Antimicrobial susceptibility profiles associated with bacterial meningitis among children: a referral hospital-based study in Iran

Bacterial meningitis continues to be associated with high morbidity and mortality rate worldwide, especially in the pediatric age group. This study was performed to identify the microbial etiologies of meningitis among 31 children, who were admitted in the Emergency Ward of a referral pediatric hospital in Iran. Culture identification showed that Streptococcus pneumoniae (12 subjects), Haemophilus influenzae (11 subjects) were the most common bacteria, followed by Escherichia coli (7 cases) and Neisseria meningitidis (only one case). Antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed that vancomycin had the best effect on S. pneumoniae in comparison with other antibiotics, whereas H. influenzae and E. coli were more susceptible to ceftriaxone, ceftazidime, and ceftizoxime than other antibiotics. In conclusion, despite the advances in antibiotic therapy and vaccine development, bacterial meningitis still is a health problem. S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, and N. meningitidis are the main sources of bacterial meningitis, but other organisms such as E. coli should also be suspected, when a case is admitted to a referral pediatric hospital.     

Polarization Controlling of Multi Resonant Graphene-Based Microstrip Antenna

Plasmonics - In this paper, a graphene-based patch antenna is proposed. The antenna structure is designed so that each of the various antenna sections affected by chemical potential changes can...     

Computational Design of Different Epitope-Based Vaccines Against Salmonella typhi

International Journal of Peptide Research and Therapeutics - Salmonella is a gram-negative bacterium belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family. One of the major known serotypes of this bacterium...     

The expression of Terpenoid Indole Alkaloid (TIAs) pathway genes in Catharanthus roseus in response to salicylic acid treatment

Molecular Biology Reports - Vinblastine and vincristine are two important anti-cancer drugs that are synthesized by the Terpenoid Indole Alkaloids (TIAs) pathway in periwinkle (Catharanthus...     

Wnt/Axin1/beta-catenin signaling regulates asymmetric nodal activation, elaboration, and concordance of CNS asymmetries

Nodal activity in the left lateral plate mesoderm (LPM) is required to activate left-sided Nodal signaling in the epithalamic region of the zebrafish forebrain. Epithalamic Nodal signaling subsequently determines the laterality of neuroanatomical asymmetries. We show that overactivation of Wnt/Axin1/beta-catenin signaling during late gastrulation leads to bilateral epithalamic expression of Nodal pathway genes independently of LPM Nodal signaling. This is consistent with a model whereby epithalamic Nodal signaling is normally bilaterally repressed, with Nodal signaling from the LPM unilaterally alleviating repression. We suggest that Wnt signaling regulates the establishment of the bilateral repression. We identify a second role for the Wnt pathway in the left/right regulation of LPM Nodal pathway gene expression, and finally, we show that at later stages Axin1 is required for the elaboration of concordant neuroanatomical asymmetries.     

Nutritional status and risks of potentially toxic elements in some paddy soils and rice tissues

This experiment was conducted to investigate the potential risk of toxic elements in paddy soils and rice straws, bran, and husked grains in Kuchesfahan, Gilan, Iran. The average content of total and DTPA-extractable of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn were 7.0, 26.3, 20728.8, 1516.7, 43.8, 16.6, and 211.8?mg kg^?1, and 0.32, 14.1, 97.3, 63.4, 1.7, 4.8, and 56.2?mg kg^?1, respectively. In addition, the average content of Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn in rice grain was 0.16, 2.4, 135.5, 34.1, 2.0, 0.6, and 15.0?mg kg^?1, respectively. The average transfer factor for Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn from soil to straw was 0.38, 0.16, 0.004, 0.13, 0.3, 0.04, and 0.09, respectively. The average values of estimated daily intake for Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn through rice consumption for adult are respectively, estimated to be 0.0004, 0.005, 0.32, 0.08, 0.005, 0.0015, and 0.035?mg kg^?1 body weight per day. There was no health risk index (HRI) values for adult greater than 1 (except three samples for Fe, and one sample for Mn and Cd); indicated that intake of single metal through the consumption of rice was safe. The average of heath index (HI) value for rice consumption was 0.33 and 0.35 for adult and children, respectively. Therefore, combination of several potentially toxic elements may not cause risk to local residents. Spatial distributions of HRI were obtained for potentially toxic metals in husked grains.     

Use of in silico tools for classification of novel missense mutations identified in dystrophin gene in developing countries

DMD gene which is composed of 79 exons is the largest known gene located on X chromosome (Xp21). Point mutations in the dystrophin gene are responsible for 30–35% of cases with DMD/BMD. Mutation analysis of all the exons of the DMD gene is costly in developing countries, therefore, a few of the exons are selected to be analyzed routinely in clinical laboratories. In this study, direct sequencing was used for detection of point mutations in 10 exons of dystrophin gene in patients affected with DMD without detectable large rearrangements. Freely available programs were used to predict the damaging effects of the mutations. Point mutations were successfully detected in three patients. Three novel mutations, two missense mutations located on nonconservative domains and a single nucleotide deletion, were detected. Missense mutations were predicted to change splicing efficiency. Detection of point mutations by DNA analysis followed by prediction of the pathogenecity by using bioinformatic tool might be an asset to provide proper diagnosis or genetic counseling to patients and their family.     

Establishment and characterization of two human breast carcinoma cell lines by spontaneous immortalization: Discordance between Estrogen, Progesterone and HER2/neu receptors of breast carcinoma tissues with derived cell lines

Background

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers among women throughout the world. Therefore, established cell lines are widely used as in vitro experimental models in cancer research.

Methods

Two continuous human breast cell lines, designated MBC1 and MBC2, were successfully established and characterized from invasive ductal breast carcinoma tissues of Malaysian patients. MBC1 and MBC2 have been characterized in terms of morphology analysis, population doubling time, clonogenic formation, wound healing assay, invasion assay, cell cycle, DNA profiling, fluorescence immunocytochemistry, Western blotting and karyotyping.

Results

MBC1 and MBC2 exhibited adherent monolayer epithelial morphology at a passage number of 150. Receptor status of MBC1 and MBC2 show (ER⁺, PR⁺, HER2⁺) and (ER⁺, PR^-, HER2⁺), respectively. These results are in discordance with histopathological studies of the tumoral tissues, which were triple negative and (ER^-, PR^-, HER2⁺) for MBC1 and MBC2, respectively. Both cell lines were capable of growing in soft agar culture, which suggests their metastatic potential. The MBC1 and MBC2 metaphase spreads showed an abnormal karyotype, including hyperdiploidy and complex rearrangements with modes of 52–58 chromosomes per cell.

Conclusions

Loss or gain in secondary properties, deregulation and specific genetic changes possibly conferred receptor changes during the culturing of tumoral cells. Thus, we hypothesize that, among heterogenous tumoral cells, only a small minority of ER⁺/PR⁺/HER2⁺ and ER⁺/PR^-/HER2⁺ cells with lower energy metabolism might survive and adjust easily to in vitro conditions. These cell lines will pave the way for new perspectives in genetic and biological investigations, drug resistance and chemotherapy studies, and would serve as prototype models in Malaysian breast carcinogenesis investigations.