Production of a Novel Functional Fruit Beverage Consisting of Cornelian Cherry Juice and Probiotic Bacteria.

The present study describes the development of a novel functional beverage through the application of probiotic ATCC (American Type Culture Collection) 14917 in Cornelian cherry juice fermentation. The probiotic was employed in free and immobilized in a delignified wheat bran carrier (DWB) form. Cornelian cherry juice was fermented for 24 h and then it was stored at 4 °C for 4 weeks.

Antibiotic resistance profiles of Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from various Greek aquatic environments.

A large number of antibiotic-resistant P. aeruginosa isolates are continuously discharged into natural water basins mainly through sewage. However, the environmental reservoirs of antibiotic resistance factors are poorly understood.

Environmental surveillance. An additional/alternative approach for virological surveillance in Greece?

The detection of viruses in the sewage of an urban city by nucleic acid amplification techniques allows the identification of the viral strains that are circulating in the community. The aim of the study was the application of such detection which gives useful data on the distribution, spread, and frequency of these viruses, supporting epidemiological studies of the related viral infections. A two year (2007-2009) survey was conducted in order to evaluate the presence of human adenoviruses (hAdV), hepatitis A viruses (HAV), hepatitis E viruses (HEV), noroviruses (NoV), and human polyomaviruses (hPyV) in sewage samples collected from the inlet of a municipal biological wastewater treatment plant located in southwestern Greece.

Molecular detection of multiple viral targets in untreated urban sewage from Greece.

Background: Urban sewage virological analysis may produce important information about the strains that cause clinical and subclinical infections in the population, thus supporting epidemiological studies.

Methods: In the present study, a twenty one-month survey (November 2007 to July 2009) was conducted in order to evaluate the presence of human adenoviruses (hAdV), hepatitis A viruses (HAV), hepatitis E viruses (HEV), Noroviruses (NoV), and human Polyomaviruses (hPyV) in untreated sewage samples collected from the inlet of Patras' municipal biological wastewater treatment plant, located in southwestern Greece. Nucleic acid amplification techniques were applied for viral nucleic acid detection.