Typology and credibility of Internet health websites originating from Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The quality of information available on health websites in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries has not been comprehensively assessed. From November to December 2012 we retrieved all functional health-related websites (n = 925) originating in GCC countries. Data on authorship, language, date, information content and type of site were recorded. A novel website checklist was developed based on the credibility and trust criteria of the Internet assessment organization Health On the Net Foundation (HON). Only 5 sites (0.5%) fulfilled all checklist categories. All websites except one were in English or Arabic languages. Only 10.1% of websites posted a privacy policy, 2.7% stated the authorship of information, 51.0% disclosed website ownership, 80.6% provided contact details and 58.5% dated information. Only 1.7% reported their advertising policy and 23.5% revealed sponsorships. GCC health website owners should consider working with the HON or similar organizations to meet internationally recognized credibility criteria.

Typology and credibility of Internet health websites originating from Gulf Cooperation Council countries

The quality of information available on health websites in the Gulf Cooperation Council [GCC] countries has not been comprehensively assessed. From November to December 2012 we retrieved all functional health-related websites [n - 925] originating in GCC countries. Data on authorship, language, date,information content and type of site were recorded. A novel website checklist was developed based on the credibility and trust criteria of the Internet assessment organization Health On the Net Foundation [HON]. Only 5 sites [0.5%] fulfilled all checklist categories. All websites except one were in English or Arabic languages.Only 10.1% of websites posted a privacy policy, 2.7% stated the authorship of information, 51.0% disclosed website ownership,80.6% provided contact details and 58.5% dated information. Only 1.7% reported their advertising policy and 23.5% revealed sponsorships. GCC health website owners should consider working with the HON or similar organizations to meet internationally recognized credibility criteria

La qualité des informations disponibles sur les sites Web de santé des pays du Conseil de Coopération du Golfe n'a pas été évaluée de manière exhaustive. De novembre à décembre 2012, nous avons répertorié tous les sites Web actifs consacrées aux questions de santé [n = 925] créés dans des pays du Conseil de Coopération du Golfe. Les données sur les auteurs, la langue, la date et les informations disponibles ainsi que sur le type de site Web ont été enregistrées. Une nouvelle liste de contrôle des sites Web innovante a été élaborée à partir des critères de crédibilité et de confiance de la fondation Health On the Net [HON]- la Santé sur Internet, organisme d'évaluation des sites Web. Seuls cinq sites [0,5 %] avaient des résultats satisfaisants pour toutes les catégories de la liste de contrôle. Tous les sites Web, sauf un, étaient en langue anglaise ou langue arabe. Seuls 10,1 % des sites avaient publié une politique de confidentialité ; 2,7 % citaient les auteurs des informations ; 51,0 % révélaient l'identité du propriétaire du site ; 80,6 % fournissaient des coordonnées et 58,5 % avaient daté les informations publiées. Seuls 1,7 % précisait leur politique en matière de publicité et 23,5 % indiquaient les parrainages. Les propriétaires des sites dédiés à la santé dans des pays du Conseil de Coopération du Golfe devraient envisager de collaborer avec la fondation HON ou des organisations similaires pour satisfaire aux critères de crédibilité internationalement reconnus

Fate of tetracycline resistant bacteria as a function of activated sludge process organic loading and growth rate.

The objective of this research was to elucidate the fate of tetracycline resistant bacteria as a function of activated sludge organic loading rate and growth rate. Techniques employed to evaluate the effect of these factors on the fate of tetracycline resistant bacteria were: (1) resistant bacteria concentrations in the SBR biomass; (2) production of tetracycline resistant bacteria as measured by a combination of effluent efflux and intentional solids wasting; (3) net specific growth rates as determined by an SBR population balance; and (4) percentage of resistance as determined by normalising resistant concentrations to total concentrations. Based on these evaluation parameters, increases in organic loading and growth rate both resulted in amplification of tetracycline resistance. These trends were observed for activated sludge reactors loaded with typical municipal background tetracycline concentrations (approximately 1 microg/L) and those receiving influent augmented with 250 microg/L tetracycline. Accordingly, biological wastewater treatment plants, such as the activated sludge process, may be significant sources of antibiotic resistance to the environment.

Streptomycin-resistant mutant production in a continuous-flow UV mutation device.

A continuous-flow UV-induced mutation device which incorporates starting strain cultivation, UV irradiation and mutant reproduction was conceptualized and tested in this study using streptomycin resistance as an indicator of mutant production. For the experimental conditions employed and populations used, the mutation frequency for streptomycin resistance ranged from 10(-4) to 10(-5) cfu/ml. These mutation frequencies are comparable with conventional batch UV mutation methods and represent a gain of 3 orders of magnitude over the spontaneous mutation frequency.

Use of continuous-flow UV-induced mutation technique to enhance chlorinated organic biodegradation.

In this study, a continuous-flow UV-induced mutation (CUM) device and the CUM device coupled to a selector (CUMS) reactor were fabricated and tested for their ability to enhance the probability of obtaining populations capable of chlorinated organic biodegradation. A mixed culture of bacteria were used as the starting strain for both the CUM and CUMS processes. Populations were obtained from the CUM and CUMS systems capable of 4-chlorobenzoic acid, 2,4-dichlorobenzoic acid and chlorendic acid biodegradation. Non-UV irradiated population served as controls for the experiments and did not demonstrate chlorinated organic biodegradation over the test duration.