Antibiogram, Biochemical Reactions and Genotyping Characterization of Biofield Treated <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>

What is it about?

Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is the key organism for food poisoning due to massive production of heat stable exotoxins. The current study was attempted to investigate the effect of Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment on S. aureus. S. aureus (ATCC 25923) was divided into two parts, Group (Gr.) I: control and Gr. II: treatment. After biofield treatment, Gr. II was further subdivided into two parts, Gr. IIA and Gr. IIB. Gr. IIA was analyzed on day 10, while Gr. IIB was stored and analyzed on day 159 after revival (Study I). The revived sample (Gr. IIB) were retreated on day 159 (Study II), and divided into three separate tubes. Tube 1 was analyzed on day 5, likewise, tube 2 and 3 were analyzed on day 10 and 15, respectively. All the experimental parameters were studied using automated MicroScan Walk-Away® system. The 16S rDNA sequencing was carried out in Gr. IIA sample to correlate the phylogenetic relationship of S. aureus with other bacterial species. The antimicrobial susceptibility and minimum inhibitory concentration showed significant alteration i.e. 92.86% and 90.00% respectively in treated cells of S. aureus as compared to control. The biochemical reactions also showed the significant (35.71%) alteration in treated sample with respect to control. The biotype number and microbial species were substantially changed in Gr. IIA (767177; Staphylococcus cohnii subsp. urealyticum) on day 10, while only the biotype numbers were changed in rest of the treated samples as compared to control (307016; S. aureus). The 16S rDNA analysis showed that the identified strain in this experiment was S. aureus (GenBank Accession No.: L37597) after biofield treatment. However, the nearest homolog genus-species was found as Staphylococcus simiae (GenBank Accession No.: DQ127902). These results suggested that biofield treatment has a significant impact on S. aureus in lyophilized as well as revived state.

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Why is it important?

Staphylococci are the important class of pyogenic Gram-positive spherical bacteria resembling to the grapes like structure. They are considered as the third most important cause of food-borne disorders in the world [1]. It is the main pathogen for mastitis in the milch animals [2]. It is estimated that in US alone food-borne illnesses affect 6 to 80 million people each year, causing up to 9000 deaths [3]. Based on literature various genes have been found as a target for identification of S. aureus with the help of 16S rDNA sequence viz. heat shock protein 60 (hsp60) [4], superoxide dismutase A (sodA) [5], and RNA polymerase B (rpoB) [6]. S. aureus has developed resistance to the most classes of the antimicrobial agents. Penicillin is the drug of choice to treat against Staphylococcus infection but due to penicillinase or β-lactamase enzyme that destroy the penicillin, leads to resistance against S. aureus [7]. Therefore, some alternative strategies are needed to treat against staphylococci infections. National Institute of Health/National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NIH/NCCAM) have reported that biofield (putative energy fields) or electromagnetic based energy therapies used to promote health and healing [8]. Biofield energy treatment has been known as an alternative approach that may be useful to alter the sensitivity pattern of the antimicrobials. Harold Saxton Burr had performed the detailed studies on the correlation of electric current with physiological processes and suggested that every single process in the human body had an electrical significance [9]. The electrical process that happening in the human body have strong relationship with magnetic field as required by Ampere’s law, which stated that the moving charge produces magnetic field in surrounding space [10, 11]. Thus, the human body emits the electromagnetic waves in the form of bio-photons, which surrounds the body and it is commonly known as biofield. Therefore, the biofield consists of an electromagnetic field, being generated by moving electrically charged particles (ions, cell, molecule, etc.) inside the human body. Prakash et al. 2015, reported that the various scientific instruments such as Kirlian photography, polycontrast interference photography and resonance field imaging can be extensively used to measure the biofield of human body [12]. Thus, a human has the ability to harness the energy from environment or universe and can transmit into any living or nonliving object(s) around the Globe. The objects always receive the energy and respond into useful way that is called biofield energy and the process is known as biofield treatment. Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment (The Trivedi Effect®) has been known to alter the structural, physical and thermal properties of several metals in materials science [13-15], improved the overall productivity of crops [16, 17], altered characteristics features of microbes [18-20] and improved growth and anatomical characteristics of various medicinal plants [21, 22]. Due to the clinical significance of this organism and literature reports on biofield treatment, the present work was undertaken to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment modality on S. aureus in relation to the antimicrobials susceptibility, biochemical reactions, biotyping and 16S rDNA sequencing.

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