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β-Lactam antibiotics are the first choice for the treatment of most bacterial infections. However, the increased prevalence of β-lactamases, in particular extended-spectrum β-lactamases, in pathogenic bacteria has severely limited the possibility of using β-lactam treatments. Combining β-lactam antibiotics with β-lactamase inhibitors can restore treatment efficacy by negating the effect of the β-lactamase and has become increasingly important against infections caused by β-lactamase-producing strains. Not surprisingly, bacteria with resistance to even these combinations have been found in patients. Studies on the development of bacterial resistance to β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations have focused mainly on the effects of single, chromosomal or plasmid-borne, β-lactamases. However, clinical isolates often carry more than one β-lactamase in addition to multiple other resistance genes. Here, we investigate how the evolutionary trajectories of the development of resistance to three commonly used β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations, ampicillin-sulbactam, piperacillin-tazobactam, and ceftazidime-avibactam, were affected by the presence of three common β-lactamases, TEM-1, CTX-M-15, and OXA-1. First-step resistance was due mainly to extensive gene amplifications of one or several of the β-lactamase genes where the amplification pattern directly depended on the respective drug combination. Amplifications also served as a stepping-stone for high-level resistance in combination with additional mutations that reduced drug influx or mutations in the β-lactamase gene bla(CTX-M-15). This illustrates that the evolutionary trajectories of resistance to β-lactam/β-lactamase inhibitor combinations are strongly influenced by the frequent and transient nature of gene amplifications and how the presence of multiple β-lactamases shapes the evolution to higher-level resistance.

Brucella is a highly pathogenic bacteria endemic in Kenya, and in spite of its severity in humans, the highly inadequate Febrile Antigen Brucella Agglutination Test (FBAT) remains a primary tool for its diagnosis. Blood samples were collected from febrile patients in Kinna health center and screened by the local routine. Milk samples were purchased from local milk hawkers and analyzed for Brucella antibodies using the milk ring test (MRT). The MRT-positive milk was traced to farms, and lactating cattle were sampled for milk and blood. Milk was MRT-tested and the serum was analyzed using the Rose Bengal test (RBT) and iELISA. Available patient and farm samples were stored on FTA cards for qPCR analyses. Despite a limited sample size, our study, in line with previous reports, shows a low diagnostic sensitivity (67%) and specificity (40%) of FBAT when compared to qPCR. As many as 48% of the raw bulk cattle milk samples were MRT-positive for Brucella antibodies and 60% of cattle on three visited farms were IS711 qPCR-positive. This case-based One Health investigation confirms the suspected Brucella presence, suggesting a targeted vaccination at high-prevalence farms, urgent interventions on milk safety, and a re-evaluation of the diagnostic and treatment regimen.

Micrometre-sized aluminium particles are used as pigments in silver inks and for environmental reasons it is desirable to develop water-based formulations of such pigments. In waterborne coatings, however, aluminium is prone to react with water, with subsequent hydrogen gas evolution and loss of the silvery lustre. The protection against water of aluminium pigments by adsorption of either a nonionic or an anionic surfactant has been evaluated. Phosphate esters with different lengths of the hydrocarbon tail have been synthesised and tested, and were found to provide very effective protection of the pigments. Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), on the other hand, was completely ineffective as inhibitor, even though the adsorption isotherm was about the same as for the structurally similar sodium dodecyl phosphate (SDP). This difference may be explained by formation of different types of complexes with the aluminium oxide surface. Outer-sphere complexes are suggested for SDS, whilst SDP can form more stable inner-sphere complexes. Tests with the non-surface active methyl phosphate as inhibiting agent gave insufficient protection, indicating that surface activity is crucial for the inhibition, and that the use of the phosphates as such is not enough to give proper protection. The work shows that amphiphilic compounds having phosphate as anchoring group are efficient in providing water resistance to aluminium pigments.

Alkyl ketene dimer (AKD) dispersions were made with combinations of nonionic and cationic cleavable surfactants. The dispersion stability and the rate of surfactant hydrolysis were studied at different pH values both at room temperature and at elevated temperature. 1 H NMR was used for studying surfactant degradation and measurements were made both above and below the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of the surfactant. The particle size was monitored as a function of time in either pH-adjusted water or in aqueous buffer solutions with the view to elucidate whether the concept of micellar catalysis can be correlated to the rate of degradation of the surfactant monolayer that stabilizes the dispersion. A series of poly(ethylene glycol) esters of oleic acid with varying number of oxyethylene units were employed as nonionic surfactants and two ester quats and one betaine ester were used as cationic surfactant. The relative rate of surfactant degradation was nonionic surfactant

Micrometer-sized aluminum particles used as pigments in silver inks and coatings are reactive in water-based formulations. This leads to hydrogen gas evolution in the paint containers and loss of the silvery appearance of the coating. The protection of aluminum pigments from water is called inhibition and it was shown in earlier work that anionic surfactants of the phosphate ester type are effective as inhibitors, forming a protective bilayer on the aluminum pigment surface. In this work, the protection of aluminum pigments has been extended by means of an encapsulating polymer layer. A poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) coating was applied on aluminum pigment particles by admicellar polymerization of methyl methacrylate. A surfactant is first adsorbed on the aluminum pigment surface and a hydrophobic monomer and initiator is subsequently solubilized inside the hydrophobic domain of the surfactant aggregates that cover the pigment. Diffuse Reflective Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) spectrometry showed that PMMA was formed on the pigment particles and the amount of organic material was up to 24% of the particle weight, as measured by Thermo Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). A hydrophobic initiator, such as benzoyl peroxide, gave good results but the hydrophilic sodium persulfate resulted in poor yield of encapsulating polymer. Sodium dodecyl sulfate, which by itself is not an efficient inhibitor, was used as surfactant. Good results were obtained in terms of protection from an alkaline solution, indicating that the polymer coating per se is an efficient inhibitor. The highest amount of polymer formed on the pigment surface was obtained when the surfactant concentration was around the CMC.

This review concerns surface treatment of aluminium pigments for use in water borne coatings. Aluminium pigments are commonly used in coatings to give a silvery and shiny lustre to the substrate. Such paints and inks have traditionally been solvent borne, since aluminium pigment particles react with water. For environmental and health reasons solvent borne coatings are being replaced by water borne and the aluminium pigments then need to be surface modified in order to stand exposure to water. This process is called inhibition and both organic and inorganic substances are used as inhibiting agents. The organic inhibiting agents range from low molecular weight substances, such as phenols and aromatic acids, via surfactants, in particular alkyl phosphates and other anionic amphiphiles, to high molecular weight compounds, such as polyelectrolytes. A common denominator for them all is that they contain a functional group that interacts specifically with aluminium at the surface. A particularly strong interaction is obtained if the inhibiting agent contains functional groups that form chelating complex with surface Al(III). Encapsulation of the pigment can be made by in situ polymerization at the surface of the pigment and a recent approach is to have the polymerization occur within a double layer of adsorbed surfactant. The inorganic route is dominated by coating with silica, and recent progress has been made using an alkoxide, such as tetraethoxysilane as silica precursor. Such silica coated aluminium pigments are comparable in performance to chromate inhibited pigments and thus offer a possible heavy metal-free alternative. There are obvious connections between surface modifications made to prevent the pigment to react with water and inhibition of corrosion of macroscopic aluminium surfaces.