Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Lacking hfq Gene Confers Protective Immunity against Murine Typhoid

Salmonella enterica is an important enteric pathogen and its various serovars are involved in causing both systemic and intestinal diseases in humans and domestic animals. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of Salmonella leading to increased morbidity and mortality has further complicated its management. Live attenuated vaccines have been proven superior over killed or subunit vaccines due to their ability to induce protective immunity. Of the various strategies used for the generation of live attenuated vaccine strains, focus has gradually shifted towards manipulation of virulence regulator genes. Hfq is a RNA chaperon which mediates the binding of small RNAs to the mRNA and assists in post-transcriptional gene regulation in bacteria. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the Salmonella Typhimurium Δhfq strain as a candidate for live oral vaccine in murine model of typhoid fever. Salmonella hfq deletion mutant is highly attenuated in cell culture and animal model implying a significant role of Hfq in bacterial virulence. Oral immunization with the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant efficiently protects mice against subsequent oral challenge with virulent strain of Salmonella Typhimurium. Moreover, protection was induced upon both multiple as well as single dose of immunizations. The vaccine strain appears to be safe for use in pregnant mice and the protection is mediated by the increase in the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes upon vaccination. The levels of serum IgG and secretory-IgA in intestinal washes specific to lipopolysaccharide and outer membrane protein were significantly increased upon vaccination. Furthermore, hfq deletion mutant showed enhanced antigen presentation by dendritic cells compared to the wild type strain. Taken together, the studies in murine immunization model suggest that the Salmonella hfq deletion mutant can be a novel live oral vaccine candidate

Ovarian cancer molecular pathology.

Peer reviewe

Meta‐analysis of peripheral insulin‐like growth factor 1 levels in schizophrenia

Abstract Objective We aimed to investigate if there is a significant difference in peripheral insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1) levels between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls and to determine whether a difference exists before and after initiation of antipsychotics. Methods PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched up to March 27, 2022. Original clinical studies of any type that reported peripheral blood, serum or plasma IGF‐1 levels measured after fasting in schizophrenia patients and/or healthy control group were selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Data were analyzed using Meta‐Essentials: Workbooks for meta‐analysis and pooled through random‐effects meta‐analyses. Results Twelve publications met eligibility criteria. Schizophrenia patients under antipsychotic treatment had significantly lower peripheral IGF‐1 levels compared to healthy controls (n = 632, Hedges’ g –0.42, 95% CI from –0.79 to –0.04, p = .006, I2 = 70.38%), while no significant difference was found between schizophrenia patients regardless of the antipsychotic treatment status and healthy controls, as well as between antipsychotic naïve or free schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, and before and after initiation of antipsychotic treatment. However, high heterogeneity was observed and its potential sources in some of the subgroup analyses included sample type and region. Conclusions Schizophrenia patients under antipsychotic treatment seem to have lower peripheral IGF‐1 levels compared to healthy controls. Additional studies with larger and more homogenous samples are needed to confirm these findings

Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to the patients with acute bronchitis

© 2019 Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved. Background/Aim: Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to the patients with acute bronchitis is frequent event in clinical practice with potentially serious consequences, although majority of treatment guidelines do not recommend it. The aim of this study was to reveal risk factors associated with inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics to the patients with acute bronchitis in primary healthcare. Methods: This case/control study included the adult patients with acute bronchitis during the initial encounter with a general practitioner. Prescription of an antibiotic was an event that defined the case, and patients without prescribed antibiotic served as controls. Results: Antibiotics (mostly macrolides and beta-lactams) were prescribed to the majority of patients with diagnosis of acute bronchitis (78.5%). A significant association was found between antibiotic prescription rates and patient age, whether an attending physician is a specialist or not and the average number of patients a physician sees per day [ORadjustedwas 1.029 (1.007-1.052), 0.347 (0.147-0.818) and 0.957 (0.923-0.992), respectively]. Conclusion: When there is primary care encounter with patients suffering from acute bronchitis, older patients are more likely to receive inappropriate antibiotic prescription, especially if their physician is without specialist training and has less patient encounters in his/her office daily

quality of life

The current referential literature describes over 40 surgical techniques of continent urinary derivations. A variation of ureterosigmoidostomy, published by Hadzi Djokic et al. (1996) is a combination of the original Mainz pouch II (sigma rectum pouch) technique (Fish & Hohenfellner, 1991) and modified ureterointestinal anastomosis as described by Camey & LeDuc (1979) with a few new details described by the author himself. In the period 1994-2006. the total of 236 patients were treated by this method. Radical cystectomy in cases of multifocal transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder was the most common indication for this method (91,5%). In the course of follow-up (mean duration 24 months) the quality of life (QL) of these patients was evaluated by physical characteristics, mental status, social aspects and comparative evaluation of quality of life with ileal conduit which is still considered the "gold standard " for urinary derivations. A very good quality of life in all studied dimensions (3/4) patients) suggests the fact that this form of continent urinary derivation provides the patients with the fair quality of life and confirms justifiability of this surgical procedure under certain indications. Key words: urinary derivation, quality of life rezim