Isolation and Identification of Microbes on Hands and Mobile Phones Causing Urinary Tract Infections

Background: Hands and cell phones are the major source of cross-transmission of urinary tract infections. The aim of this study was to isolate, identify and evaluate Gram-negative bacteria from hand and mobile phones. Methods: This study was conducted in visiting area of Civil Hospital Karachi, Pakistan. Analysis was done by 100 wet sterile cotton tipped swabs, 50 each from mobile phones and hands of their owners. Samples were transported in a Cary Blair transport media, Swabs were streaked on Nutrient agar, Blood agar and MacConkey agar. Organisms were identified by cultural, biochemical, and microscopic characteristics. Results: Total samples n=100 was collected from hand and mobile phones samples (50 hand and 50 mobile swabs) from the Dow university Hospital and Civil Hospital Karachi were tested. Six species of bacteria were isolated along with their identification during the research study. The isolated bacteria were Serratia, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Proteus, Shigella and Escherichia coli. The participants’ hands showed high bacterial contamination (50%-56%) in comparison to mobile phones. The frequency (%) of bacteria isolated from mobile phone and hand swabs included Serratia, 12 (24%) with the highest quantity and frequently found bacteria. While, the rest of the results reported Escherichia coli 10 (20%), Klebsiella 9 (18%), Pseudomonas 5 (10%), Shigella 4 (8%) and Proteus 10 (20%) respectively. Conclusion: Patient attendants in hospitals and visitors are more susceptible to nosocomial infections through exchange of mobile phones n=12(24%). Therefore, hygienic practice of hands cleaning while mobile using may help to break the transmission cycle of pathogenic bacteria. Keywords: Urinary Tract Infections; Gram Negative Bacteria; Nosocomial Infections

Improvement in knowledge of healthcare professionals attending Neonatal Life Support(NeoLiS) training workshop

Objective:Pakistan ranks among the countries with highest neonatal mortality rate. Birth related event (Asphyxia neonatorum) is one of the three most common causes of neonatal mortality worldwide. Effective resuscitation during the Golden Minute can improve the mortality and morbidity. In Pakistan, a training programme NeoLiS (Neonatal Life Support) was developed in 2008 which was based on guidelines of ILCOR. The objective of this study was to assess the improvement in knowledge of healthcare professionals attending Neonatal Life Support training workshop. Methods:It was a retrospective cross sectional study that was conducted in the Neonatology Department of the Children’s Hospital, Lahore. A total of 52 workshops were conducted in 2017-18 in which 1350 health professionals were participated including doctors, nurses and paramedics. Data of all the training workshops were analysed in the study. Knowledge was tested through true/false questionnaires. The results of pre-course test were compared with respective post-course test by entering the data in SPSS and significance in improvement of knowledge was calculated by applying paired t-test. p-value <0.05 was considered significant. Results: Mean of pre-course and post-course results of all the participants were calculated and post-course results showed significant improvement in knowledge as compared to pre-course tests. Similarly, paired t-test was performed for all the results of doctors,nurses and paramedics on individual basis. The p-value in all groups was < 0.01 which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Neonatal Life Support (NeoLiS) training course resulted in significant gain in knowledge about neonatal resuscitation by healthcare professionals when assessed  Continuous..

Comparative Analysis of Putative Orthologues of Mitochondrial Import Motor Subunit: Pam18 and Pam16 in Plants

<div><p>Pam18/Tim14 and Pam16/Tim16, highly conserved proteins among eukaryotes, are two essential subunits of protein import motors localized in the inner mitochondrial membrane. The heterodimer formed by Pam18 and Pam16 via their J-type domains serves a regulatory function in protein translocation. Here, we report that thirty-one Pam18 and twenty-six Pam16 putative orthologues in twelve plant species were identified and analyzed through bioinformatics strategy. Results data revealed that Pam18 and Pam16 were also highly conserved among plants including their J-type domains within the hydrophilic region. Key amino acid residues and an HPD motif of Pam18 were identical among the orthologues except OsPam18L5. N-myristoylation sites of Pam18 and casein kinase II phosphorylation sites of Pam 16 were more abundant, which might be important functional sites. Some Pam18 and Pam16 proteins contained a transmembrane region at the N-terminal region. Sub-cellular prediction results indicated that many orthologues localized at mitochondria. Gene expression analyses revealed that Pam18 and Pam16 in <i>Arabidopsis</i> might play roles in senescence and abiotic stress responses. Our detailed study provides a better understanding of Pam18 and Pam16 in plant kingdom.</p> </div

Amino acid composition of Pam18 and Pam16 in twelve plant species (A) and <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> (B).

<p>Thirty-one amino acid sequences of Pam18 were combined together to evaluate average amino acid composition using Bioedit 7.0 software. The same strategy was adopted in Pam16 amino acid evaluation (Twenty-six sequences in total). Histograms show the Molar percent of each residue of the combined sequence. Amino acid composition of ScPam18 and ScPam16 is shown for comparison.</p

Mean Hydrophobicity profiles of Pam18 and Pam16.

<p>Thirty-one aligned amino acid sequences (Pam18) including ScPam18 and twenty-six aligned amino acid sequences (Pam16) including ScPam16 were used to evaluate hydrophobicity using Bioedit 7.0 software. ScPam18 and ScPam16 are indicated by a red line.</p

Amino acid sequence alignment of Pam18 (A) and Pam16 (B) in <i>Saccharomyces cerevisiae</i> and twelve plant species.

<p>Only the conserved regions are shown. Identical amino acid residues were shaded black and similar amino acid residues were shaded grey. J-domain of Pam18 (A) and J-like domain of Pam16 (B) are indicated in the red rectangle. An HPD motif is shown and two important phenylalanine residues are indicated by asterisk (A). ScPam18 and ScPam16 protein sequence were used for comparison.</p

Expression pattern of <i>AtPam18</i> and <i>AtPam16</i> at developmental stages.

<p>Relative expressions of <i>AtPam</i> and <i>At3G04800</i> were determined by real-time qRT-PCR. Expression levels were normalized by <i>Actin-2</i>. Error bars represent means of three replicates ± SD. Similar results were obtained from three independent replicates and one representative result is shown (A). Expression profiles as heat map (B) in <i>AtPam</i> and putative genes coding AtTim44, AtTim23, AtTim17 and AtTim50 were generated by Genevestigator.</p

Fabrication of hesperidin hybrid lecithin-folic acid silver nanoparticles and its evaluation as anti-arthritis formulation in autoimmune arthritic rat model.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an immune-mediated inflammatory disease that results in synovitis, cartilage destruction and loss of joint function. The frequent and long-term administration of anti-rheumatic drugs often leads to adverse effects and patient non-compliance. Hesperidin (HP) is a naturally occurring bioflavonoid having anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. In this study, Hesperidin loaded hybrid lecithin-folic acid silver nanoparticles (L-HP-FA-AgNPs) formulation has been developed to deliver HP to inflamed jointsspecifically.Thein vivo anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic effectsof the formulation were validated in the CFA arthritis rat model by giving oral treatment of L-HP-FA-AgNPs (1 and 3mg/kg) which alleviated the joint swelling, cartilage destruction and reduced influx of inflammatory cells. The results showed decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6 and TNF-α) in the peritoneal and spleen cells coupled with an increase in anti-inflammatory cytokine TGF-β1. Additionally, the treatment caused the decline in M1 macrophage activation with a concomitant increment in M2 macrophage activation. Further, hybrid L-HP-FA-AgNPs suppressed the production of RANKL, OPG and MMP-2/9, which supported its anti-osteoclastic effects. Collectively, our data revealed that L-HP-FA-AgNPs significantly inhibited the progression of arthritis by reducing inflammationand bone damage. The protective effects of hybrid L-HP-FA-AgNPs highlight its potential as an ideal new anti-arthritic agent for human RA.Authors are grateful to the technical team of Dow Institute of Radiology andAdvanceResearch Laboratory, Dow Institute for Advanced Biological and Animal Research, Dow Research Institute of Biotechnology and Biomedical Sciences, Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, Pakistan for the technical assistance during X-ray and animal studies.Scopu

Unveiling the Chemistry and Synthetic Potential of Catalytic Cycloaddition Reaction of Allenes: A Review

Allenes with two carbon–carbon double bonds belong to a unique class of unsaturated hydrocarbons. The central carbon atom of allene is sp hybridized and forms two σ-bonds and two π-bonds with two terminal sp2 hybridized carbon atoms. The chemistry of allenes has been well documented over the last decades. They are more reactive than alkenes due to higher strain and exhibit significant axial chirality, thus playing a vital role in asymmetric synthesis. Over a variety of organic transformations, allenes specifically undergo classical metal catalyzed cycloaddition reactions to obtain chemo-, regio- and stereoselective cycloadducts. This review briefly describes different types of annulations including [2+2], [2+2+1], [3+2], [2+2+2], [4+2], [5+2], [6+2] cycloadditions using titanium, cobalt, rhodium, nickel, palladium, platinum, gold and phosphine catalyzed reactions along with a mechanistic study of some highlighted protocols. The synthetic applications of these reactions towards the synthesis of natural products such as aristeromycin, ent-[3]-ladderanol, waihoensene(−)-vindoline and (+)-4-epi-vindoline have also been described

Gum acacia stabilized silver nanoparticles based nano-cargo for enhanced anti-arthritic potentials of hesperidin in adjuvant induced arthritic rats

<p>Nanomedicines anticipate drug delivery to inflamed tissues in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with greater efficacy and lesser side effects. This study investigates the anti-arthritic potentials of Hesperidin (HP) loaded in gum acacia (GA) stabilized green silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). Synthesized GA-AgNPs were characterized through UV–vis spectrophotometer, zetasizer and atomic force microscope (AFM). The HP and its loaded NPs were tested for RA in Complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis model. GA-AgNPs were found in nano-range size with negative charge, spherical shape and loaded increased HP amount. HP loaded GA-AgNPs showed minimal arthritic score exhibiting mild to moderate tissue swelling, reduced degenerative changes along with mild articular changes. Histopathological analysis revealed comparatively lesser influx of inflammatory cells and diminished granulamatous inflammation in ankle joints tissues in the presence of HP loaded GA-AgNPs. RT-PCR revealed that HP loaded GA-AgNPs significantly reduced the TLRs mRNA expression. Results validate GA stabilized green AgNPs as stable nano-cargos for targeted delivery of HP for restoring the progression of RA.</p