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The objective of this study was to determine Salmonella prevalence, antimicrobial-resistant phenotypes, and their genetic relatedness in frozen organic chicken collected at retail level in Turkey.

Retail packs (n = 348) of cut-up chicken parts (breast, leg quarter and drumstick) and whole chicken carcasses were purchased from a central hypermarket in Diyarbakir (Southeast Anatolia Region in Turkey) and from a large online retailer in Turkey. The retail packs were paired by part type, brand, production date, and sell-by date. The chicken samples were analyzed for the presence of Salmonella spp., and then isolates were screened for antibiotic susceptibility, class I integron, and genetic similarity.

Salmonella prevalence in retail frozen organic chicken samples was 6.3 percent; however, the prevalence by parts, leg quarter, drumstick, breast, and whole chicken was 2.1 percent, 10.4 percent, 10.4 percent, and 0 percent, respectively. Salmonella prevalence was significantly higher in samples obtained from the hypermarket (9.2 percent) compared to online retailer (3.8 percent). All the isolates were serotype Infantis, genetically similar (highly clonal), and 68.2 percent harbored class I integron. All isolates were resistant to ciprofloxacin (drug of choice to treat salmonellosis in human), and 86.3 percent of the isolates were multidrug-resistant.

Salmonella prevalence in organic chicken meat, regardless of the retail market source in Turkey, may pose a health risk to consumers especially with the high prevalence of multi-drug resistant phenotypes. Findings inform researchers and the public about the safety of organically produced chicken and the potential health risk to consumers.

Broad-spectrum cephalosporin resistance is rapidly increasing in Escherichia coli, representing a food safety problem. The purpose of this paper is to characterize eight extended-spectrum-ß-lactamase (ESBL) and acquired AmpC ß-lactamase-producing E. coli isolates and virotypes associated, obtained from chicken and pork food samples in Puebla, Mexico.

Samples (36 from chicken and 10 from pork) were cultured on Levine agar plates supplemented with cefotaxime (2 mg/L) for isolation of cefotaxime-resistant (CTXR) E. coli. CTXR-E. coli isolates were detected in 33 of 46 samples (72 percent), and one isolate/sample was characterized (28 from chicken and 5 from pork), for ESBL production, phylogenetic group, sequence typing, resistance and virulence genes by PCR and sequencing.

Results showed 16 ESBL-E. coli (35 percent) (12/16 belonging to phylogroup B1) and 8 CMY-2-E. coli (17 percent). ESBL detected were as follows (number of isolates): CTX-M-2 (8); CTX-M-1 (2); CTX-M-15 (1); SHV-2a (4) and TEM-52c (1). In total, 20 different sequence types (STs) were identified among the ESBL- or CMY-2-producing E. coli strains, which included four new ones. The CTX-M-15 β-lactamase was detected in one E. coli ST617-ST10 Cplx-B1 strain that also carried ibeA gene. One CMY-2-positive strain of lineage ST224-B2 was detected and it carried the qnrA1 gene.

In this study, a ST131-based virotyping scheme for strains from food of animal origin was established since this kind of strains constitutes an important vehicle of virulent ESBL- and CMY-2-producing E. coli isolates, which could be transmitted to humans by direct contact or through the food chain.

This study aims to study the distribution characteristics of antibiotic resistance in direct-eating food and analysis of Citrobacter freundii genome and pathogenicity. Residual antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in the environment severely threaten human health and the ecological environment. The diseases caused by foodborne pathogenic bacteria are increasing daily, and the enhancement of antibiotic resistance of pathogenic bacteria poses many difficulties in the treatment of disease.

In this study, six fresh fruits and vegetable samples were selected for isolation and identification of culturable bacteria and analysis of antibiotic resistance. The whole genome of Citrobacter freundii isolated from cucumber was sequenced and analyzed by Oxford Nanopore sequencing.

The results show that 270 strains of bacteria were identified in 6 samples. From 12 samples of direct food, 2 kinds of probiotics and 10 kinds of opportunistic pathogens were screened. The proportion of Citrobacter freundii screened from cucumber was significantly higher than that from other samples, and it showed resistance to a variety of antibiotics. Whole genome sequencing showed that Citrobacter freundii was composed of a circular chromosome containing signal peptides, transmembrane proteins and transporters that could induce antibiotic efflux, indicating that Citrobacter freundii had strong adaptability to the environment. The detection of genes encoding carbohydrate active enzymes is more beneficial to the growth and reproduction of Citrobacter freundii in crops. A total of 29 kinds of ARGs were detected in Citrobacter freundii, mainly conferring resistance to fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides, carbapenem, cephalosporins and macrolides. The main mechanisms are the change in antibiotic targets and efflux pumps, the change in cell permeability and the inactivation of antibiotics and the detection of virulence factors and ARGs, further indicating the serious risk to human health.

The detection of genomic islands and prophages increases the risk of horizontal transfer of virulence factors and ARGs, which spreads the drug resistance of bacteria and pathogenic bacteria more widely.

The different senses of the term information in physical, biological and social interpretations, and the possibility of connections between them, are addressed. Special attention is paid to Hofkirchner's Unified Theory of Information (UTI), proposing an integrated view in which the notion of information gets additional properties as one moves from the physical to the biological and the social realms. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

UTI is compared to other views of information, especially to two theories complementing several ideas of it: the theory of the hypertextual documental universe (“docuverse”) and the theory of integrative levels of reality. Two alternative applications of the complex of these three theories are discussed: a pragmatical, hermeneutic one, and a more ambitious realist, ontological one. The latter can be extended until considering information (“bit”) together with matter-energy (“it”) as a fundamental element in the world. Problems and opportunities with each view are discussed.

It is found that the common ground for all three theories is an evolutionary approach, paying attention to the phylogenetic connections between the different meanings of information.

Other theories of information, like Leontiev's, are not discussed as not especially related to the focus of the approach.

The paper builds on previously unnoticed affinities between different families of information-related theories, showing how each of them can provide fruitful complements to the other ones in clarifying the nature of information.