Insects that ingest microbial pathogens are also exposed to their toxins. The sensitivity of insects to ingested toxins of human pathogens and the potential mechanism of toxin resistance has not been thoroughly studied. We tested the survival of Drosophila melanogaster orally fed with exotoxins and endotoxins of ten human bacterial pathogens. We discovered that only a few toxins adversely affect fly survival, and that most toxins either do not affect or paradoxically extend insect survival (hormetic effect) at the dosages tested. We found that in Drosophila, Jra, a homolog of stress response transcription factor Jun, mediates a broad-spectrum toxin response, since the survival of Jra mutants was shortened in the presence of most of the tested toxins. This study begins to uncover the mechanism of the response of insects to toxins. It describes how a toxin-induced Jun stress response system helps insects reduce their sensitivity to toxins of human pathogens. Keywords: toxin; sensitivity; resistance; survival; immunity; Drosophila melanogaster Abbreviations: Jun related antigen (Jra); immune deficiency (Imd); antimicrobial peptides (AMP); mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK); Bloomington Drosophila stock center (BDSC); wild type (WT); lipopolysaccharide (LPS); adenosine diphosphate (ADP); adenosine triphosphate (ATP); adenosine monophosphate (cAMP); Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK); Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB); absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME); absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET); confidence interval (CI); soluble N-ethylmale-imide-sensitive factorattachment protein receptors (SNARE); basic leucine zipper (bZIP); deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); eukaryotic elongation factor (eEF); programmed death-ligand (PD-L); cluster of differentiation (CD).
Flies naturally contain microbes in their intestines after eating microbe-rich food like decaying fruits. When ingesting microbes, insects are also exposed to their toxins. The sensitivity of insects to ingested microbial toxins and their mechanism of response to toxins has not been thoroughly studied. Transcriptional regulator c-Myc has been shown to regulate the response to some but not all microbial toxins in mammals. We tested the sensitivity of wild-type and Myc mutant Drosophila melanogaster strains to two exotoxins, Clostridium perfringens α-toxin and Vibrio cholerae toxin, and two endotoxins, lipopolysaccharides (LPS) of Salmonella minnesota and S. typhimurium. We observed that both sexes of wild-type flies were insensitive to tested toxins. Similarly, Myc mutant males were insensitive to the four toxins. In contrast, female Myc mutants were significantly more sensitive to all tested toxins than wild-type females. The median survival of female Myc mutants was shortened by at least 54 hours in the presence of bacterial toxins. The component of LPS, lipid A, shortened the median survival of Myc females by 104 hours, indicating that the toxicity of LPS is caused by lipid A. This study demonstrates a sex-specific mechanism of the response of insects to toxins and describes that Myc protects female fruit flies from the tested microbial toxins. Keywords: bacterial toxins; sensitivity; resistance; survival; immunity; Drosophila melanogaster Abbreviations: Immune deficiency (Imd); antimicrobial peptides (AMP); mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK); Bloomington Drosophila stock center (BDSC); wild type (WT); lipopolysaccharide (LPS); adenosine diphosphate (ADP); Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK); Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB); absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME); absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET); confidence interval (CI); deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA); intestinal stem cells (ISCs); Janus kinases (JAK); signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT); epidermal growth factor EGF; and Wingless (Wg).
Background Italy was the first country in Europe to report a SARS-CoV-2 case. Since then, the country has suffered a large number of COVID-19 infections both in adults and children. This disease has been shown to lead to different outcomes in these two groups, which often present varying symptoms and comorbidities. Aim Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the symptoms, comorbidities and laboratory values in adults and children. Methods We present the characteristics of 1,324 adults and 563 pediatric COVID-19 Italian patients. The data was retrieved from studies published in Italy and found via PubMed and Google Scholar. Results The virus appeared to affect adults more than children and men more than women, and to result in more severe outcomes in patients with abnormal laboratory values and a higher number of comorbidities. Adults are at higher risk for complications and death, and they usually present with fever, respiratory symptoms, cough, fatigue, diarrhea, myalgia, and/or loss of taste, smell, or appetite. Children usually have a milder disease progression and usually present with fever, cough, rhinorrhea, pharyngitis, sore throat, pneumonia, GI symptoms (diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain), fatigue, and dyspnea. Conclusion Our findings support early reports that showed that SARS-CoV-2 is associated with more common asymptomatic cases and milder clinical outcome in children than in adults. Acute respiratory distress syndrome and Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (systemic vasculitis) are the most severe disease progressions for adults and children, respectively.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic continues to pose challenges.Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) have many risk factors that predispose them to a severe course of COVID-19– related illness, including co-morbidities, older age, and higher prevalence of immunodeficiency from leukemia. Case presentation: A 70-year-old man had a 2-day history of nonproductive cough, dysnoea and shortness of breath, myalgias/ arthralgias, and headache. He explained that had 6-7 day that not felt well: fatigue, fever over 38.0°C, renching and night sweats. He has been healthy till now. His finger oxygen saturation on air room was 80%. Chest tomography showed bilateral ground glass opacities with basal pulmonary consolidation and bilateral pleural effusions. The complete blood count showed a high leucocytosis and a rise of absolute lymphocyte count. TR-PCR of swab nasopharyngeal for Sars-Cov-2 resulted negative. Antibody anti-Sars-CoV-2 IgM and IgG resulted negative on admission and positive on discharged day. Conclusions: There are limited cases available regarding the presentation of COVID-19 in CLL patients. For these reasons this patient group is of particular concern. Our aim is to describe a patient diagnosed with COVID-19 induced hyperleucocytosisand newly diagnosed CLL. Keywords: COVID-19; Chronic lymphocytic leukemia; Leucocytosis; Lymphocytosis
Background India has the second highest number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the world after the USA with 29.3 million cases reported so far. We aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical characteristics, comorbidities, and outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 positive patients with special emphasis on Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations. Methods In this meta-analysis, we conducted a systematic review of high-quality articles on confirmed COVID-19 cases in India published in PubMed and Google Scholar between February 2020 and March 2021. Statistical descriptive analysis and correlation analyses of symptoms, comorbidities and outcomes were performed. Results The mean age of the patients was 46.16 years. Of these, 67.53% were males. Overall, 6.4% patients died. Cough (37.79%) was the most common presenting symptom followed by fever (35.5%), nasal congestion, and rhinorrhea (23.60%) but, these symptoms were unrelated to outcome. Patients with shortness of breath (r = 0.69, p = 0.03) and fatigue/weakness (r = 0.95, p = 0.04) had high mortality. Hypertension and Diabetes Mellitus were the most common comorbidities but were not associated with negative outcome. Preexisting chronic kidney disease (r = 0.80, p = 0.01), mechanical ventilation (r = 0.895, p = 0.003) and ICU admission (r = 0.845, p = 0.008) correlated with poor outcome. GI symptoms were reported in 12.05% of the patients. Nausea and vomiting were the most prevalent GI symptoms, but diarrhea (r = 0.95, p = 0.004) was associated with significant mortality. Conclusion Overall, COVID-19 patients in India present with cough, fever, shortness of breath and fatigue as the main symptoms. Among GI symptoms, diarrhea was associated with fatal outcomes. However, more high-quality studies are needed for better understanding of the GI manifestations and their outcomes in the Indian population.
Background Latin America has become the epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. We aim to perform a systematic comparative review of the clinical characteristics that are associated with this disease in Latin American countries. Methods We conducted a systematic review of published articles, journal and/or epidemiological reports of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Latin America. Data were obtained either through publicly available information from Ministries of Health, published journal reports and/or unpublished datasets. We analyzed data from SARS-CoV-2 positive patients evaluated at healthcare centers and hospitals of 8 countries including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia, between March 1st and July 30th, 2020. These countries consist of a total population that exceeds 519 million. Demographics, comorbidities, and clinical symptoms were collected. Statistical descriptive analysis and correlation analyses of symptoms, comorbidities and mortality were performed. Results A total of 728,282 COVID-19 patients were included in this study. Of these, 52.6% were female. The average age was 48.4 years. Peru had the oldest cohort with 56.8 years and highest rate of females (56.8%) while Chile had the youngest cohort (39 years old). Venezuela had the highest male prevalence (56.7%). Most common symptoms were cough with 60.1% (Bolivia had the highest rate 78%), fatigue/tiredness with 52.0%, sore throat with 50.3%, and fever with 44.2%. Bolivian patients had fever as the top symptom (83.3%). GI symptoms included diarrhea which was highest in Mexico with 22.9%. Hypertension was among the top (12.1%) comorbidities, followed by diabetes with 8.3% and obesity at 4.5%. In multivariate analyses, the leading and significant comorbidities were hypertension (r = 0.83, p = 0.02), diabetes (r = 0.91, p = 0.01), and obesity (r = 0.86, p = 0.03). Mortality was highest in Mexico (16.6%) and lowest in Venezuela (0.9%) among the analyzed cohorts. Conclusion Overall, COVID-19 patients in Latin America display cough, fatigue, and fever as main symptoms. Up to 53% of patients with COVID-19 have GI manifestations. Different clinical symptoms were associated with COVID-19 in Latin American countries. Metabolic syndrome components were the main comorbidities associated with poor outcome. Country-specific management and prevention plans are needed and can be established from this meta-analysis.
The vapD gene is present in microorganisms from different phyla and encodes for the virulence-associated protein D (vapD). In some microorganisms, it has been suggested that vapD participates in either protecting the bacteria from respiratory burst within the macrophage or in facilitating the persistence of the microorganism within the respiratory epithelial cell. The aim of this study was to define the phylogenetic relationship of the Helicobacter pylori vapD gene with other vapD genes of different bacterial species from different phyla and to estimate the genealogy of vapD gene within H. pylori species. Sixteen sequences of Helicobacter pylori vapD gene obtained from Mexican patients and 211 vapD sequences from 72 species of six bacterial phyla were analysed. Our results showed that the vapD region is a hot spot that presents a greater diversity in the Mexican strains of H. pylori to that previously reported. Rearrangements in the vapD region led to the formation of new ORFs in Mexican strains, which were not seen as being fortuitous, suggesting that these chromosomal rearrangements might provide some type of advantage to the bacteria. Phylogenetic analysis, codon usage bias and GC content indicated that vapD was acquired by horizontal gene transfer. Then, in some H. pylori strains it was incorporated and fixed into the bacterial chromosome and maintained in these strains in a similar fashion as an essential gene. Genealogical analysis of the H. pylori vapD gene showed two divisions: one that grouped most of the strains from different parts of the world and the other that grouped only Mexican strains together with the 60190 and 26695 reference strains. Keywords: vapD gene; Helicobacter pylori; Genealogy; Phylogeny; Horizontal Gene Transfer.
Background:The global incidence of dengue, a mosquito-borne viral infection, has grown dramatically in recent decades with about half of the world's population is now at risk.Its clinical manifestations include headache, fever, skin rashes, leukopenia and arthralgia.Local data evaluating age and gender based differences in clinical signs and symptoms of dengue are scarce at best. Objective:To compare the clinical signs and symptoms of dengue across gender and age based groups. Methods:A secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial on the effects of silymarin on hepatic enzymes and clinical manifestation of dengue was conducted.The clinical signs and symptoms of the dengue patients were recorded at the baseline before giving trial intervention.Chisquare test was used to make desired comparisons across gender and age based groups whereas the significance level was set at 0.05. Results:The study results showed that rash (p=0.047) and infected conjunctiva (p=0.013) were significantly associated with gender of the patients whereas nausea and vomiting (p=0.01),headache (p=0.016),retro-orbital pain (p=0.049) and infected conjunctiva (p=0.032) were significantly associated with age of the patients. Conclusion:A significant association of rash and injected conjunctiva with gender of dengue patients and of nausea and vomiting, headache, retro-orbital pain and injected conjunctiva with age of dengue patients was found.Further evaluation of study findings because of their potential implications for the symptomatic management of dengue patients is recommended.
The messenger Ribonucleic Acid (mRNA) has come to play as potential regulators of gene expression that is translates in the ribosome by the RNA polymerase and yields amino acid and protein. This plays a tremendous role in the protein synthesis and is not just mere template in translation but also contains essential regulatory elements as protein supplement, for therapy vaccine production and generation of pluripotent stem cells. This review highlights the new approaches and insights in the role of mRNA as a template in protein synthesis, functional approach, clinical uses and in vivo usage which is still a challenge underway. Keywords: MRNA; Translation; Protein synthesis; DNA; Gene regulation.
Seed-borne fungi are the most important constrained factor which causing quantitative losses, produce highly toxic and carcinogenic mycotoxins. Plant based fungicides appear to be one of the better alternatives as they are known to have minimal danger to consumers in contrast to synthetic pesticides. In view of the negative public health and economic impacts of storage fungi this study, aimed to determine the efficiency of some plant extracts for reduction or control of seed borne fungi in sorghum grains in agar plate methods. The results obtained revealed that seed treated with Olea europaea leaf extract was found the least in incidence of seed-borne fungi (50%) followed by Capsicum annuum (53.3%) in agar plate methods. Therefore, utilization of these plants as bio-control agents is recommended to reduce the proliferation of storage fungi. Keywords: plant extracts; seed borne fungi; sorghum
Background: Dengue fever annually affects almost 100 million people globally with 2.5 billion people at risk of developing dengue fever. The symptoms of dengue fever begins with flu like illness and may lead to severe manifestations such as bleeding, sudden loss of consciousness and even loss of life. The treatment of the infection is decided on the basis of severity of clinical features and level of fluids in the body. Objective: To assess the correlation of temperature with platelet count and total leukocyte count in patients of dengue fever. Methods: A secondary data analysis of a randomized controlled trial on the effects of silymarin on hepatic enzymes and clinical manifestation of dengue fever was carried out including only the patients in the placebo group of the trial. The correlation of temperature with platelet count and total leukocyte count was assessed using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. The significance level was set at 0.05. Results: The study results revealed that the temperature was significantly negatively correlated with total leukocyte count on day 3 only (p=0.026). Furthermore, in patients with fever duration of 5 to 7 days it was significantly negatively correlated with platelet count on day 3 only (p=0.002) whereas in patients aged 40 years or above it was significantly negatively correlated with total leukocyte count on day 3 only (p=0.025). Conclusion: Raised temperature was found to be significantly negatively correlated with total leukocyte count on day 3 only. Moreover, stratified analysis showed it to be significantly negatively correlated with platelet count on day 3 in patients with longer duration of fever and with total leukocyte count on day 3 in patients aged 40 years or above. Further evaluation of the study findings with a larger sample size is recommended.
We parsed the microbial genome database using Bombyx mori chemosensory proteins (BmorCSPs) as templates.We extracted eleven bacterial CSPs (B-CSPs) from various microorganisms such as Kitasatospora griseola, K. purpeofusca, K. CB01950, K. MBT66, Escherichia coli, Macrococcus caseolyticus and Acinetobacter baumannii, a known infectious prokaryotic symbiont of various insects, particularly the human body louse.We then parsed the body louse Pediculus humanis corporis genomic database for CSPs.We found six P. humanis corporis (Phum) CSPs all grouped in the same gene cluster.Sequence alignment, structure modeling and phylogenetic analysis of CSP proteins in bacteria and insects reveal duplication, conservation, gene loss, but also diversification and neofunctionalization that took place at a common stage in this ancestral gene family.Phylogenetic analysis of the amino acid sequences also reveals association of CSPs with other prokaryotic gene families, mainly enzymes and secondary metabolites transporters.Their ability to bind lipids and their proved existence and diversity in infectious bacterial prokaryote systems strongly argue for some important general functions in the cellular metabolism process.
Mobile phones widely used in our day-to-day lives are potential reservoir for a number of bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus.The study was carried out from February to May 2017 with a major objective of screening methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) from mobile phones used by the staffs and students of Birendra Multiple Campus, Bharatpur, Nepal.Out of 212 swabbed samples of mobile phones analysed by standard microbiological technique, 112 (56.0%) showed the presence of S. aureus.Gentamicin 101 (90.2%) was the most effective antibiotic whereas cefoxitin 42 (37.5%)was the least effective antibiotic.MRSA 30 (26.8%), Vancomycin Intermediate S. aureus (VISA) 58 (51.8%) and MDR S. aureus 24 (21.4%) were detected.Significant associations were noted between the rate of occurrence of MRSA and MDR S. aureus with various attributes such as the gender of the user, the way of handling the mobile phones and also with the length of use of mobile phones (P-value < 0.01).Our findings indicate the mobile phones can carry potentially threatening species of S. aureus which can cause severe health hazards to humans.Awareness about regular disinfection of mobile phones, hand hygiene, restricting the use of mobile phones in contaminating areas and proper place for storing mobile phones can be suggested.
Background: Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) are a public health issue, which should be promptly diagnosed and treated. Objectives: The objectives of this study were to characterized Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections, namely co-infections between the two and with other STI, and associated demographic factors in population groups volunteering for screening. Methods: C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae infections were diagnosed through a multiplex Real-Time PCR. The presence of N. gonorrhoeae DNA was confirmed by RFLP technique. The presence of antibodies against other STI and of antigens was performed with recommended techniques. Results: The overall prevalence of C. trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae infection was 3, 4%, and 1, 0%, mostly being asymptomatic in 90% and 83, 3%, respectively. Syphilis, hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV were diagnosed respectively in 2, 7%, 5, 1%, 4% and 2%. The majority of infected participants were <25 years old and those with N. gonorrhoeae males, from whom 50% had a co-infection with C. trachomatis. N. gonorrhoeae infection was associated with a diagnosis of gonorrhoea in the past. Most of the people infected had more than one sexual partner in the previous 6 months (73, 7%) and an inconstant condom use (80, 7%). Furthermore, most individuals are not aware of their high risk sexual behaviour. Conclusion: This study suggests that STI sexual health education, decreasing barriers to health care and non-invasive STI screening are essential in this population and in similar ones. Received: 2 January, 2018; Accepted: 20 April, 2018; Published: 30 April, 2018 *Corresponding author: Rita Castro, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical/Unidade de Microbiologia Médica, Rua da Junqueira 10
Doctors do not always understand the biochemistry of antibiotics and, they make wrong choices of antibiotics that cause harms to their patients. This article is written with the hope that doctors and patients be better educated about antibiotics, and that antibiotics are truly the life-saving medicine. Received: March 23, 2018; Accepted: April 27, 2018 ; Published: May 5, 2018 *Corresponding author: Benjamin Lu, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada, Tel: +1-5198244120; Fax: +1-519-8372075; Email: blu@uoguelph.ca
Psoriasis vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disorder which can only be controlled with medications but not cured.Various modalities are available for the management of same with varying efficacy and adverse effects.Biologics, though not new, have changed the concept of treatment of psoriasis.With beneficial effects, they also have adverse effects which are being identified more and more with passing time.
Listeria monocytogenesis an opportunistic pathogen known to cause septicemia, meningitis, and rhombencephalitis.Immunosuppression is considered therapeutic when Biologic Response Modifiers (BRMs) are used in the treatment of hematological malignancies, multiple sclerosis and other autoimmune disorders.This report describes a patient receiving one such biological agent, alemtuzumab, for the treatment of multiple sclerosis and the subsequent development of Listerial meningitis complicated by hydrocephalus.This is the first alemtuzumab-associated case of Listeria monocytogenes infection reported in North America and will hopefully spread awareness of this serious but treatable complication.
Aveloz (Euphorbia tirucalli L.) is a plant known for its therapeutic activities and the toxicity of latex.Antimicrobial, antitumoral, antidiarrheal, anti-inflammatory activities, among others, are examples of its medicinal properties already described in different studies.On the other hand, extrinsic and intrinsic factors associated with the plant metabolism are able to produce different metabolites among samples of the same species.Therefore, studies of antimicrobial activity and the phytochemical screening of different specimens of this plant are relevant, since it is able to aggregate knowledge about its properties widely used by the population.In the present study, the phytochemical screening was performed and the antimicrobial activity of four extracts from aerial parts was investigated.The results showed that the material presents antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory potentials, since the phytochemical screening revealed the presence of flavonoids and, through the susceptibility tests carried out on 96-wells microplates with viability stains, it was verified the occurrence of growth inhibition of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli strains.The plant derivatives presenting significant antimicrobial activity were the ethyl acetate and the butanol extracts.Comparing these data to the literature we conclude that new researches using different specimens of E. tirucalli may provide findings with potential application in medicine.
Over the past 10 years, there have been increasingly frequent reports of colonization of niches in the oral cavity by Non-Candida Albicans Candida (NCAC) species. Among these species, Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto plays a major part both locally and systemically. Evidence shows that it may be the second most frequent yeast isolate, after Candida albicans, as commensal in the oral cavity and as pathogen in blood cultures of patients diagnosed with fungemia. Recent reports suggest that both its distribution and its virulence may be affected by environmental conditions and may increase in situations of oral dysbiosis. Based on this background, we hypothesize that oral mucosa in pathological condition may be a source of candidemia by Candida parapsilosis sensu stricto, when promoted by the conditions in the host. We reviewed the scientific databases in search of evidence which may support such hypothesis.
