Journal of Coastal Life Medicine

1-17

Authors: Cesar Marcial Escobedo-Bonilla

The Ebola virus is a zoonotic pathogen causing hemorrhagic fever disease with a high mortality rate. The distribution of this pathogen has been limited to woodlands from Central and West Africa and the forest-savannah ecotone in East Africa. The likely reservoir species are frugivorous bats living in these areas. This pathogen is becoming an increasing threat to human populations since its distribution range is expanding faster than expected. The current Ebola outbreaks in Western Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo have rapidly spread infecting high numbers of individuals in five African countries. The disease has reached the United States and Spain. This expansion is due partly to increasing global connectivity. This situation represents a new challenge to control the spread of the disease. Experimental drugs have been used to treat a few infected people with promising results. This gives hope for an effective treatment against Ebola hemorrhagic fever in the near future, though thousands of people remain at risk of infection. The present review aims to give an update of the knowledge on the disease, including features of the Ebola virus, the history of disease outbreaks in Africa and the tools that are being developed in order to control this re-emergent disease.

27-34

Authors: Abdul-Razak M. Mohamed, Saddek A. Hussein, Laith F. Lazem

Objective: To study spatial and temporal variability of fish assemblage in the Shatt Al-Arab River. Methods: This study was conducted from December 2011 to November 2012. Water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen and transparency were measured from three sites in the river. Several fishing methods were adopted to collect fish including gill nets, cast net, electro-fishing and hook and lines. Associations between the distribution of fish species and the environmental variables were quantified by using canonical correspondence analysis. Results: The results showed that the fish assemblage consisted of 58 species representing 46 genera and 27 families belong to Osteichthyes except one (Carcharhinus leucas) relate to Chondrichthyes. Number of species increased in summer and autumn months and sharply decreased in winter. Tenualosa ilisha was the most abundant species comprising 27.4% of the catch, followed by Carassius auratus (23.7%) and Liza klunzingeri (10.6%). The dominance (D3) value for the main three abundant species was 61.7%. Nine species were caught for the first times from the river include eight marine. The overall values of diversity index ranged from 0.67 in March to 2.57 in October, richness index from 2.64 in January to 3.71 in September and evenness index from 0.22 in March to 0.73 in August. Conclusions: Spatially, the fish assemblages of Shatt Al-Arab River can be divided into three ecological fish guilds, namely, common species, seasonal species and occasional species.

44-51

Authors: Sandrine Tangman, Joyce Govinden Soulange, Daniel Marie

Objective: To investigate the in vitro antibacterial and antioxidant activities of crude and fractionated extracts of the Plakortis nigra (P. nigra) sea sponge from Mauritius sea waters. Methods: Preliminary qualitative chemical screening of the sponge extracts was conducted by using standard methods while the total phenolic content (TPC) was estimated through the Folin-Ciocalteu method. Antibacterial activity was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Proteus mirabilis. The minimum inhibitory concentration was determined by the broth microdilution method. All sponge extracts were assessed for antioxidant activity via the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radical scavenging in vitro model. Results: Alkaloids, phenols, steroids, terpenoids, tannins and saponins were detected in the sponge extracts and TPC varied from (2.280±0.072) mg to (12.790±0.236) mg gallic acid equivalents per gram extract (P<0.05). All the extracts inhibited the growth of at least two bacterial strains whilst the most potent in vitro antibacterial activities were observed in the most polar ethyl acetate and butanol fractions (minimum inhibitory concentration values 0.103–0.211 mg/mL) of P. nigra. Each extract scavenged 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl free radicals while the hexane fraction displayed the highest scavenging ability at (27.50±1.85)% (P<0.05). Antioxidant activity was positively correlated with TPC (R2=0.843). Contrary relationships were also found between antibacterial activity and TPC. Conclusions: The present study validates the antioxidant and antibacterial activity of marine sponge (P. nigra) extracts and depicts the sea sponge as a potential source of pharmaceutical leads against infectious and degenerative diseases.

56-63

Authors: Bugi Ratno Budiarto, Apon Zaenal Mustopa, Kustiariyah Tarman

Objective: To isolate, purify and characterize extracellular protease produced by Xylaria psidii (X. psidii) KT30. Methods: In the present study, the extracellular protease secreted by X. psidii KT30 was isolated and purified by using three steps of protein purification, then the purified protease was characterized by applying qualitative and quantitative enzymatic assays. Results: Extracellular protease with molecular mass 71 kDa has been purified successfully by applying diethylaminoethanol-Sepharose followed by sephadex SG75 with its final specific protease activity of 0.091 IU/mg. Protease was the most active at temperature 60 °C and pH 7. The activity of enzyme was abolished mostly by phenylmethanesulfonyl fluoride, showing it is family of serine protease. Conclusions: Extracellular serine protease produced by X. psidii KT30 with good biochemical properties displayed some promising results for its further application in field of biotechnology or medicine.

70-77

Authors: Ali Asghar Khademalhosseini, Abutorab Tabatabaei, Paria Akbari, Mohammad Saeed Fereidouni, Mostafa Akhlaghi

Objective: To compare the antibacterial activity and antiseptic effect of ethanol extract of Peganum harmala L. (P. harmala) seeds and Betadine on eight reference strains of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Micrococcus luteus which are known to cause different types of skin infections, and Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis isolated from an abscess on horse's neck. Methods: The antibacterial activity was assessed using a disc diffusion method. The minimum inhibitory concentration was tested by serial dilution method and the percentage of bacterial growth inhibition by absorbance microplate reader device. The minimum bactericidal concentration was then recorded. Clinical outcomes were obtained through washed up healing time of longitudinal and surface skin on the back of 16 rats with concentrations of 10, 50, 100, 150 and 500 mg/mL of P. harmala extract. Results: The results of in vitro experiments showed that the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (0.68-1.3 mg/mL) and minimum bactericidal concentration (1.3-5 mg/mL) values were observed in the ethanol extract of P. harmala seeds. Also the results of in vivo experiment showed that wound healing in the concentration of 50 mg/mL of this plant extract was better and quicker than Betadine. Conclusions: This study confirmed that ethanol extract of P. harmala has appropriate effect on the microorganisms and the healing of skin wounds in comparison with Betadine.

83-84

Authors: Beuy Joob, Viroj Wiwanitkit

The aim of this article is to discuss and comment on the previous published work on different emerging infectious diseases epidemiological trend in different countries. Here, the examples on dengue, new influenza and rabies in different coastal countries (Oman, Australia and Taiwan of China) are discussed. Several aspects adding to the reported situations should be considered.