Antibiofilm agent pterostilbene is able to enhance antibiotics action against Staphylococcus epidermidis.

Pterostilbene (PTE) is a naturally occurring compound originally isolated from Pterocarpus spp. It has been widely used in traditional Indian medicine and later discovered to have various beneficial pharmacological effects such as antioxidant properties, hypoglycaemic or antitumor, and antimicrobial activity. This work is focused on demonstrating PTE synergistic effect with erythromycin and tetracycline to reduce their needed effective concentration for suppression of Staphylococcus epidermidis planktonic cells growth and biofilm formation. The secondary aim is to find these combinations effect on the production of its virulence factors. PTE was found to be effective in inhibition of its planktonic cells with MIC80 values 25-37.5 mg l-1. Simultaneously, it decreased the metabolic activity of biofilm cells and was especially effective on a clinical isolate (MBIC80 = 35 mg l-1) in contrast to the conventional antibiotics. In combination, PTE helped the antibiotics to overcome the tolerance of S. epidermidis biofilm cells (5 mg l-1 of each antibiotic with 49 mg l-1 PTE caused more than 85% inhibition of metabolic activity). It permeabilized cytoplasmic membrane of S. epidermidis cells and altered their surface hydrophobicity. Therefore, PTE has a great potential to enhance antibiotics action in the treatment of infections caused by this pathogen.

[Long-term improvement of fasting glycaemia after switching basal insulin from NPH to determir in children with type 1 diabetes: a 1-year multicentre study]. / Zmena bazálního inzulínu z NPH na inzulínový analog detemir vede k dlouhodobému zlepsení ranní glykémie nalacno u detí s diabetes mellitus 1. typu: výsledky rocní multicentrické studie.

BACKGROUND: Paper presents an evaluation of diabetes control after switching from NPH insulin to detemir in children with type 1 diabetes. METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed a non-randomized, observational, multicentre study on the first group of children whose treatment switched from NPH to insulin detemir in four centers of paediatric diabetes. A total of 72 children (39 boys and 33 girls) were included in the analysis. The average age at intervention was 10.6 +/- 4.7 yrs, the average age at diabetes onset was 6.2 +/- 4.3 yrs. Diabetes control was assessed 3 months prior to the switch and subsequently during 3-month intervals. RESULTS: Mean HbA(1c) decreased from 6.9% at baseline to 6.4% after 3 months of detemir therapy (p = 0.0003). However, in the next months we observed a trend for increasing the HbA(1c), and no statistically significant difference in HbA(1c) was observed at the 6, 9 and 12 months visits vs. baseline. Fasting glycaemia decreased significantly after 3 months of treatment with detemir in comparison with the baseline (the mean value of the difference was 2.1 mmol/l, CI 95% 1.5-2.6, p = 1.4*10(-10)), and this effect was detectable during all the observational period (month 12 vs. baseline 2.6 mmol/l, p < 10(-8)). CONCLUSIONS: Switching basal insulin from NPH insulin to detemir resulted in a short-term improvement of HbA(1c), and a long-term decreasing of fasting glycaemia.