Frequency and the Factors Associated with Increasing troponin in Patients Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of Alzahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during the Years 2018-2019

Background: Some studies have shown that serum levels of troponin increase in some other diseases in addition to heart diseases. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency and factors associated with increasing troponin in patients admitted to the intensive care unit. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 62 patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) of Alzahra hospital, Isfahan, Iran, during the Years 2018-2019, were selected. Patients’ serum troponin levels were measured, and based on the outcomes including cardiac, pulmonary, systemic, and renal complications, frequency of mortality, duration of hospitalization in ICU, and duration of intubation were analyzed. Findings: The mean serum level of troponin I was 47.12 ± 4.38 and 50.00 ± 2.59 ng/l in the living and dead patients, respectively (P = 0.033). The mean serum level of troponin T was 0.57 ± 0.05 and 1.07 ± 0.08 ng/l in the living and dead patients, respectively (P < 0.001). Moreover, troponin I level was significantly different based on the age groups, and serum level of troponin T was different based on the causes of admission in ICU. Conclusion: Our study shows that in addition to patients with myocardial infarction (MI), other patients such as the elderly who hospitalized in the ICUs and patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, may also be at increased troponin levels

Study of antagonistic effects of Lactobacillus strains as probiotics on multi drug resistant (MDR) bacteria isolated from urinary tract infections (UTIs)

Objective(s):Urinary tract infection (UTI) caused by bacteria is one of the most frequent infections in human population. Inappropriate use of antibiotics, often leads to appearance of drug resistance in bacteria. However, use of probiotic bacteria has been suggested as a partial replacement. This study was aimed to assess the antagonistic effects of Lactobacillus standard strains against bacteria isolated from UTI infections. Materials and Methods: Among 600 samples; those with ≥10,000 cfu/ml were selected as UTI positive samples. Enterococcus sp., Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterobacter sp., and Escherichia coli were found the most prevalent UTI causative agents. All isolates were screened for multi drug resistance and subjected to the antimicrobial effects of three Lactobacillus strains by using microplate technique and the MICs amounts were determined. In order to verify the origin of antibiotic resistance of isolates, plasmid curing using ethidium bromide and acridine orange was carried out. Results: No antagonistic activity in Lactobacilli suspension was detected against test on Enterococcus and Enterobacter strains and K. pneumoniae, which were resistant to most antibiotics. However, an inhibitory effect was observed for E. coli which were resistant to 8-9 antibiotics. In addition, L. casei was determined to be the most effective probiotic. Results from replica plating suggested one of the plasmids could be related to the gene responsible for ampicillin resistance. Conclusion: Treatment of E. coli with probiotic suspension was not effective on inhibition of the plasmid carrying hypothetical ampicillin resistant gene. Moreover, the plasmid profiles obtained from probiotic-treated isolates were identical to untreated isolates