Ag-based synergistic antimicrobial composites. A critical review

The emerging problem of the antibiotic resistance development and the consequences that the health, food and other sectors face stimulate researchers to find safe and effective alternative methods to fight antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and biofilm formation. One of the most promising and efficient groups of materials known for robust antimicrobial performance is noble metal nanoparticles. Notably, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been already widely investigated and applied as antimicrobial agents. However, it has been proposed to create synergistic composites, because pathogens can find their way to develop resistance against metal nanophases; therefore, it could be important to strengthen and secure their antipathogen potency. These complex materials are comprised of individual components with intrinsic antimicrobial action against a wide range of pathogens. One part consists of inorganic AgNPs, and the other, of active organic molecules with pronounced germicidal effects: both phases complement each other, and the effect might just be the sum of the individual effects, or it can be reinforced by the simultaneous application. Many organic molecules have been proposed as potential candidates and successfully united with inorganic counterparts: polysaccharides, with chitosan being the most used component; phenols and organic acids; and peptides and other agents of animal and synthetic origin. In this review, we overview the available literature and critically discuss the findings, including the mechanisms of action, efficacy and application of the silver-based synergistic antimicrobial composites. Hence, we provide a structured summary of the current state of the research direction and give an opinion on perspectives on the development of hybrid Ag-based nanoantimicrobials (NAMs)

The role of nutritional fiber deficiency in the pathogenesis and course of gastroesophageal reflux disease

Aim of the Review. To analyze current data about possible influence of nutritional fiber on the course of GERD.Key points. Systematic review in PubMed/Medline databases was performed with keywords food, dietary fiber in combination with gastroesophageal reflux, GERD. The review contains data concerning influence of nutritional fiber on the pathogenetic mechanisms of GERD and illuminates results of epidemiological studies suggesting positive correlation between quantities of nutritional fiber in the patient’s diet and manifestations of the disease. The main features of pathogenesis caused by the lack of nutritional fiber include slow gastric emptying, increased gastric volume, increased risk of obesity and hiatal hernia, reduced lower esophageal sphincter pressure. The epidemiological studies suggest the higher incidence of GERD symptoms, higher prevalence of Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma in patients who consume low quantity of nutritional fiber.Conclusion. Despite the lack of interventional studies the literature data about impact of nutritional fiber on the manifestations of GERD show probable approach for the correction of diet in GERD patients. There is a need for prospective studies evaluating correction of diet on the course of the disease

Genome-wide analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance metabolites revealed parent-of-origin effect on triglycerides in medium very low-density lipoprotein in PTPRD gene

The aim of the study was to explore the parent-of-origin effects (POEs) on a range of human nuclear magnetic resonance metabolites. Materials & methods: We search for POEs in 14,815 unrelated individuals from Estonian and Finnish cohorts using POE method for the genotype data imputed with 1000 G reference panel and 82 nuclear magnetic resonance metabolites. Results: Meta-analysis revealed the evidence of POE for the variant rs1412727 in PTPRD gene for the metabolite: triglycerides in medium very low-density lipoprotein. No POEs were detected for genetic variants that were previously known to have main effect on circulating metabolites. Conclusion: We demonstrated possibility to detect POEs for human metabolites, but the POEs are weak, and therefore it is hard to detect those using currently available sample sizes.Peer reviewe

Artificial Sequences and Complexity Measures

In this paper we exploit concepts of information theory to address the fundamental problem of identifying and defining the most suitable tools to extract, in a automatic and agnostic way, information from a generic string of characters. We introduce in particular a class of methods which use in a crucial way data compression techniques in order to define a measure of remoteness and distance between pairs of sequences of characters (e.g. texts) based on their relative information content. We also discuss in detail how specific features of data compression techniques could be used to introduce the notion of dictionary of a given sequence and of Artificial Text and we show how these new tools can be used for information extraction purposes. We point out the versatility and generality of our method that applies to any kind of corpora of character strings independently of the type of coding behind them. We consider as a case study linguistic motivated problems and we present results for automatic language recognition, authorship attribution and self consistent-classification.Comment: Revised version, with major changes, of previous "Data Compression approach to Information Extraction and Classification" by A. Baronchelli and V. Loreto. 15 pages; 5 figure

Actual aspects of etiological diagnostics of tick-borne infections in Ural region

Etiological decoding was produced of infections transmitted by Ixodes ticks. 142 patients (adults and children) with a fever of unknown etiology or tick bite history of being in the hospital with symptoms of infection was investigate serological methods (ELISA, IgM and IgG). IgM of tick-borne encephalitis virus is found in 17 patients (35.4%), of Ixodes tick borreliosis agents in one (2%), of human granulocytic anaplasmosis pathogen in two (4%). IgM is not revealed of monocytic ehrlichiosis agents person. IgM were determined simultaneously not only to the tick-borne encephalitis virus and Ixodes tick borreliosis pathogens, but also to Anaplasma phagocytophilum in 8.3% patients.Произведена этиологическая расшифровка заболеваний, передающихся иксодовыми клещами, у 142 пациентов (детей и взрослых) с лихорадкой неясной этиологии или укусом клеща в анамнезе, находящихся в стационаре с признаками инфекционного заболевания, с помощью серологического метода (ИФА, IgM и IgG). IgM к вирусу клещевого энцефалита обнаружен у 17 пациентов (35,4%), к возбудителям иксодового клещевого боррелиоза — у одного (2%), к возбудителю гранулацитарного анаплазмоза человека — у двоих (4%). IgM к возбудителям моноцитарного эрлихиоза человека не выявлены. Одномоментно IgM определялись не только к вирусу клещевого энцефалита и возбудителям иксодового клещевого боррелиоза, но и к Anaplasma phagocytophilum у 8,3% пациентов

Diagnosis of catheter-associated bloodstream infections

238 catheters from 220 children were studied mainly from the surgical, intensive care and oncohematological departments. For the diagnosis of catheter-associated bloodstream infections used semiquantitative method inoculation catheters by D. Maki and blood culture isolation of intact vein. Share colonized or locally infected catheters was 79.2%, catheter-associated bloodstream infections – 20.8%.Исследовано 238 проб катетеров от 220 детей, преимущественно из хирургических, реанимационных и онкогематологических отделений. Для диагностики катетер-ассоциированных инфекций кровотока применяли полуколичественный метод посева катетера по D. Maki и выделение гемокультуры из интактной вены. Доля колонизированных или локально инфицированных катетеров составила 79,2%, катетер-ассоциированных инфекций кровотока — 20,8%

Modern methods of diagnosis neuroinfections in children with hydrocephalus

104 samples of cerebrospinal fluid were studied from patients in the surgical departments. For the diagnosis of neuroinfections used analyzer with the technology of light scattering ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT (Alifax, Italy) and the culture method. The results of bacteriological tests in the analyzer and the conventional method coincided in 99% of cases. But in the case of ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT obtained at 8–10 hours earlier than conventional methods, and provide information on the presence or absence of antimicrobial drugs in the cerebrospinal fluid.Исследовано 104 пробы спинномозговой жидкости от больных, находящихся на лечении в хирургических отделениях. Для диагностики нейроинфекций применяли анализатор с технологией светорассеивания ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT (Alifax, Италия) и культуральный метод. Результаты бактериологического исследования на анализаторе и общепринятым методом совпали в 99% случаях, но в случае ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT получены на 8–10 часов раньше по сравнению с классическими методами и дают информацию о наличии или отсутствии антибактериальных препаратов в спинномозговой жидкости

Aetiology of infectious complications in children with oncohematological diseases

The article presents the results of microbiological studies of different biomaterials in the diagnosis of infectious complications in children with oncohematologicaldiseases after bone marrow transplantation.Gram-negative bacteria both endogenous and possibly nosocomial origin are lead among the detected microorganisms.В статье приведены результаты микробиологических исследований различных биоматериалов, полученных при диагностике инфекционных осложнений у детей с онкогематологическими заболеваниями после трансплантации. Среди обнаруженных микроорганизмов лидируют грамотрицательные бактерии как эндогенного, так и, возможно, нозокомиального происхождения

Sublinear Algorithms for Approximating String Compressibility

We raise the question of approximating the compressibility of a string with respect to a fixed compression scheme, in sublinear time. We study this question in detail for two popular lossless compression schemes: run-length encoding (RLE) and a variant of Lempel-Ziv (LZ77), and present sublinear algorithms for approximating compressibility with respect to both schemes. We also give several lower bounds that show that our algorithms for both schemes cannot be improved significantly. Our investigation of LZ77 yields results whose interest goes beyond the initial questions we set out to study. In particular, we prove combinatorial structural lemmas that relate the compressibility of a string with respect to LZ77 to the number of distinct short substrings contained in it (its ℓth subword complexity , for small ℓ). In addition, we show that approximating the compressibility with respect to LZ77 is related to approximating the support size of a distribution.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award CCF-1065125)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Award CCF-0728645)Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant PIRG03-GA-2008-231077Israel Science Foundation (Grant 1147/09)Israel Science Foundation (Grant 1675/09

Application of innovative methods for bacteriuria diagnostics of urinary tract infections

317 urine samples were tested by the analyzer ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT (Alifax, Italy), using a laser light scattering technology. Urine samples were obtained from children aged from one to 16 years with different pathologies. 281 sample showed a negative result (88.6%) three hours after inoculation, 36 samples positive (11.4%), of which 19 samples were correlated with the results of the traditional culture method (inoculation on blood agar for Eisenberg method). Bacteriuria definition it is crucial for the diagnostics of urinary tract infections in a short period of time (3 hours), especially for material obtained during surgical procedures and outpatients.Протестировано 317 образцов мочи от детей в возрасте от года до 16 лет с различной патологией при применении анализатора ALIFAX HB&L LIGHT (Alifax, Италия), использующего технологию лазерного светорассеивания. Через три часа после посева 281 проба показала отрицательный результат (88,6%), 36 образцов — положительный (11,4%), из них 19 образцов коррелировали с результатами традиционного культурального метода (посева на кровяной агар по методу Айзенберга). Для диагностики инфекций мочевыводящих путей определение бактериурии в более короткие сроки (3 часа) является принципиально важным, особенно при получении материала во время оперативных вмешательств и на амбулаторном приеме