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Abstract Introduction Renal infarct is rare and often misdiagnosed because the symptoms are misleading. The mechanisms are various, mainly thrombotic and embolic. Case presentation In this review, we report the case of a 61-year-old Tunisian woman presented to the emergency unit with a 4-hour history of abdominal pain diffused at both flanks, ultrasounds was performed to remove a surgical emergency, showed a peri-renal fluid collection with heterogeneous parenchyma. We followed by a CT scan, which confirmed the diagnosis of renal infarct. The patient was treated by heparin at a curative dose, and the outcome was favorable. Conclusion Diagnosis is difficult and should be considered in patients with inexplicable flank or abdominal pain and with risk factors to this disease. Our purpose is to raise clinician’s awareness for this condition so that they will be more likely to diagnose it. This will facilitate prompt diagnosis and treatment. A review of the literature was performed and the case is discussed in the context of the current knowledge of this condition.

1. Introduction The human immunodeficiency virus/the causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) pandemic continues its spread at a rate of over 15 000 new infections every day. Sexual transmission [...], Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agents of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), are two great concerns in the reproductive health of women. Thus, the challenge is to find products with a double activity, on the one hand having antimicrobial/antiviral properties with a role in the reduction of STI, and on the other hand having spermicidal action to be used as a contraceptive. In the absence of an effective microbicide along with the disadvantages of the most commonly used spermicidal contraceptive worldwide, nonoxynol-9, new emphasis has been focused on the development of more potential intravaginal microbicidal agents. Topical microbicides spermicides would ideally provide a female-controlled method of self-protection against HIV as well as preventing pregnancies. Nonoxynol-9, the only recommended microbicide spermicide, damages cervicovaginal epithelium because of its membrane-disruptive properties. Clearly, there is an urgent need to identify new compounds with dual potential microbicidal properties; antimicrobial peptides should be candidates for such investigations. Dermaseptins and magainins are two classes of cationic, amphipathic a-helical peptides that have been identified in the skin extracts of frogs Phyllomedusa sauvagei and Xenopus laevis. Regarding their contraceptive activities and their effect against various STI-causing pathogens, we believe that these two peptides are appropriate candidates in the evaluation of newer and safer microbicides spermicides in the future. Copyright 2009 Amira Zairi et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

A combination of the NMR spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry studies is employed to explain the solution structure, as well as the membrane interactions of temporins-SH and other antimicrobial peptides obtained from amphibian skin. The changes taking place in the membrane-disturbing mechanism of the bound peptides are shown to facilitate the charge-induced activity in these peptides.

Background and objectives Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancies have serious effects on the reproductive health of women. The present study was undertaken with a view to develop an effective means of prevention. The microbicidal and contraceptive potential of cationic peptides from frog's skin, namely, dermaseptin S4 and its derivatives were investigated in vitro. Study design Different bacterial and fungal strains were resorted to for determining the antimicrobial activity of the new compounds. The spermicidal activities of the latter were assessed using normal human semen samples, and their toxic effects were identified in a HeLa culture. Results All S4 derivatives elicited concentration-dependent spermicidal and antimicrobial activities at microgram concentrations. The highest levels recorded for both types of activity were displayed by K4K20S4, and the lowest levels were exhibited by D4D20S4 and S4(5-28). Cytotoxicity assays revealed that some of these compounds were significantly safer than nonoxynol-9 (N-9). Conclusions The ability of these peptides to instantaneously kill human sperm and STI pathogens at low concentrations indicates that their application as active ingredients in vaginal contraceptive preparations could induce considerably better effects than N-9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]