Foodborne microorganisms are an important cause of human illness worldwide. Two-thirds of human foodborne diseases are caused by bacterial pathogens throughout the globe, especially in developing nations. Despite enormous developments in conventional foodborne pathogen detection methods, progress is limited by the assay complexity and a prolonged time-to-result. The specificity and sensitivity of assays for live pathogen detection may also depend on the nature of the samples being analyzed and the immunological or molecular reagents used. Bacteriophage-based biosensors offer several benefits, including specificity to their host organism, the detection of only live pathogens, and resistance to extreme environmental factors such as organic solvents, high temperatures, and a wide pH range. Phage-based biosensors are receiving increasing attention owing to their high degree of accuracy, specificity, and reduced assay times. These characteristics, coupled with their abundant supply, make phages a novel bio-recognition molecule in assay development, including biosensors for the detection of foodborne bacterial pathogens to ensure food safety. This review provides comprehensive information about the different types of phage-based biosensor platforms, such as magnetoelastic sensors, quartz crystal microbalance, and electrochemical and surface plasmon resonance for the detection of several foodborne bacterial pathogens from various representative food matrices and environmental samples.

Bacteria and their predators, bacteriophages, or phages are continuously engaged in an arms race for their survival using various defense strategies. Several studies indicated that the bacterial immune arsenal towards phage is quite diverse and uses different components of the host machinery. Most studied antiphage systems are associated with phages, whose genomic matter is double-stranded-DNA. These defense mechanisms are mainly related to either the host or phage-derived proteins and other associated structures and biomolecules. Some of these strategies include DNA restriction-modification (R-M), spontaneous mutations, blocking of phage receptors, production of competitive inhibitors and extracellular matrix which prevent the entry of phage DNA into the host cytoplasm, assembly interference, abortive infection, toxin–antitoxin systems, bacterial retrons, and secondary metabolite-based replication interference. On the contrary, phages develop anti-phage resistance defense mechanisms in consortium with each of these bacterial phage resistance strategies with small fitness cost. These mechanisms allow phages to undergo their replication safely inside their bacterial host’s cytoplasm and be able to produce viable, competent, and immunologically endured progeny virions for the next generation. In this review, we highlight the major bacterial defense systems developed against their predators and some of the phage counterstrategies and suggest potential research directions.

The gut microbiota is often affected by the dietary and lifestyle habits of the host, resulting in a better efficacy that favors energy harvesting from the consumed food. Our objective was to characterize the composition of gut microbiota in adult Saudis and investigate possible association with lifestyle and dietary practices. Feces from 104 Saudi volunteers (48% males) were tested for microbiota by sequencing the V3-V4 region of bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA). For all participants, data were collected related to their lifestyle habits and dietary practices. The relative abundance (RA) of Fusobacteria was significantly higher in normal weight Saudis (P = 0.005, false discovery rate–FDR = 0.014). Individuals who consumed more coffee presented marginally significant more RA of Fusobacteria (P = 0.02, FDR = 0.20) in their gut microbiota compared to those reporting low or no coffee intake, but the RA of Fusobacteria was significantly higher in smokers compared to non-smokers (P = 0.009, FDR = 0.027). The RA of Fusobacteria was also significantly higher in those reporting daily consumption of bread (P = 0.005, FDR = 0.015). At the species level, the gut microbiota of people who consumed coffee was dominated by Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron followed by Phascolarctobacterium faecium and Eubacterium rectale. Similarly, the gut microbiota of smokers was also enriched by B. thetaiotaomicron and Lactobacillus amylovorus. Smoking cessation, bread and coffee consumption induce changes in the intestinal microbial composition of Saudis. This indicates the significance of diet and lifestyle practices in the determination of the composition of the gut microbiota, which could possibly lead later to changes in metabolic profile and weight.

Trans-Anethole a valuable compound derived from star anise widely used by ethnic tribals to manage numerous human diseases. In this study antiproliferative activities of trans-Anethole towards human liver cancer (HepG2), cervical cancer (HeLa) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cells were explored. trans-Anethole showed free radical scavenging potential as assessed by DNA nicking assay. trans-Anethole exhibited strong antiproliferative potential towards HepG2 cells compared to other cell lines. trans-Anethole strongly induced apoptosis in HepG2 cells by significantly upregulating the protein expressions of p53, Caspase-3 and Caspase-9 were assessed by western blotting analysis which highlighted apoptosis-inducing capacity of trans-Anethole against HepG2 cells. Rt-qPCR analysis revealed that trans- Anethole upregulated p53, caspase - 3 and - 9 in comparison to untreated HepG2 cancer cells. Moreover, trans-Anethole provoked the generation of ROS and disruption of MMP. Our research suggests that trans-Anethole may have a significant anticancer therapeutic potential for treating liver cancer.

The Association Between Prediabetes and Dyslipidemia Among Attendants of Primary Care Health Centers in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Curcumin has been used in the treatment of several diseases; however, its low pharmacologic profile reduces its therapeutic use. Towards improving its biological activity, nanoformulations have emerged. Thus, we aimed to determine whether curcumin nanoparticles (Cur-NPs) coated with PEG/chitosan improve the treatment of liver cancer (LC) cells and underpin the molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-cancer activity. Cur-NPs were synthesised in the form of Cur-PLGA-PEG/chitosan NPs. The effect of Cur-NPs was assessed in HepG2 and Huh 7 LC cells and THLE-2 normal liver cells. The size of synthesised Cur-NPS was determined in the standard range of 141.2 ± 47.5 nm. Compared to THLE-2 cells, LC cells treated with Cur-NPs exerted cytotoxicity at 6.25 µg/mL after 48h. Treatment of HepG-2 cells with 2.5 µg/mL of Cur-NPs inhibited cell migration and this inhibition was augmented at 10 µg/mL (p < 0.001). Treatment of chicken embryo with 5 µg/mL Cur-NPs reduced angiogenesis (p < 0.001) of 4-day-old embryos. The nanoformulation upregulated Bax and p53 and downregulated Bcl-2 in a concentration-dependent manner and subsequently induce apoptosis in HepG-2 cells. Treatment of LC cells with Cur-NPs decreased cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis, and induced cell death by promoting the proapoptotic pathway.