Aligarh Muslim University

About: Aligarh Muslim University is a education organization based out in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Adsorption. The organization has 8218 authors who have published 16416 publications receiving 289068 citations. The organization is also known as: AMU.

Multidrug‐resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains harbouring R‐plasmids and AmpC β‐lactamases isolated from hospitalised burn patients in a tertiary care hospital of North India

Abstract: The present study was designed to determine resistance rates and patterns in Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates obtained from hospitalised burn patients in an Indian tertiary care hospital. To that end, we isolated plasmid(s) from the multidrug-resistant isolates, demonstrated the plasmid-mediated resistance by curing and transformation experiments, and screened all the isolates for the occurrence of AmpC β-lactamases. Thirty isolates of P. aeruginosa were analysed for the presence of antibiotic resistance. Plasmid-curing experiments and AmpC β-lactamase detection were performed on all the isolates and seven isolates showing the most common antibiotic resistance pattern were selected for plasmid isolation and transformation experiments. All 30 isolates were multidrug-resistant and the majority (83.3%) of isolates were resistant to seven or more antibiotics, out of 11 antibiotics tested including anti-pseudomonal and non-anti-pseudomonal antimicrobial drugs. The most striking feature was the presence of resistance to amikacin. A 48.5-kb plasmid was isolated from the isolates. Curing and transformation experiments showed that resistance to amikacin was plasmid-mediated. Phenotypic screening for the occurrence of AmpC β-lactamases showed that 20% of isolates were AmpC producers whereas 10% of isolates were characterised as ‘indeterminate’ for AmpC enzyme. In conclusion, a markedly high (56.7%) resistance to amikacin was noted in the present study. Amikacin resistance was determined to be plasmid-encoded and the presence of an AmpC β-lactamase was inferred in 20% of isolates. This is among the first reports regarding the emergence of plasmid-mediated resistance to amikacin and the occurrence of AmpC β-lactamases in P. aeruginosa strains from India.

Poly (methyl methacrylate)-grafted alginate/Fe3O4 nanocomposite: synthesis and its application for the removal of heavy metal ions

Abstract: A novel adsorbent poly (methyl methacrylate)-grafted alginate/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was synthesized by oxidative-free radical-graft copolymerization reaction. The nanocomposite was characterized using FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, SEM, TEM, TGA and DSC techniques. The potential of nanocomposite material was explored towards the adsorption of Pb(II) and Cu II) from aqueous media under varying operating conditions such as pH, concentration of metal ions, contact time, adsorbent dose and temperature. The optimum pH recorded for metal ions adsorption was 5. The experimental data were tested using Langmuir, Freundlich, Sips and Temkin models, and the data were best followed by Freundlich model at 50°C. The maximum sorption capacity was found to be 62.5 mg g−1 for Pb(II) and 35.71 mg g−1 for Cu(II), respectively. The concentration and temperature dependent rate constants were evaluated using various kinetic models, and the data were best followed by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The thermodynamic paramet...