mean data could not be ruled out. Nonparametric method was used because of approximately Gaussian pattern of data distribution. For this purpose, Mann-Whitney test (equivalent nonparametric t-test) was used. It meant that the equality of medians obtained from two methods were similar. Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient (r) via both methods due to data distribution patterns for enumeration of S. Typhimurium and L. casei were 0.62 and 0.87, respectively; which represented moderately strong and strong relationship between two methods, respectively. Besides, there was a significant and strong positive correlation (p < 0.001) between spread and drop plate procedures. Because of aforementioned reasons, the spread plate method can be replaced by drop plate method.
