http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/services/Feed ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:1622 Mucosal vaccination using adjuvant protein vaccines may offer a novel approach for tuberculosis. To date, however, development of such a vaccine has been considered unlikely due to the inability to identify a safe adjuvant that stimulates an appropriate immune response. This study was undertaken to determine the potential of a dairy propionibacteria, P. jensenii strain 702 (PJ702), to act as an adjuvant when co-administered orally with soluble tuberculosis protein to mice. The efficacy of the PJ702 to act as an adjuvant was assessed by comparison with cholera toxin. C57 mice were orally immunized with Mycobacterium tuberculosis short-term culture filtrate protein (STCF) (200 μg) with either PJ702 (10⁸ cfu) or cholera toxin (10 μg) in a total volume of 100 $mu$L. A control group was given PJ702 10⁸ cfu alone. Each mouse (eight per group) was vaccinated weekly over a 21-day period. At day 25 the mice were sacrificed, spleens were collected and lymphocyte cultures prepared. After stimulation with STCF (2.5 μg), cell proliferation was measured by ³H thymidine uptake, and the cytokines, IL-4 and IFN-γ, by ELISA. A significantly higher T-cell proliferation was observed for the group given the vaccine containing PJ702, compared to both the control group and the group given the vaccine containing cholera toxin (P < 0.05). The predominant cytokine produced from all groups was IFN-γ. These results indicate potential for future development of an oral tuberculosis vaccine, and also identify PJ702 as a potential living vaccine vector that could be applied to a number of mucosally transmitted diseases. 2012-03-01T01:00:06.062Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:1587 This study aimed to evaluate in vivo gastrointestinal survival and safety of orally administered probiotic bacterium, Propionibacterium jensenii 702, using a male Wistar rat model. A high dose of 10¹⁰ cfu/rat/day of P. jensenii 702 was fed to each rat for 81 days. The repeated dose toxicity and translocation of P. jensenii 702 into rat tissues were evaluated, along with the rat faecal β-glucuronidase activities and dairy propionibacteria counts. Results showed that P. jensenii 702 had no adverse effect on general health status, body weight gain, visceral organs and faecal β-glucuronidase activities. No viable cells of P. jensenii 702 were recovered from blood and tissue samples (mesenteric lymph nodes, liver and spleen) of rats, and no treatment-associated illness or death was observed. Faecal dairy propionibacteria counts reached 108 cfu/g after 36 days treatment and remained between 10⁸–10⁹ cfu/g till the end of 81 days treatment. The results indicate that P. jensenii 702 was able to survive the in vivo gastrointestinal tract transit of rats, with no adverse affects on the animals. However, further human clinical trials are required before strain P. jensenii 702 could be incorporated into food for human consumption as probiotics. 2010-04-27T06:26:12.587Z ]]> http://nova.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/manager/Repository/uon:5630 In Australia, over 15,000 cases of campylobacteriosis occur annually; however, recent findings from case-control studies suggest that poultry may not be the primary etiological agent. To determine the incidence of Campylobacter species on Australian poultry, a qualitative and quantitative survey of different poultry products was undertaken. The qualitative study examined 428 poultry carcasses from 42 processors. Overall, 93.7% of the carcasses were found to be positive for Campylobacter species, of which 84.1% were identified as Campylobacter jejuni by hippurate hydrolysis, and 9.6% as other Campylobacter species. A longitudinal study over 6 weeks on 27 broiler carcasses from a single processor found an average Campylobacter species count of 163 cfu/cm², with a range of 5-1,850 cfu/cm² excluding one carcass that was negative. The real health risk of this carriage, however, cannot be determined accurately without further investigation of the presence of virulence factors and more accurate species identification. 2010-04-27T04:38:33.121Z ]]>