Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of some herbal essential oils against Streptococcus mutans

Background and aims: One of the most common chronic diseases in the world is tooth decay. A variety of bacteria are involved in this disorder of which Streptococcus mutants is the most common. Essential oils are considered as new natural compounds for use in combating drug-resistant bacteria. This study was aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of some essential oils prepared from Eucalyptus caesia Benth, Cuminum cyminum L. and Satureja hortensis L. on S. mutants. Methods: In this study, essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation method. E. caesia Benth, C. cyminum L. and S. hortensis L. were characterized by using gas chromatography‒mass spectrophotometry (GC‒MS). Antibacterial activity indices including minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) and zone of inhibition for the above essential oils against Streptococcus mutans were determined using broth macro-dilution and disk diffusion methods. Data analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey test. Results:Results showed that all three extracts had antibacterial activity against S. mutants. S. hortensis L. essential oil with the lowest MIC and MBC value (13.2 and 18.4 µg/ml, respectively) and the biggest inhibition zone showed the strongest antibacterial effect against S. mutants in all exposure times and at all concentrations, compared with two other essential oils. Furthermore, C. cyminum L. essential oil had higher anti-bacterial activity against S. mutant than E. caesia Benth essential oil. Conclusions:The essential oils used in the present study with different components showed antibacterial activity (especially S. hortensis L essential oil), and therefore they can be used as a new antibacterial substance. Keywords: Dental caries, Streptococcus mutans, Essential oils, Antimicrobial

Joint Waterpipe and Cigarette Smoking as Key Correlate of History of Depression in Iranian Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

Research on the association between waterpipe smoking and depression is limited. This study aimed to explore the prevalence and adjusted associated correlates of depression among Iranian adult. We analyzed data from 974 participants of a population-based cross-sectional study enrolling 18-50-year-old residents of Tehran, Iran in 2015. Data on lifetime self-reported history of depression, smoking behaviors, socioeconomic status, self-rated health, physical activity, stressful life events as well as a number of relevant confounders was obtained. Logistic regression models were employed for estimating adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI). The mean (SD) age of the study sample was 32.55 (8.58) years. Of 974 recruited adults, 52.36% were female. The lifetime prevalence of depression in the general population was 17.0%. In general, 21.77% and 24.79% of participant reported lifetime history of cigarette and waterpipe smoking, respectively. While only cigarette smoking (OR = 1.94, 95% CI: (1.04-3.61) and only waterpipe smoking (OR = 1.65, 95% CI: (.95-2.86) were significantly associated with depression, joint cigarette and waterpipe smoking (OR= 3.76, 95% CI: (1.99-6.08) was the strongest correlate of depression followed by female gender (OR = 3.28, 95% CI: (2.08-5.15) and poor self-rated health (OR = 2.47, 95% CI: (1.73-3.53). The prevalence of self-reported depression in general population of Tehran is considerably higher than its global mean. We reported joint cigarette and waterpipe smoking as a significant correlate with depression in the general population. Future health promotion interventions should highlight the disadvantages of joint cigarette and waterpipe smoking targeting adults and especially females

Forecasting of interaction between bee propolis and protective antigenic domain in anthrax using the software and bioinformatics web servers

Background: Protective antigen of anthrax toxin, after touching the cell receptors, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of toxin. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interaction of anthrax toxin protective antigen and four great combination propolis included caffeic acid, benzyl caffeate, cinnamic acid and kaempferol using the softwares and bioinformatics web servers. Methods: Three-dimensional structure of protective antigen (receptor) obtains from Protein Data Bank (PDB). Four of the main components from propolis were selected          as ligand and their 3D-structures were obtained from ChemSpider and ZINC     compound database. The interaction of each ligand and receptor was assessed                   by SwissDock server (http://www.swissdock.ch/) and BSP-SLIM server (http://zhanglab.ccmb.med.umich.edu/BSP-SLIM). Docking results appears with Fullfitness numbers (in kcal/mol). Identification of amino acids involved in ligand and receptor interaction, was performed using the Chimera software; UCSF Chimera program (http://www.cgl.ucsf.edu/). Results: The results of interaction between propolis components and protective antigen by BSP-SLIM server showed that the most interaction was related with benzyl caffeate, caffeic acid, kaempferol and cinnamic acid, respectively. Results for the desired ligand Interaction with protective antigen genes using SwissDock server showed that the caffeic acid had ΔG equals -9.10 kcal/mol and FullFitness equal to -993.16 kcal/mol respectively. The analysis of interaction between ligands with amino-acids of protective antigen indicated that the interaction of Caffeic acid whit Glutamic acid 117 had energy -15.5429 kcal/mol. Conclusion: Finding strong and safe inhibitors for anthrax toxin is very useful method for inhibiting its toxicity to cell. In this study the binding ability of four flavonoids to protective antigen was studied. Glutamic acid 117 is very effective in protective antigen binding and cell receptor and subsequent in virulent of anthrax toxin. Effective interaction of caffeic acid in propolis and glutamic acid 117 can be as useful in preventing the toxic effect on cell. According to our results, all four flavonoids tested in this study have binding activity to protective antigen and are good choices for fighting against anthrax

Evaluation and comparison of antifungal effect of voriconazole with nystatin on candida species derived from neoplastic patients undergoing maxillofacial radiotherapy

Background: Radiotherapy is a common treatment for head-and-neck malignancies and causes complications such as oral candidiasis and the change of oral Candida species from albicans to nonalbicans. Voriconazole has acceptable antifungal effect. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the antifungal effect of nystatin with voriconazole on these species. Materials and Methods: The samples used in this in vitro study were identified by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism from patients before and 2 weeks after head-and-neck radiotherapy in Seyed Al-Shohada Hospital. The antifungal effect of nystatin and voriconazole was determined by microdilution method and measurement of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and the minimum fungicidal concentration, and the results were analyzed by Mann–Whitney analysis. Results: The results showed that all species before and after radiotherapy showed 100% sensitivity to nystatin. Prior to radiotherapy, 57.1% of albicans species isolated were in the sensitive range (MIC ≤1) and 42.9% were in the dose-dependent range (MIC = 2) to voriconazole. After radiotherapy, 58.3% of albicans species were in the sensitive range and 41.7% of these species were in the dose-dependent range to voriconazole. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that before radiotherapy, all species were sensitive to nystatin, while a percentage of albicans and nonalbicans were resistant to voriconazole. In the 2nd week of radiotherapy similar to prior to radiotherapy, all species isolated from patients were sensitive to nystatin, while a percentage of albicans and nonalbicans were resistant to voriconazole