Biofilm Forming Bacteria Isolated from Medical Implants

Background: Biofilm formation in indwelling medical devices poses serious risk of infection and increases the likelihood of  recurrence of infections. The study was carried out to identify the microbes which form biofilms on medical implants and are thus involved in nosocomial infections, to assess the potential of biofilm producing ability of these isolated microbes and to determine antibiotic resistance towards ampicillin, vancomycin ceftazidime, streptomycin and tetracycline.Methods: For this, 11 samples of 5 different implants were taken from Tertiary Care Hospital Multan, Pakistan. Bacteria were isolated and identified by culture plate method. Tryptone soy broth (TBS) media was used for biofilm development by microbes in plastic tubes. Developed biofilm in tubes was visualized with crystal violet staining method and then biofilm forming potential was estimated by measuring the optical density through spectrophotometer. Antibiotic susceptibility was done by Kirby Bauer disk diffusion method to determine the resistance and susceptibility pattern of biofilm producers.Results: Out of 11 different samples of indwelling medical devices, a total of 131 bacterial strains were isolated. The percentage of bacterial isolates which produced biofilms were Staphylococcus spp. (41%) followed by Escherichia coli (18%), Pseudomonas spp. (4%), Proteus spp. (7.2%), Klebsiella spp. (8.6%), Bacillus spp. (8.6%), Fusobacterium spp. (1.4%) Clostridium spp.(1.4%), Enterococcus spp. (7.2%) and Neisseria spp. (1.4%). Sixty-nine isolates were considered positive for biofilm formation while 58 were considered negative. The resistance was maximum against ampicillin (42%) followed by ceftazidime (17.1%), tetracycline (34%) and streptomycin (30%) while against vancomycin no resistance was observed.Conclusion: Biofilms produced on medical implants by different bacteria are considered to be the major cause of hospital acquired infections and are very difficult to eradicate. These biofilms associated implant infections are challenging to treat because of their resistance towards various antibiotic therapies. Therefore, some efficient methods of prevention of biofilm formation should be introduced.Keywords: Bacterial biofilms; Biofilm associated infections; Medical implants; Hospital acquired infections; Antibiotic resistance  

Estimation of Serum Ferritin Level to Detect Iron Deficiency Anemia in Children less than 5 Years of age

Objective: To evaluate serum ferritin levels in children less than five years as screening measure for iron deficiency anemia (IDA). Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi from 1st March 2010 to 31st Jan 2011. A simple random sampling technique was adopted for study proceedings. Fifty children of less than five (5) years of age were enrolled in the study. The study population included children, aged less than five presenting at pediatrics outpatient department. The children with known hematological abnormality, infection, inflammation were excluded from the study. Blood complete picture for hemoglobin and serum ferritin level estimation were the diagnostic tools used and correlated afterwards. Data were collected and entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, version 16) for analysis. Descriptive statistics were calculated. Chi-square test was applied for evaluation and calculation of significance in each of the characteristics of the population at P ≤ 0.05. Results: A total of 50 children with age range of 3-60 months, were recruited for the study. The study population was categorized into three groups; Infants (3-12 months), Toddlers (13-23 months) and Preschool-age (24-60 months) groups. The mean hematocrit of the study population was 33.5 (2.8%) and the mean serum ferritin level was 52.4 ng/ml with a range value of 0.2-353.0 ng/ml. Thirty-eight (38) patients of the study population were iron-deficient, with serum ferritin levels of less than 12 ng/ml. Conclusion: Serum ferritin level is a good screening test for detection of iron deficiency in children Key words: Children less than five years, Iron deficiency anemia, Serum ferritin levels

Revealing the Phytochemical Profile and Antioxidant Potential of a Medicinal Folklore: Bombax Ceiba L.

Current study intends to investigate the extraction yield, phytochemical analysis and antioxidant potential of selected plant by executing a wide range of in vitro assays. This was done to suggest the most proficient solvent system and plant part for isolation and purification of probable bioactive leads. The colorimetric estimation of total phenolic, flavonoid contents, total antioxidant capacity, total reducing power and free radical scavenging activity was done. The specific polyphenols were quantified by RP-HPLC analysis. The present findings proved acetone and methanol (AC:M) extract of root bark part as an enriched source of antioxidant phytochemicals. The highest amount of rutin was detected in methanol (M) extract of root bark i.e. 0.70 μg/mg DW followed by methanol (M) extract (0.52 μg/mg DW) of leaf. Bombax ceiba L. was found to be a reservoir of phytochemicals possessing antioxidant potential

Long-Lasting Benefits after Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) in Rats with Combination Therapy of Marrow Stromal Cells (MSCs) and Simvastatin

This study was designed to investigate the beneficial effects of combination therapy of simvastatin and marrow stromal cells (MSCs) in improving functional outcome after traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rats. Adult female Wistar rats (n = 72 and 8, per group) were injured with controlled cortical impact and treated either with monotherapy of MSCs or simvastatin or a combination therapy of these two agents. Different combination doses were tested, and nine groups of animals were studied. Neurological function was evaluated using Modified Neurological Severity Score (MNSS), and animals were sacrificed 3 months after injury. Coronal brain sections were stained with standard hematoxylin and eosin immunohistochemistry. Our results showed that, though functional improvement was seen with monotherapies of MSCs and simvastatin, the combination therapy when used in optimal doses was significantly better in improving functional outcome. This improvement was long lasting and persisted until the end of the trial (3 months). The optimum combination dose was 0.5 mg of simvastatin combined with 2×106 MSCs. Post mortem analysis showed the presence of donor MSCs within the injured cortex. Endogenous cellular proliferation induced by the neurorestorative treatments was also observed in the lesion boundary zone. Our data show that MSCs and simvastatin have a synergistic effect in improving functional outcome after TBI

Erythropoietin Improves Histological and Functional Outcomes after Traumatic Brain Injury in Mice in the Absence of the Neural Erythropoietin Receptor

Erythropoietin (EPO), essential for erythropoiesis, provides neuroprotection. The EPO receptor (EPOR) is expressed in both neural and non-neural cells in the brain. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that EPO provides beneficial therapeutic effects, even in the absence of the neural EPOR. In this study, EPOR-null mice were rescued with selective EpoR expression driven by the endogenous EpoR promoter in hematopoietic tissue, but not in the neural cells. Anesthetized young adult female EPOR-null and wild-type mice were subjected to traumatic brain injury (TBI) induced by controlled cortical impact. EPO (5000 U/kg) or saline was intraperitoneally administered at 6 h and 3 and 7 days post-injury. Sensorimotor and spatial learning functions were assessed. Expression of EPOR and its downstream signal proteins were evaluated by Western blot analysis. Our data demonstrated that EPO treatment significantly reduced cortical tissue damage and hippocampal cell loss, and improved spatial learning following TBI in both the wild-type and EPOR-null mice. EPO treatment significantly improved sensorimotor functional recovery, with better outcomes in the wild-type mice. EPO treatment upregulated anti-apoptotic proteins (p-Akt and Bcl-XL) in the ipsilateral hippocampus and cortex of the injured wild-type and EPOR-null mice. These data demonstrate that EPO significantly provides neuroprotection following TBI, even in the absence of EPOR in the neural cells, suggesting that its therapeutic benefits may be mediated through vascular protection