Search

Background and Aim: Understanding the antibiotic resistance profile of uropathogenic Escherichia coli in urinary tract infections (UTIs) across different populations and regions is crucial for appropriate antibiotic prescribing practices. This study aimed to assess the antibiotic resistance pattern of uropathogenic Escherichia coli isolated from UTIs in outpatients, focusing on gender and age demographics. Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 7365 urine culture samples obtained from patients consecutively referred to the Kashan Reference Laboratory between April 2021 and March 2022. Following sterile urine collection, bacterial cultures were grown on McConkey agar, blood agar, and specific media. Escherichia coli isolates were identified, and antibiotic resistance was determined using the disk diffusion method on Mueller Hinton agar, following National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards guidelines. Results: Among 401 positive urine cultures, 251 (62.5%) were attributed to E. coli, while 150 (37.4%) were related to other organisms. Of the E. coli cases, 226 isolates (90%) were from women and 25 (10%) from men. The E. coli strains exhibited the highest resistance (54.7%) to cefazolin and the lowest resistance (4.4%) to imipenem and nitrofurantoin. Antibiotic resistance in E. coli from men exceeded that of women across all antibiotics tested, with statistically significant differences observed in ceftriaxone, imipenem, ciprofloxacin, and nitrofurantoin (P

Introduction: Nanoemulsion and nanoencapsulation are attractive novel methods that can be used for incorporating active plant extracts in food preparations and pharmaceutical formulations. In the current study, we aimed to investigate the anticancer and antibacterial effects of hydroethanolic extracts of Nettle (NE), Wormwood (WE), and the combination of the two plants (CNWE), as well as their nanoemulsion forms (NN, NW, CNNW) and nanoencapsulation forms (CN, CW, and CCNW).Methods: The morphology and structure of the nanoemulsion and nanoencapsulation preparations were assessed utilizing dynamic light scattering (DLS) along with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The antibacterial activity of the prepared formulations were assessed by determining minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), zone of inhibition diameter, minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), along with biofilm growth inhibition against Salmonaella typhimurium and Klebsiella. pneumoniae. The anticancer activity was evaluated via a MTT assay in the colon cancer cell line (HCT116).Results: The nanoemulsion and nanoencapsulation particle size varied between 10 and 50 nm and 60 and 110 nm, respectively. The MIC values were between 11.25 and 95 µg/mL along with MBC values between 11.25 and 190 µg/mL. The highest inhibition of biofilm formation was observed with CCNW against K. pneumoniae (∼78.5%) and S. typhimurium (∼73%). In descending order, the inhibition of biofilm formation was CCNW > CW > CN > CNNW > NN > NW > CNWE > NE > WE against the tested bacteria. The IC50 values for NE, WE, CNWE, NN, NW, CNNW, CN, CW, and CCNW were determined as 250, 170, 560, 380, 312, 370, 250, 420, and 700 µg/mL, respectively. Exposure to a high concentration of NW resulted in a significantly lower HCT116 viability compared to other groups. Taken together, CNNW, and CCNW showed the highest antibacterial and anticancer activitiy.Discussion: Nanoemulsion and nanoencapsulation were effective ways to increase the antibacterial and anticancer activity of the extracts and could be used in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Background: In recent years, the use of herbal medicine, as a complementary and effective medicine, is increasing worldwide. The aim of this study was to investigate the properties of Rosa damascene essential oil nanoemulsion in vitro. Materials and Methods: In this experimental study, rose flower was obtained from Barzok area of Kashan and its essential oil was prepared by steam distillation method. The components of the essential oil were identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). After preparing essential oil nanoemulsion, the size and morphology of nanoemulsion were examined by zeta test and transmission electron microscope (TEM), respectively. Antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity were tested by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl) and MTT (HeLa cancer cells) methods, respectively. Antimicrobial activities against Salmonella Typhimurium were evaluated by disc diffusion, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and bactericidal (MBC) by microdilution methods and prevention of biofilm formation. Results: The most compounds of rose essential oil included Nonadecane (33.55%), Heneicosane (16.03%), Hexadecanal (7.78%) and Eicosane (3.39%). The stability of nanoemulsion was also equal to -47.5 mV. The size of nanoemulsion particles was also confirmed by TEM method. Essential oil nanoemulsion had no antioxidant activity. The MIC and MBC were 350 and 700 µg/ml, respectively. The percentage of biofilm reduction in MIC and MBC concentrations was 75 and 80%, respectively. The concentration of 5.47 µg/mL of nanoemulsion caused a decrease of 67% of living HeLa cells. Conclusion: With attention to the antibacterial and anticancer properties of rose essential oil nanoemulsion, this compound can be suggested in the treatment of bacterial infections and cancer cells.

Nowadays, consumers are pushing for the use of natural preservatives such as essential oils (EOs) in the fresh and processed foods, including meat. However, this action is related to a variety of challenges that are associated with essential oils, including low solubility in water, high volatility, and limited long-term stability. These factors collectively reduce their effective utilization in this application. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate the morphology and stability of the Rosa damascena essential oil nanoemulsion (RDNE), as well as its antibacterial and anticancer properties. Also, we examined its effects on the quality characteristics of ground sheep meat during the refrigerated storage. The zeta potential and particle size of RDNE were −47.5 mV and 100 nm, respectively. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the RDNE against Salmonella typhimurium were 375 and 750 µg/mL, respectively. The most inhibition of biofilm formation (80%) was observed for RDNE at 2 MIC. The RDNE had an inhibitory effect on the expression of the Salmonella enterotoxin gene (stn). The obtained IC50 of RDNE against colon and cervical cancer cell lines (HCT 116 and HeLa cells) were 3.31 and 4.6 µg/mL, respectively. Adding RDNE at a concentration of 250 µg/g to fresh ground meat resulted in the total bacterial count (TBC) remaining below 8 log CFU/g during storage. Moreover, the samples coated with RDNE (250 µg/g) had the fewest coliforms, lactic acid bacteria (LAB), S. typhimurium, pH, and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) content. RDNE coating improved the flavor and overall acceptability of the samples. Therefore, RDNE is recommended as a natural preservative agent to enhance the bacterial and chemical stability of sheep meat.

Cardiovascular disease prevails with age which varies according to sex. Telomere length plays an important role in aging. Despite the great benefits of high-intensity interval training (HIIT), the acute responses to HIIT with different intervals have not been elucidated in different sexes. This study was conducted to investigate the sex-dependent responses of telomerase enzyme activity, total oxidant status (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and the ratio of TAC/TOS to short- and long-term high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) in cardiac muscle of male and female rats. Forty adult Wistar rats were randomly allocated to six groups: male and female HIIE with short-term intervals (MHIIESh and FHIIESh, respectively), male and female HIIE with long-term intervals (MHIIEL and FHIIEL, respectively), and controls groups. Telomerase activity, TAC, and TOS levels were examined immediately after exercise in the cardiac muscle. The level of telomerase enzyme activity, TOS level, and the ratio of TAC/TOS did not change after HIIE with short-term interval and HIIE with long-term interval (HIIEL) in male and female rats (P = 0.52, 0.69, and 0.08, respectively). There was a statistically significant decrease in the TAC level in the MHIIESh group (P = 0.04). Furthermore, a significant decrease was observed in the HIIEL in both male and female rats (P = 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). Acute exposure to HIIE with short- and long-term intervals would not result in a significant change in some indicators of biological aging. However, due to gender-specific biological differences, further studies will provide evidence regarding the roles of HIIE at different times of intervals, which contribute to aging prevention.

This paper presents experimental and theoretical assessments of the structural behavior of circular steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) columns reinforced with glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) bars subjected to a concentric axial compressive load. Laboratory experiments were planned to evaluate and compare the effect of different design parameters on the structural behavior of column specimens based on experiments and finite element (FE) analysis. The experimental variables were (i) concrete types, i.e., conventional concrete (CC) and fiber-reinforced concrete (FC), (ii) longitudinal reinforcement types, i.e., steel and GFRP bars, and (iii) transverse rebar configurations, i.e., tied and spiral with different pitches. Sixteen column specimens were fabricated and categorized into four groups with respect to rebar configurations and concrete types. The results showed that the failure modes and cracking patterns of those four column groups were comparable, particularly in the pre-peak branches of load-deflection curves. Even though the average ultimate load of the columns with longitudinal GFRP bars was 17.9% less than that with longitudinal steel bars, the ductility index (DI) was 10.2% greater than their counterpart on average. The addition of steel fibers (SF) to concrete increased the axial peak load by up to 3.1% and the DI by up to 6.6% compared to their counterpart CC columns without SFs. The DI of specimens was increased by higher volumetric ratios (up to 12%) and spiral types (up to 5.5%). The concrete damage plastic (CDP) model for FC columns was updated in the finite element software ABAQUS 6.14. Finally, a new simple equation was theoretically proposed to predict the axial capacity of specimens by considering the inclusion of longitudinal GFRP rebars, volumetric ratio, and steel spiral/hoop ties. Good agreement between the proposed model predictions and the experimental/numerical results was observed.