Nitazoxanide and doxycycline sensitivity among metronidazole resistant helicobacter pylori isolates from patients with gastritis

Background: Antibiotic therapy should be done based on resistance characteristics of Helicobacter pylori strains to commonly prescribed antibiotics in areas with higher resistance rates. Objectives: This study examined antibacterial activity of nitazoxanide and doxycycline against clinical H. pylori isolates showing different metronidazole resistance levels. Methods: A total of 122 patients, who underwent endoscopy were enrolled in this study from 3 hospitals of Tehran, during November 2014 to July 2015. Helicobacter pylori isolates were obtained from gastric biopsies of the patients after culture in specific culture medium and characterization by both biochemical and molecular methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility to metronidazole was detected using the agar dilution method and minimum inhibitory concentrations of nitazoxanide and doxycycline were determined for metronidazole resistant strains. Results: From a total of 122 gastric biopsy specimens, 55 H. pylori strains were recovered (45). Thirty-three of these strains (60.0) were resistance to metronidazole. MIC50 and MIC90 values for metronidazole were 32 and 64 µg/mL, respectively. MIC50 and MIC90 values for doxycycline and nitazoxanide were measured as 4 and �8 µg/mL, and 8 and �32 µg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: Dominance of high level metronidazole resistance H. pylori strains among the studied patients questioned its usefulness for first-line therapy in Iran. Nitazoxanide and doxycycline showed superior activity against H. pylori strains in comparison to metronidazole, which should be considered for alternative therapies. © 2018, Kowsar Medical Publishing Company. All rights reserved

A panel data approach towards the effectiveness of energy policies in fostering the implementation of solar photovoltaic technology: Empirical evidence for Asia-Pacific

Today, the growing Asia-Pacific population causes a dramatic growth in energy supply to meet energy demand. The rapid rise in energy demand is causing concern in the region. Thus, the present study scrutinizes the effect of energy policy involvement in steering-up renewable energy development by empirically assessing the role of policy instruments in encouraging residen-tial-scale and commercial-scale photovoltaic (PV) systems. The analysis is performed using a fixed effects estimator on a selected range of policy approaches (market-pull policies and tax incentives) and a technology-push policy (capital grants) in selected Asia-Pacific countries between 1998 and 2015. The return on investment is estimated to measure the incentives of feed-in tariff (FIT) tariff policies for both residential-scale and commercial-scale PV systems. This study has shown the im-portance of a strategic combination between technology-push and market-pull policies as comple-mentary to adopting technology and increasing renewable energy utilization for solar PV systems on a residential scale. Investigations into the effectiveness of regulatory support policies for solar PV systems indicate that energy policies are necessary to facilitate solar PV growth on a residential scale in the Asia-Pacific.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of earth fault location algorithm in medium voltage distribution network with correction technique

This paper focused on studying an algorithm of earth fault location in the medium voltage distribution network. In power system network, most of the earth fault occurs is a single line to ground fault. A medium voltage distribution network with resistance earthing at the main substation and an earth fault attached along the distribution network is modeled in ATP Draw. The generated earth fault is simulated, and the voltage and current signal produced is recorded. The earth fault location algorithm is simulated and tested in MATLAB. The accuracy of the earth fault location algorithm is tested at several locations and fault resistances. A possible correction technique is explained to minimize the error. The results show an improvement fault location distance estimation with minimum error

Dengue-induced autophagy, virus replication and protection from cell death require ER stress (PERK) pathway activation

Avirus that reproduces in a host without killing cells can easily establish a successful infection. Previously, we showed that dengue-2, a virus that threatens 40% of the world, induces autophagy, enabling dengue to reproduce in cells without triggering cell death. Autophagy further protects the virus-laden cells from further insults. In this study, we evaluate how it does so; we show that dengue upregulates host pathways that increase autophagy, namely endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and ataxia telangiectasiamutated (ATM) signaling followed by production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Inhibition of ER stress or ATM signaling abrogates the dengueconferred protection against other cell stressors. Direct inhibition of ER stress response in infected cells decreases autophagosome turnover, reduces ROS production and limits reproduction of dengue virus. Blocking ATM activation, which is an early response to infection, decreases transcription of ER stress response proteins, but ATM has limited impact on production of ROS and virus titers. Production of ROS determines only late-onset autophagy in infected cells and is not necessary for dengue-induced protection from stressors. Collectively, these results demonstrate that among the multiple autophagy-inducing pathways during infection, ER stress signaling is more important to viral replication and protection of cells than either ATM or ROS-mediated signaling. To limit virus production and survival of dengue-infected cells, one must address the earliest phase of autophagy, induced by ER stress

Molecular Epidemiology of Cryptosporidiosis in Iranian Children, Tehran, Iran

Background: Cryptosporidium is a worldwide protozoan parasite and one of the most common causes of infection and diarrhea in humans and cattle. The aim of the present study was determina­tion of subtypes of Cryptosporidium among children with diarrhea in Tehran by se­quence analysis of the highly polymorphic 60-kDa glycoprotein (GP60) gene.Methods: Fecal samples were collected from 794 diarrheic children. Initial identification of Crypto­spo­ridium was carried out on stool samples by Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast staining method. DNA was extracted from positive microscopically samples and Cryptosporidium genotypes and subtypes were determined, accordingly."nResults: Out of 794 collected samples, 19 (2.40 %) were positive for Cryptosporidium oocysts. Sequences analysis of GP60 gene showed that 17 (89.47 %) of the positive isolates were Crypto­spori­dium parvum and 2 (10.52 %) were C. hominis. All subtypes of C. parvum isolates belonged to allele families IIa (6/17) and IId (11/17). The most common allele in all 17 isolates belonged to IId A20G1a (41.18%). A22G1 (IF) subtype was detected in two C. hominis isolates of the chil­dren."nConclusion: The predominancy of C. parvum species (specially, IId A20G1a sub­type) in current study underlines the importance of zoonotic Cryptosporidium transmission in Iran

Nitazoxanide and doxycycline sensitivity among metronidazole resistant helicobacter pylori isolates from patients with gastritis

Background: Antibiotic therapy should be done based on resistance characteristics of Helicobacter pylori strains to commonly prescribed antibiotics in areas with higher resistance rates. Objectives: This study examined antibacterial activity of nitazoxanide and doxycycline against clinical H. pylori isolates showing different metronidazole resistance levels. Methods: A total of 122 patients, who underwent endoscopy were enrolled in this study from 3 hospitals of Tehran, during November 2014 to July 2015. Helicobacter pylori isolates were obtained from gastric biopsies of the patients after culture in specific culture medium and characterization by both biochemical and molecular methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility to metronidazole was detected using the agar dilution method and minimum inhibitory concentrations of nitazoxanide and doxycycline were determined for metronidazole resistant strains. Results: From a total of 122 gastric biopsy specimens, 55 H. pylori strains were recovered (45). Thirty-three of these strains (60.0) were resistance to metronidazole. MIC50 and MIC90 values for metronidazole were 32 and 64 µg/mL, respectively. MIC50 and MIC90 values for doxycycline and nitazoxanide were measured as 4 and �8 µg/mL, and 8 and �32 µg/mL, respectively. Conclusions: Dominance of high level metronidazole resistance H. pylori strains among the studied patients questioned its usefulness for first-line therapy in Iran. Nitazoxanide and doxycycline showed superior activity against H. pylori strains in comparison to metronidazole, which should be considered for alternative therapies. © 2018, Kowsar Medical Publishing Company. All rights reserved

Sentinel hospital-based surveillance of Rotavirus diarrhea in Iran

Background. Rotavirus is the most common causes of severe, acute diarrhea during childhood and is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. We established active hospital-based surveillance of childhood diarrhea to assess the scope of severe rotavirus disease in Iran. Methods. From May 2006 through April 2007, prospective surveillance of rotavirus diarrhea among children aged <5 years was conducted in 5 sentinel hospitals in Iran. Stool samples were tested for rotavirus using a commercially available enzyme immunoassay, and rotavirus-positive samples were genotyped using reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Results. Of 2198 children admitted to the hospital for acute gastroenteritis, 1298 (59.1%) had stool samples test positive for rotavirus by enzyme immunoassay. Of the rotavirus episodes, 85% occurred during the first 2 years of life, with the peak prevalence of severe rotavirus disease occurring from September through January. Among the 110 rotavirus-positive samples that were genotyped, G4P[8] was the most commonly detected rotavirus genotype (30.9% of strains). Other commonly detected genotypes included P[8] with G nontypeable (21.8%), G4 with P nontypeable (13.6%), G1[P8] (10.9%), and G2[P4] (5.5%). Conclusions. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhea in Iran, which indicates that safe and effective rotavirus vaccination in Iran is a public health priority. © 2009 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved

The role of the intensive care unit environment and health-care workers in the transmission of bacteria associated with hospital acquired infections

The goal of this study was to attempt to determine the rate of contamination of health-care workers' (HCWs) hands and environmental surfaces in intensive care units (ICU) by the main bacteria associated with hospital acquired infections (HAIs) in Tehran, Iran. A total of 605 and 762 swab samples were obtained from six ICU environments and HCWs' hands. Identification of the bacterial isolates was performed according to standard biochemical methods, and their antimicrobial susceptibility was determined based on the guidelines recommended by clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI). The homology of the resistance patterns was assessed by the NTSYSsp software. The most frequent bacteria on the HCWs' hands and in the environmental samples were Acinetobacter baumannii (1.4 and 16.5, respectively), Staphylococcus aureus (5.9 and 8.1, respectively), S. epidermidis (20.9 and 18.7, respectively), and Enterococcus spp. (1 and 1.3, respectively). Patients' oxygen masks, ventilators, and bed linens were the most contaminated sites. Nurses' aides and housekeepers were the most contaminated staff. Imipenem resistant A. baumannii (94 and 54.5), methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSAs, 59.6 and 67.3), and vancomycin resistant Enterococci (VREs, 0 and 25) were detected on the hands of ICU staff and the environmental samples, respectively. Different isolates of S. aureus and Enterococcus spp. showed significant homology in these samples. These results showed contamination of the ICU environments and HCWs with important bacterial pathogens that are the main risk factors for HAIs in the studied hospitals. © 2015 King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences

Evaluation of the effects of pycnogenol (French maritime pine bark extract) supplementation on inflammatory biomarkers and nutritional and clinical status in traumatic brain injury patients in an intensive care unit: A randomized clinical trial protocol

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the major health and socioeconomic problems in the world. Immune-enhancing enteral formula has been proven to significantly reduce infection rate in TBI patients. One of the ingredients that can be used in immunonutrition formulas to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress is pycnogenol. Objective: The objective of this work is to survey the effect of pycnogenol on the clinical, nutritional, and inflammatory status of TBI patients. Methods: This is a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Block randomization will be used. An intervention group will receive pycnogenol supplementation of 150 mg for 10 days and a control group will receive a placebo for the same duration. Inflammatory status (IL-6, IL- 1β, C-reactive protein) and oxidative stress status (malondialdehyde, total antioxidant capacity), at the baseline, at the 5th day, and at the end of the study (10th day) will be measured. Clinical and nutritional status will be assessed three times during the intervention. The Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) questionnaire for assessment of organ failure will be filled out every other day. The mortality rate will be calculated within 28 days of the start of the intervention. Weight, body mass index, and body composition will be measured. All analyses will be conducted by an initially assigned study arm in an intention-to-treat analysis. Discussion: We expect that supplementation of 150 mg pycnogenol for 10 days will improve clinical and nutritional status and reduce the inflammation and oxidative stress of the TBI patients. Trial registration: This trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (ref: NCT03777683) at 12/13/2018. © 2020 The Author(s)