Publications by authors named "Mahjoub Aouni"

Article Synopsis
  • - Wastewater genomic surveillance in Tunisia analyzed samples from six treatment plants to monitor SARS-CoV-2 and identify its variants from December 2021 to July 2022.
  • - The study found that viral RNA levels in wastewater correlated with local COVID-19 case reports and detected the Delta and Omicron variants, including the concerning BA.5 variant before it was officially recognized.
  • - Results indicated that wastewater treatment processes in Tunisia are not fully effective at eliminating SARS-CoV-2, as the virus was still present in treated effluents, highlighting a gap in public health monitoring.
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Carbendazim (CBZ) is a benzimidazole fungicide widely used worldwide in industrial, agricultural, and veterinary practices. Although, CBZ was found in all brain tissues causing serious neurotoxicity, its impact on brain immune cells remain scarcely understood. Our study investigated the in vitro effects of CBZ on activated microglial BV-2 cells.

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Environmental discharge of wastewater represents a source of chemical and biological pollutants. This study firstly evaluates the microbiological and physicochemical quality of treated wastewaters collected from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) located in two different Tunisian cities namely Sidi Bouzid (SB) and Gafsa (G). Then, the capacity of three raw and acid/base-activated local clays to enhance the quality of wastewaters was assessed.

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Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) could be useful as an early warning system for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic spread. Viruses are highly diluted in wastewater. Therefore, a virus concentration step is needed for SARS-CoV-2 wastewater detection.

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Aquaculture is a rapidly expanding sector in which it is important to monitor the occurrence of multi-drug resistant (MDR) bacteria. The presence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL-) or carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales is a commonly used indicator of the resistance burden in a given sector. In this study, 641 pieces of farmed fish (sea bream and sea bass), as well as 1075 Mediterranean clams, were analyzed.

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Background: Enteroviruses (EVs) are considered the main causative agents responsible for aseptic meningitis worldwide. This study was conducted in the Monastir region of Tunisia in order to know the prevalence of EV infections in children with meningitis symptoms. Detected EV types were compared to those identified in wastewater samples.

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Human noroviruses (HuNoVs), especially GII.4 strains, are a major cause of gastroenteritis epidemics in both children and adults. Stool samples were collected from 113 Tunisian children with acute gastroenteritis in 2001 and 2002 and were retrospectively tested for HuNoVs.

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Article Synopsis
  • The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Africa has varied significantly across countries, and its overall impact remains unclear.
  • An analysis of 8,746 genomes from 33 African countries indicated that most outbreaks originated from Europe before international travel restrictions took effect.
  • As the pandemic continued, increased movement and local transmission led to the emergence of several variants within Africa, emphasizing the need for a strong pandemic response on the continent to prevent becoming a source of new variants.
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The current study undertaken in Tunisia examines the use of wastewaters to monitor SARS-CoV-2 circulation. Viral genetic materials collected in wastewaters during two different periods (September-October 2020 and February-April 2021) were concentrated using the adsorption-elution method. SARS-CoV-2 genes were researched by real-time PCR.

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Thymus plays a fundamental role in central tolerance establishment, especially during fetal life, through the generation of self-tolerant T cells. This process consists in T cells education by presenting them tissue-restricted autoantigens promiscuously expressed by thymic epithelial cells (TECs), thus preventing autoimmunity. Thymus infection by Coxsackievirus B (CV-B) during fetal life is supposed to disturb thymic functions and, hence, to be an inducing or accelerating factor in the genesis of autoimmunity.

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Type B coxsackieviruses (CV-B) frequently infect the central nervous system (CNS) causing neurological diseases notably meningitis and encephalitis. These infections occur principally among newborns and children. Epidemiological studies of patients with nervous system disorders demonstrate the presence of infectious virus, its components, or anti-CV-B antibodies.

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Coxsackie B viruses (CV-B) are usually transmitted via the fecal-oral route and the virus gains the central nervous system (CNS) via the bloodstream. Nevertheless, other routes of spread of the virus to the CNS cannot be excluded, including the neuronal route. Neuronal cells, as well as non-neuronal cells (fibroblasts), were isolated from mice and inoculated with CV-B4 in the absence and presence of neutralizing serum.

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The thymus is the main organ of the lymphatic system, in which T cells undergo a rigorous selection to ensure that their receptors (TCRs) will be functional and will not react against the self. Genes encoding for TCR chains are fragmented and must be rearranged by a process of somatic recombination generating TCR rearrangement excision circles (TRECs). We recently documented coxsackievirus B4 (CV-B4) infection of Swiss albino mouse thymus in the course of transmission.

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In Tunisia, we observed that rotavirus P[8]-3 and P[4] strains in young children with gastroenteritis associate with secretor histo-blood group phenotype. In contrast, the emerging P[8]-4 strain, representing 10% of cases, was exclusively found in nonsecretor patients. Unlike VP8* from P[8]-3 and P[4] strains, the P[8]-4 VP8* protein attached to glycans from saliva samples regardless of the donor's secretor status.

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The thymus fulfills the role of T-cell production and differentiation. Studying transcription factors and genes involved in T-cell differentiation and maturation during the fetal and neonatal periods is very important. Nevertheless, no studies to date have been interested in evaluating the expressions of housekeeping genes as internal controls to assess the varying expressions of different genes inside this tissue during that period or in the context of viral infection.

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Coxsackie B viruses (CV-B) are associated with several central nervous system (CNS) disorders. These viruses are predominantly transmitted by fecal-oral route but vertical transmission can also occur. This work attempted to study the immune response ensuing vertical transmission of CV-B to the brain, and its eventual implementation in the brain pathogenesis.

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. is one of the most important fruit trees in Tunisia because of its content of many potentially bioactive compounds. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical composition, antibiofilm, antiradical and acethylcholinesterase inhibitory activities from four Tunisian cultivars of L.

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A West Nile virus (WNV) outbreak occurred in Tunisia between mid-July and December 2012. To assess the epidemiological features of the WNV transmission cycle, human cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with suspected cases (n = 79), Culex pipiens mosquitoes (n = 583) and serum specimens from domestic and migratory birds (n = 70) were collected for 4 years (2011-2014) in the Tunisian Sahel region. Viral testing was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).

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(SaV), from the family, is a genus of enteric viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis. SaV is shed at high concentrations with feces into wastewater, which is usually discharged into aquatic environments or reused for irrigation without efficient treatments. This study analyzed the incidence of human SaV in four wastewater treatment plants from Tunisia during a period of 13 months (December 2009 to December 2010).

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In the summer of 2008 and 2009, a series of mortalities in growing out seeds of R. decussatus juveniles were occurred in the eastern Tunisian littoral. Nine predominant bacterial strains were isolated from dead and moribund juveniles and characterized as Vibrio alginolyticus.

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This study was conducted to investigate extended-spectrum-β-lactamase (ESBL) producing Enterobacteriaceae isolates from the Center of Maternity and Neonatology of Monastir, Tunisia. Fourty-six strains out of 283 were found to produce ESBL: Klebsiella pneumoniae (n = 37), Escherichia coli (n = 6), Enterobacter cloacae (n = 2), and Citrobacter freundi (n = 1). Genotyping analysis, using ERIC2 and RAPD, showed that strains were clonally unrelated.

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The antimicrobial properties of essential oil from various species have not been investigated enough in the previous studies dealing with the biological activities of medicinal plants. In Tunisia, L. (Asteraceae) is the only species recorded and is used as vermifuge and emmenagogue.

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Aim: Despite its therapeutic value almost nothing is known about potential adverse health effects of . We therefore investigated the toxicity and genotoxicity of leaf extracts of this plant.

Material And Methods: Extracts from olive tree leaves were obtained from four different regions in Tunisia.

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Interleukin-10 (IL-10), a potent anti-inflammatory T-cell cytokine, has been shown to be a regulatory cytokine that is associated with disease remission in multiple sclerosis (MS) and exerts its activity through its cognate cell surface receptor complex, IL-10 receptor 1 (IL-10R1) and IL-10R2. The purpose of this study was to investigate the IL-10R1 S138G loss-of-function polymorphism (A536G: rs3135932) for possible influence on susceptibility and outcome of MS in Tunisian patients. A total of 103 Tunisian MS patients and 160 control subjects were studied.

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