Additive potential of ginger starch on antifungal potency of honey against Candida albicans

Objective: To evaluate the additive action of ginger starch on the antifungal activity of honey against Candida albicans (C. albicans). Methods: C. albicans was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of four varieties of Algerian honey. Lower concentrations of honey than the MIC were incubated with a set of concentrations of starch and then added to media to determine the minimum additive inhibitory concentration (MAIC). Results: The MIC for the four varieties of honey without starch against C. albicans ranged between 38% and 42% (v/v). When starch was incubated with honey and then added to media, a MIC drop was noticed with each variety. MAIC of the four varieties ranged between 32% honey (v/v) with 4% starch and 36% honey (v/v) with 2% starch. Conclusions: The use of ginger starch allows honey benefit and will constitute an alternative way against the resistance to antifungal agents.

Antifungal activity of four honeys of different types from Algeria against pathogenic yeast:Candida albicans and Rhodotorula sp

Objective: To evaluate the antifungal activity of four honeys of different types from Algeria against pathogenic yeast i.e. Candida albicans (C. albicans) and Rhodotorula sp. Methods:Four Algeria honeys of different botanical origin were analyzed to test antifungal effect against C. albicans, and Rhodotorula sp. Different concentrations (undiluted, 10%, 30%, 50%and 70%w/v) of honey were studied in vitro for their antifugal activity using C. albicans and Rhodotorula sp. as fungal strains. Results:The range of the diameter of zone of inhibition of various concentrations of tested honeys was (7-23 mm) for Rhodotorula sp., while C. albicans showed clearly resistance towards all concentrations used. The MICs of tested honey concentrations against C. albicans and Rhodotorula sp. were (70.09-93.48)%and (4.90-99.70)%v/v, respectively. Conclusions:This study demonstrates that, in vitro, these natural products have clearly an antifungal activity against Rhodotorula sp. and C. albicans.

Antibacterial activity of various honey types of Algeria against Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes

OBJECTIVE@#To assess the in vitro antibacterial activity of honey from different geographical location on Gram negative organisms.@*METHODS@#Different concentrations (Undiluted honey, 10 %, 30%, 50% and 70% wt/vol) of honey were studied in vitro using Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes), briefly, two-fold dilutions of honey solutions were tested to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against each type of microorganism, followed by more assays within a narrower dilution range to obtain more precise MIC values. MICs were determined by both visual inspection and spectrophotometric assay at 620 nm. These honey samples were compared with standard antibiotics like ampicillin, penicillin G, amoxicillin, gentamycin, tobramycin, erythromycin and chloramphenicol was determined by the disc diffusion method.@*RESULTS@#The diameter of zone of the inhibition (ZDI) of honey has various concentrations tested for the isolates ranged 0-46 mm for S. aureus, 0-44 mm for S. pyogenes. While the MIC (%) ranged 12%-95%, 25%-73% respectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Algeria honey, in-vitro, possess antibacterial activity.

Circulating adrenomedullin [AM] in children with congenital cyanotic heart disease

This study included 16 children [11 males and 5 females] with congenital cyanotic heart disease without pulmonary hypertension [PH] or heart failure [HF] with age ranged from 2 to 7 years [group 1] and 16 children [9 males and 7 females] with atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia [AVRT] with age ranged from 4 to 9 years as a non-cyanotic controls [group 2]. All children were subjected to clinical examination, complete blood count [CBC], serum creatinine, arterial oxygen saturation, X-ray chest, electrocardiogram [ECG], echocardiogram, cardiac catheterization and plasma levels of AM in samples of pulmonary artery blood [PAB], pulmonary venous blood [PVB] and femoral vein blood [FVB]. The results of this study revealed that the plasma levels of AM at the three sites of sampling were significantly higher in group 1 than that in group 2, and also showed that in group 1 there was a significantly higher plasma level of AM in PAB than its levels in PVB and FVB, but no significant difference between its level in FVB and that in PVB