The molecular investigation of celiac disease

Celiac disease (CD) is an immune-mediated disorder resulting in nutrient malabsorption now thought to have a prevalence of 1:100 in the Iranian population.Symptoms of CD are included diarrhea, abdominal pain, steatorrhea, bloating, cramps, flatulence, weight loss, weakness and short stature. In addition to presenting symptoms, patients are also at increased risk of metabolic bone disease, lymphoma (enteropathy-associated with T-cell) and other malignancies in different parts of the body such as gastric, esophageal, bladder, breast and brain. There appears to be a strong genetic component to this disease. In this short review we provided the historical, clinical and genetic aspects of this disease and highlight numerous findings from recent molecular immunology studies.

Staphylococcus phytotherapy: An overview on the most important Iranian native medicinal plants effective on Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus exists everywhere such as respiratory tract and skin of adults and it is considered as one of the important factors for nosocomial and outpatient infections such as Endocarditis, Osteomyelitis, Toxic shock syndrome, Abscess, Pneumonia, Meningitis, etc. The aim of this study was presenting an overview on the most important Iranian native medicinal plants affecting on Staphylococcus aureus. All required information was obtained by searching key words such as S. aureus, medicinal plant extracts or essential oils of published articles in authentic scientific databases such as PubMed, Sciencedirect, Blackwell Wiley, Springer , Google scholar , Scientific information database (SID) and Magiran. Plantago psyllium (Fleawort), Aloe vera, Zataria multiflora (thyme), Achillea wilhelmsii (yarrow), Avicennia marina (mangrove), Nerium oleander (oleander), Allium sativum (garlic), Trigonella foenum (fenugreek), Teucrium polium (Poleigamander), Cichorium intybus L. (chicory), Lavandula stoechas (lavender) and Salvia leriifolia Benth (common sage) are the most important plants which have antibacterial effects on staphylococcus aureous. Results of this study showed that antioxidant compounds and flavonoids such as Thymol, Carvacrol, Camphor, Cineol, Tannins, Allicin and Tripenes are active antimicrobial and antifungal compounds. Many antimicrobial properties of plant extracts are due to presence of phenolic compounds, polyphenolic acids, terpenoids, essential oils, alkaloids, sulfuric compounds and so on, in different parts of plants such as roots, leaves, buds, seedlings and skin. Since the use of these compounds as anti-staphylococcal effect has been proved, specific tests can be performed for production of bioactive herbal drugs against this bacterium

Listeriosis Phytotherapy: A Review Study on the Effectiveness of Iranian Medicinal Plants in Treatment of Listeriosis.

Listeria monocytogenes can be found in many processed foods, raw milk, dairy products, meat and meat products such as sausages, beef and fish products, seafoods, eggs, fruits, and vegetables such as radish and cabbage. This article is a review study on the Iranian medicinal plants applied for treatment of listeriosis. Information of this review article was obtained by searching various key words such as Listeria monocytogenes, medicinal plants, plant extracts and essential oils among scientific articles published in databases of Google scholar, ISI Web of Knowledge, PubMed, Scopus, SID and Magiran. Thyme, German chamomile, great chamomile, yarrow, onion, oregano, nutmeg, sage, sagebrush, hyssop, rosemary, St John's wort, safflower, ajowan, cumin, peppermint, shallot, anise, and parsnip are known antilisteriosis medicinal plants. Bioactive phytochemicals, antioxidants and monoterpenes, sesquiterpene, coumarin, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, alkaloids, and terpenoids are the main ingredients of antilisteriosis medicinal plants

Dynamics of bacteriophages as a promising antibiofilm agents

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an ubiquitous organism which has emerged as a major threat in the hospital environment. Overuse of antibiotics has also significantly increased the emergence of antimicrobial multiresistant bacteria. P. aeruginosa has an innate ability to adhere to surfaces and form virulent biofilms. Bacteriophage might represent one attractive solution to this problem. In this study, P.aeruginosa phage were utilized to Biofilm inhibition and remove.Sample collected from University sewage. Isolation was done according to Martha.R.J.Clokie protocol. Serial dilution prepared, then equally incubated with bacteria to investigate Biofilm inhibition potential. Biofilm formed base on Microplate Biofilm Assay. The effect of isolated phage investigated on biofilm remove of Pseudomonas putida, E.coli and Acinetobacter baumanii. P.aeruginosa biofilm had OD: 1.688 in 492n.m. Pure phage, 10-2 and 10-3 diluted phage decreased OD to 1.587, 1.341 and 1.461, respectively. Isolated phage dramatically decline OD of Biofilm of all strains.Phages have various affinity to attach to hosts, thereby it is supposed to phages compete for their receptors. Therefore it is supposed phages have most efficiency in optimum concentration to remove biofilm or growth inhibition

The synergistic effect of hydroalcoholic extracts of Origanum vulgare, Hypericum perforatum and their active components carvacrol and hypericin against Staphylococcus aureus.

AIM: This study was designed to evaluate the synergistic activities of hydroalcoholic extracts of medicinal plants Origanum vulgare and Hypericum perforatum and their active components, carvacrol and hypericin against Staphylococcus aureus. METHODS: The synergistic effects of the plants, as well as carvacrol and hypericin, were examined using a checkered method against S. aureus (ATCC 12600). RESULTS: A fractional inhibitory concentration of 0.5 was obtained for combination of O. vulgare and H. perforatum and 0.49 for combination of the active ingredients carvacrol and hypericin, both of which indicated a synergistic effect. CONCLUSION: This preliminary evaluation demonstrated a synergistic property of O. vulgare and H. perforatum extracts in treating S. aureus infection. This study indicates that combination of the plants, as well as combination of carvacrol and hypericin, might be used as a new antibacterial strategy against S. aureus. KEYWORDS: Gram positive; Staphylococcus aureus; antibacterial; antibiotic; checkered carried out to Fratini method; combination; fractional inhibitory concentration; herbal medicine; medicinal plant; synergis

The mazef toxin-antitoxin system as an attractive target in clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis

The toxin-antitoxin (TA) system is a regulatory system where two sets of genes encode the toxin and its corresponding antitoxin. In this study, the prevalence of TA systems in independently isolated clinical isolates of Enterococcus faecium and Enterococcus faecalis was determined, the dominant TA system was identified, different virulence genes in E. faecium and E. faecalis were surveyed, the level of expression of the virulence and TA genes in normal and stress conditions was determined, and finally their associations with the TA genes were defined. Remarkably, the analysis demonstrated higBA and mazEF in all clinical isolates, and their locations were on chromosomes and plasmids, respectively. On the other hand, a quantitative analysis of TA and virulence genes revealed that the expression level in both genes is different under normal and stress conditions. The results obtained by anti-mazF peptide nucleic acids demonstrated that the expression level of virulence genes had decreased. These findings demonstrate an association between TA systems and virulence factors. The mazEF on the plasmids and the higBA TA genes on the chromosomes of all E. faecium and E. faecalis strains were dominant. Additionally, there was a decrease in the expression of virulence genes in the presence of anti-mazF peptide nucleic acids. Therefore, it is suggested that mazEF TA systems are potent and sensitive targets in all E. faecium and E. faecalis strains

Prevalence of cagA and vacA among Helicobacter pylori-infected patients in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The varieties of infections caused by Helicobacter pylori may be due to differences in bacterial genotypes and virulence factors as well as environmental and host-related factors. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of cagA and vacA genes among H. pylori-infected patients in Iran and analyze their relevance to the disease status between two clinical groups via a meta-analysis method. Different databases including PubMed, ISI, Scopus, SID, Magiran, Science Direct, and Medlib were investigated, and 23 relevant articles from the period between 2001 and 2012 were finally analyzed. The relevant data obtained from these papers were analyzed by a random-effects model. Data were analyzed using R software and STATA. The prevalence of cagA and vacA genes among H. pylori-infected patients was 70% (95% CI, 64–75) and 41% (95% CI, 24.3–57.7), respectively. The prevalence of duodenal ulcers, peptic ulcers, and gastritis among cagA+ individuals was 53% (95% CI, 20–86), 65% (95% CI, 34–97), and 71% (95% CI, 59–84), respectively. Odds ratio (OR) between cagA-positive compared with cagA-negative patients showed a 1.89 (95% CI, 1.38–2.57) risk of ulcers. In conclusion, the frequency of cagA gene among H. pylori strains is elevated in Iran and it seems to be more frequently associated with gastritis. Therefore, any information about cagA and vacA prevalence among different H. pylori-infected clinical groups in the country can help public health authorities to plan preventive policies to reduce the prevalence of diseases associated with H. pylori infection