Clinical evaluation and trypsin-like activity in the subgingival plaque after local application of metronidazole 25% dental gel in adult periodontitis

The present study was carried out to compare the effect of metronidazole 25% dental gel on microbiological and clinical parameters of two alternative treatments of adult periodontitis. In 10 patients two quadrants contrary to each other treated. One quadrant was treated with metronidazole plus scaling and acted as test quadrant and the other was treated with scaling alone and acted as a control quadrant clinical evaluation including papillary bleeding index, probing pocket depth and loss of fiber attachment taken at baseline and at 2, 4, and 12 weeks after treatment. Also microbiological samples collected and pooled from the treated sites at the same time. The results of the present study indicate that the use of metronidazole 25% dental gel in conjunction with scaling and root planning provides a better clinical results that reduce the need for periodontal surgery than the use of scaling and root planning alone

Acute sporadic hepatitis E among hospitalized patients in Alexandria, Egypt

Two hundred and two acute hepatitis patients were enrolled in this study. Patients were interviewed for demographic data as well as risk behaviors for contracting hepatitis infection. Serum and stool specimens were collected from patients. The sera were tested for HEV [IgM and IgG antibodies] by ELISA, while stool specimens were tested for HEV genome by RT-PCR. Among the 202 sera tested, anti-HEV IgM was detected among 42 subjects with the highest seropositivity among group aged 20-29 years; while, 90 subjects tested positive for anti-HEV IgG. HEV-RNA genome could be detected in only 5.4% of the studied stool specimens

Lysozyme production: a possible index of pathogenicity among staphylococci

Lysozyme production was tested among 63 coagulase positive staphylococcal strains [20 of pathogenic origin and 42 from healthy nasal carriers] and 26 coagulase negative staphylococci isolated from cases of urinary tract infections. It was found that this property was significantly higher among pathogenic staphylococci [61.9%] than nasal staphylococci [38%]. Regarding coagulase negative staphylococci this property was much less frequent [3.8%]. Other criteria of pathogenicity [hemolysis, DNase production and growth on Mannitol salt agar] were tested. These four criteria were more frequent among pathogenic staphylococci than those isolated from healthy nasal carriers. DNase production was the most frequent property in association with lysozyme production and these two properties could be used as a good index of pathogenicity among coagulase positive staphylococci

Beta-lactamase production in bacteria resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics

In this study, beta lactamase production among 25 bacterial strains resistant to beta lactam antibiotics was screened by Knox and Smith and the rapid iodometric method. Quantitative determination of this enzyme was also done by a modification of Kavanagh bioassay method. Ampicillin degradation was also measured spectrophotometrically. Out of 18 strains resistant to ampicillin, 7 were penicillinase producers. Only four strains were resistant to Cefamandole, three of them were cephalosporinase producers. The resistance to Aztreonam was restricted to Gram-positive organisms [nine strains]. None of them was able to inactivate this antibiotic. Out of the nine beta lactamases described in this study, two were cephalosporinases, four were penicillinases and three had a combined cephalosporinase and penicillinase activity