Application of Fe^Ⅲ-TAML/H2O_(2) system for treatment of fluoroquinolone antibiotics

Over the recent past,fluoroquinolone antibiotics(FQs)have raised extensive attention due to their potential to induce the formation of resistance genes and"superbugs",thus various advanced oxidation techniques have been developed to eliminate their release into the environment.In the present study,the prototype tetraamido macrocyclic ligand(Fe^Ⅲ-TAML)/hydrogen peroxide(H2O_(2))system is employed to degrade FQs(i.e.,norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin)over a wide p H range(i.e.,p H 6-10),and the reaction rate increases with the increase in p H level.The effect of dosage of Fe^Ⅲ-TAML and H2O_(2) on the degradation of FQs is evaluated,and the reaction rate is linearly correlated with the added amount of chemicals.Moreover,the impact of natural organic matters(NOM)on the removal of FQs is investigated,and the degradation kinetics show that both NOM type and experimental concentration exhibit negligible influence on the oxidative degradation of selected antibiotics.Based on the results of liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry and theoretical calculations,the reaction sites and pathways of FQs by Fe^Ⅲ-TAML/H2O_(2) system are further predicted and elucidated.

Simple fabrication of carboxymethyl cellulose and k-carrageenan composite aerogel with efficient performance in removal of fluoroquinolone antibiotics from water

3D composite aerogels(CMC-CG)composed of carboxymethyl cellulose andκ-carrageenan were designed and fabricated using the one-pot synthesis technique.The optimized CMC-CG showed a good mechanical property and a high swelling ratio due to its superior textural properties with a proper chemically cross-linked interpenetrating network structure.CMC-CG was utilized for the removal of various fluoroquinolones(FQs)from water and exhibited high adsorption performance because of effective electrostatic attraction and hydrogen bonding interactions.Ciprofloxacin(CIP),a popular FQ,was used as the representative.The optimized CMC-CG had a theoretically maximal CIP uptake of approximately 1.271 mmol/g at the pH of 5.0.The adsorption capacity of CMC-CG was improved in the presence of some cations,Cu2+and Fe3+ions,at a low concentration through the bridging effect but was reduced at a high concentration.The investigation of adsorption mechanisms,based on the adsorption kinetics,isotherms and thermodynamic study,Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses before and after adsorption,and changes in the adsorption performance of CMC-CG toward two molecular probes,further indicated that electrostatic attraction was the dominant interaction rather than hydrogen bonding in this adsorption.CMC-CG after saturated adsorption of CIP could be easily regenerated using a dilute NaCl aqueous solution and reused efficiently.Moreover,the disused aerogel could still be reused as a new adsorbent for effective adsorption of Cu2+ion.Overall,this study suggested the promising applications of this composite aerogel as an eco-friendly,cost-effective,and recyclable adsorbent for thie efficient removal of FQs from water.

Antibiotic resistance and cagA gene correlation:A looming crisis of Helicobacter pylori

AIM:To determine antibiotic resistance of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori) in Pakistan and its correlation with host and pathogen associated factors.METHODS:A total of 178 strains of H.pylori were isolated from gastric biopsies of dyspeptic patients.Susceptibility patterns against first and second-line antibiotics were determined and trends of resistance were analyzed in relation to the sampling period,gastric conditions and cagA gene carriage.The effect of cagA gene on the acquisition of resistance was investigated by mutant selection assay.RESULTS:The observations showed that monoresistant strains were prevalent with rates of 89% for metronidazole,36% for clarithromycin,37% for amoxicillin,18.5% for ofloxacin and 12% for tetracycline.Furthermore,clarithromycin resistance was on the rise from 2005 to 2008(32% vs 38%,P = 0.004) and it is significantly observed in non ulcerative dyspeptic patients compared to gastritis,gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer cases(53% vs 20%,18% and 19%,P = 0.000).On the contrary,metronidazole and ofloxacin resistance were more common in gastritis and gastric ulcer cases.Distribution analysis and frequencies of resistant mutants in vitro correlated with the absence of cagA gene with metronidazole and ofloxacin resistance.CONCLUSION:The study confirms the alarming levels of antibiotic resistance associated with the degree of gastric inflammation and cagA gene carriage in H.pylori strains.

Application of differential pulse stripping voltammetry and chemometrics for the determination of three antibiotic drugs in food samples

A reliable method for simultaneous determination of three antibiotic drugs（levofloxacin,gatifloxacin and lomefloxacin） by differential pulse stripping voltammetry（DPSV） in Britton-Robinson buffer（pH 7.96） was presented.The method is based on adsorptive accumulation of the antibacterial drugs on a hanging mercury dropping electrode（HMDE）,followed by the reduction of the adsorptive species by the technique of DPSV.Optimal conditions,the deposition time of 80 s,the deposition potential of—1250 mV,and the scan rate of 25 mV/s,were obtained.The linear concentration ranges of 0.010-0.080μg/mL were obtained for all these three antibiotic drugs,while the detection limits were 2.38,3.20 and 1.60ng/mL for levofloxacin,gatifloxacin and lomefloxacin,respectively.In this work,chemometrics methods,such as classical least squares（CLS）,partial least squares（PLS）, principle component regression（PCR） and radial basis function-artificial neural networks（RBF-ANN）,were used to quantitatively resolve the overlapping signals.It was found that PCR gave the best results with total relative prediction error（RPE_T） of 7.71%.The proposed method was applied to determine these three drugs in several commercial food samples with spiked method and yielded satisfactory recoveries.