Treatment of vitamin D deficiency is an effective method in the elimination of asymptomatic bacterial vaginosis: A placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial.

Background & objectives: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent vaginal infection in women of reproductive age group which has been found to be associated with vitamin D deficiency. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of the administration of 2000 IU/day edible vitamin D for 15 wk to eliminate asymptomatic BV among reproductive age women with vitamin D deficiency. Methods: A total of 208 women with asymptomatic BV, who were found to be eligible after interviews and laboratory tests, were randomly assigned to a control group (n=106) or an intervention group (n=105). They used vitamin D drops daily for 105 days. Vaginal and blood samples were taken before and after the second intervention using identical methods (Nugent score for BV diagnosis, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D for vitamin D determination). Results: The cure rate of asymptomatic BV was 63.5 per cent in the intervention and 19.2 per cent in the control group (P <0.001). The results showed that being unmarried (P=0.02), being passive smoker (P<0.001), and being in the luteal phase of a menstrual cycle during sampling (P=0.01) were significantly associated with post-intervention BV positive results. After these elements were controlled, the odds of BV positive results in the control group was 10.8 times more than in the intervention group (P<0.001). Interpretation & conclusions: Among women in reproductive age group with vitamin D deficiency, the administration of 2000 IU/day edible vitamin D was effective in eliminating asymptomatic BV. This treatment could be useful in preventing the symptoms and side effects of BV.

[Evaluation of enrichment, selective and differential media in isolation and identification of salmonella among children with diarrhea]

Salmonellosis is a gastroenteritis caused by different serotypes of Salmonella and is the most common type of food poisoning in the world. The purpose of this research study is to optimize the conventional method for the isolation of Salmonella SPP from the diarrheic specimens of children. Stool specimens were obtained from one hundred patients admitted to Children's Medical Center for diarrhea. The enrichment media were prepared by 3 Rappaport Vassiliadis broth [RV], Tetrathionate broth [TT], and Selenite Cystine broth [SC]. Then, for the isolation of Salmonella SPP, the enrichment methods RV and TT were used and incubated at 42[degree sign] C, and SC at 37[degree sign] C. After 24 hours of incubation, the enrichment samples were inoculated into the following 6 different media: Hektone Enteric agar [HE], Rambach agar [RA], CHROMagar Salmnella [CHROMagar Salmonella], Brilliant Green agar [BG], Salmonella-Shigella agar [SS], and Xylose-Lysine-Deoxycholate agar [XLD]. In total, 13 out of one hundred samples were identified as Salmonella SPP. All of these 13 Salmonella SPP samples [i. e., 100%] were positive on RV broth; the figures were 8 [61.5%] and 3 [23%] on SC and TT broths, respectively. The highest amount of isolation was found by the combination of RV broth and RA agar [100%]. The lowest rate, however, was obtained by the combination of TT agar and BG broth [15.4%]. The comparison results of 3 enrichment media and 6 selective media showed that the mixture of RV broth and RA agar would be very fine for the isolation of Salmonella SPP