The antimicrobial effects and metabolomic footprinting of carboxyl-capped bismuth nanoparticles against Helicobacter pylori.

Organic salts of bismuth are currently used as antimicrobial agents against Helicobacter pylori. This study evaluated the antibacterial effect of elemental bismuth nanoparticles (Bi NPs) using a serial agar dilution method for the first time against different clinical isolates and a standard strain of H. pylori. The Bi NPs were biologically prepared and purified by a recently described method and subjected to further characterization by infrared spectroscopy and anti-H. pylori evaluation. Infrared spectroscopy results showed the presence of carboxyl functional groups on the surface of biogenic Bi NPs. These biogenic nanoparticles showed good antibacterial activity against all tested H. pylori strains. The resulting MICs varied between 60 and 100 µg/ml for clinical isolates of H. pylori and H. pylori (ATCC 26695). The antibacterial effect of bismuth ions was also tested against all test strains. The antimicrobial effect of Bi ions was lower than antimicrobial effect of bismuth in the form of elemental NPs. The effect of Bi NPs on metabolomic footprinting of H. pylori was further evaluated by (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Exposure of H. pylori to an inhibitory concentration of Bi NPs (100 µg/ml) led to release of some metabolites such as acetate, formic acid, glutamate, valine, glycine, and uracil from bacteria into their supernatant. These findings confirm that these nanoparticles interfere with Krebs cycle, nucleotide, and amino acid metabolism and shows anti-H. pylori activity.

Nitric oxide and peroxynitrite serum levels in Parkinson's disease: correlation of oxidative stress and the severity of the disease.

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO) and its toxic product peroxynitrite contribute to oxidative stress and neurodegeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD). The relationship of serum levels of these oxidants with the severity of the disease [evaluated by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)] is not established. AIM: This study was designed to evaluate whether patients with PD had higher NO and peroxynitrite serum level or not. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty eight patients with PD and 15 healthy volunteers entered this study. The concentrations of serum NO and peroxynitrite were assayed and their correlation with the UPDRS score was assessed. RESULTS: Mean serum NO levels in patient group was 29.8 ± 21.631 versus 7.49 ± 2.573 in control group, which was significantly higher in patients (p ≤ 0.0001). Peroxynitrite levels in patient and control groups were 7.37±3.501 µmol/L and 3.94 ±1.389 µmol/L respectively. Patients had a significantly higher peroxynitrite level (p = 0.0004). CONCLUSIONS: Higher levels of NO and peroxynitrite leads to higher UPDRS scores. It seems since current PD treatments do not affect the pathology of the disease, using drugs that exert neuroprotective properties should be considered for the treatment of PD in order to prevent further neuronal cell loss.  

Using the objective structured clinical examinations in undergraduate midwifery students.

The Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) has been considered a modern type of examination for the assessment of clinical skills within nurse education, but it has been rarely applied in the teaching of midwifery. The aim of the present study was to assess the use of the OSCE as a tool to evaluate the abilities of undergraduate midwifery students and to compare the perspectives of the students regarding the OSCE and traditional examination. Fifty-two midwifery students participated in the study. The export trainer evaluated the internal consistency of the OSCE stations and it was tested by using Cronbach's alpha. Successive groups of students completed a self-administered questionnaire immediately after the final examination. The students' perspective regarding the traditional final examination ranked as unsatisfactory by more than two thirds of the students, while, the students' perspective regarding the OSCE system was ranked as very satisfactory to satisfactory by more than half of the students (p=0.001). There was a significant difference in the students' perspective between the OSCE system and the traditional final examination among the students (49.8±18.3 vs 25.3±18.1) (p=0.001). A significant difference was found in being credible (p=0.0001), consistent/reliable (p=0.001), enhances teaching level (p=0.011), and measures the course category (p=0.008) between two methods of the final examination. Around half of the students expressed their opinion that the OSCE test was a stressful assessment. Overall, students' evaluation of the OSCE was remarkably encouraging. To this end, we recommend the consideration of the validity and reliability of the process for undergraduate midwifery students.

The effects of three training methods endurance, resistance and concurrent on adiponectin resting levels in overweighed untrained men.

The purpose of present study was to investigate the impacts of endurance, resistance and concurrent training on adiponectin resting levels of sedentary men. Forty-four sedentary students were randomly assigned to one of four groups: endurance training (ET; 22 ± 0.89 yr, n=12), resistance training (RT, 21 ± 1.57 yr, n=9), concurrent training (CT, 21.38 ± 2.6 yr, n=14) and control group (CG, n=10). After primary measurements, blood samples were drawn with subjects in fasting and resting state for determination of the basic level of adiponectin. The subjects participated in E, R and C training for 8 weeks. The ET group ran 3d/w at 65-85 % of maximum heart rate. The exercise training session for the RT group consisted of 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions of weight training exercise that increase progressively, and repeated 3 sessions per week. The CT group trained exactly the sum of ET and RT groups. Correlated samples t-test and ANOVA were used. The results of the present study showed that after the eight-week training, the adiponectin levels of subjects increased in 3 groups of training but this increase was not significant. The level of adiponectin in CT group increased more than in ET and RT groups. Also, there were no significant differences in content of adiponectin among groups.In general, slight increases in adiponectin levels in training groups especially in CT group may indicate the most potential of CT group in increasing the levels of adiponectin in sedentary men. However more researches are needed to identify the effects of concurrent training (Tab. 4, Ref. 27).

Biosynthesis of bismuth nanoparticles using Serratia marcescens isolated from the Caspian Sea and their characterisation.

Today, synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) using micro-organisms has been receiving increasing attention. In this investigation, a bismuth-reducing bacterium was isolated from the Caspian Sea in Northern Iran and was used for intracellular biosynthesis of elemental bismuth NPs. This isolate was identified as non-pigmented Serratia marcescens using conventional identification assays and the 16s rDNA fragment amplification method and used to prepare bismuth NPs. The biogenic bismuth NPs were released by liquid nitrogen and highly purified using an n-octanol water two-phase extraction system. Different characterisations of the purified NPs such as particle shapes, size and purity were carried out with different instruments. The energy-dispersive X-ray and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns demonstrated that the purified NPs consisted of only bismuth and are amorphous. In addition, the transmission electron micrograph showed that the small NPs formed larger aggregated NPs around <150 nm. Although the chemical syntheses of elemental bismuth NPs have been reported in the literature, the biological synthesis of elemental bismuth NPs has not been published yet. This is the first report to demonstrate a biological method for synthesising bismuth NPs and their purification with a simple solvent partitioning method.

Mathematical modelling of the transport of hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin inclusion complexes of ranitidine hydrochloride and furosemide loaded chitosan nanoparticles across a Caco-2 cell monolayer.

Chitosan nanoparticles (CS-NPs) have been used to enhance the permeability of furosemide and ranitidine hydrochloride (ranitidine HCl) which were selected as candidates for two different biopharmaceutical drug classes having low permeability across Caco-2 cell monolayers. Drugs loaded CS-NPs were prepared by ionic gelation of CS and pentasodium tripolyphosphate (TPP) which added to the drugs inclusion complexes with hydroxypropyl-ß-cyclodextrin (HP-ßCD). The stability constants for furosemide/HP-ßCD and ranitidine HCl/HP-ßCD were calculated as 335 M(-1) and 410 M(-1), whereas the association efficiencies (AE%) of the drugs/HP-ßCD inclusion complexes with CS-NPs were determined to be 23.0 and 19.5%, respectively. Zetasizer and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterise drugs/HP-ßCD-NPs size and morphology. Transport of both nano and non-nano formulations of drugs/HP-ßCD complexes across a Caco-2 cell monolayer was assessed and fitted to mathematical models. Furosemide/HP-ßCD-NPs demonstrated transport kinetics best suited for the Higuchi model, whereas other drug formulations demonstrated power law transportation behaviour. Permeability experiments revealed that furosemide/HP-ßCD and ranitidine HCl/HP-ßCD nano formulations greatly induce the opening of tight junctions and enhance drug transition through Caco-2 monolayers.

Synthesis and cloxacillin antimicrobial enhancement of 2-methylsulfonylimidazolyl-1,4-dihydropyridine derivatives.

BACKGROUND AND THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been a major problem worldwide in chemotherapy of infection disease. This study was designed to assess the enhancing effects of a new group of dihydropyridine-3,5dicarboxamides, in combination with cloxacillin with distinctly different mechanisms of action against MRSAs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxamides with 2-methylsulfonylimidazole at 4 position 6a-k were synthesized by the reaction of corresponding aldehyde 5 with different N-aryl acetoacetamides 3 in the presence of ammonium hydroxide. Agar disc diffusion method was used to determine the antibacterial and potentiating activity of different synthetic compounds in the presence and absence of cloxacillin to evaluate their activity as modulators of multidrugresistant (MDR). RESULTS AND MAJOR CONCLUSION: The antibacterial effect of cloxacillin was enhanced by compounds 6g and 6h against cloxacillin-resistant strains (MRSA(1) and MRSA(2)). The potentiation was found 1 2 to be statistically significant (p<0.01). Compound 6g at concentration of 1000 µg/disc, caused a 329 percent potentiation of the activity of cloxacillin against MRSA(1).

A comparison of abused and non-abused women's definitions of domestic violence and attitudes to acceptance of male dominance.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effects of women's subjective definitions of wife abuse and of their general attitudes to acceptance of male dominance on the occurrence of domestic violence. STUDY DESIGN: A case-control survey was conducted in the public health center of Babol University of Medical Sciences from November 2002 to October 2003. The Abuse Assessment Screen Form was used to identify partner violence, and the Abuse Definition Form and Abuse Attitude Form were applied to measure how the women defined wife abuse and their attitudes to male dominance. RESULTS: Women with positive attitudes to male dominance had experienced more physical and emotional abuse than those with negative attitudes toward male dominance (p < 0.05). Although living in villages, low level of education, female unemployment, and low family income were important risk factors for domestic violence, the strongest predictor of physical abuse was a positive attitude to male dominance. DISCUSSION: A positive attitude of women to male dominance increases the acceptance and frequency of partner violence. This finding shows the need to raise the educational levels of women and raise their awareness of their rights. This could convert an attitude of male dominance to equality of men and women.

Prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence in Babol City, Islamic Republic of Iran.

To determine the prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence, 2400 married women attending public clinics in Babol, Islamic Republic of Iran, were screened for domestic violence. Overall, 15.0% of women had suffered physical abuse from their husbands in the previous year, 42.4% sexual abuse and 81.5% various degrees of psychological abuse. A significant association with intimate partner violence was found for women with low income, age < or = 20 years, unemployed, low education, non-pregnant and non-houseowners. There was no significant relationship between violence and parity or length of marriage. On multivariate regression, the strongest predictor of physical abuse was unemployment of the woman, whereas for psychological and sexual abuse it was rural residence. Empowering women through promoting employment and improving education may reduce the risk of intimate partner violence.

Prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence in Babol city, Islamic Republic of Iran

To determine the prevalence and determinants of intimate partner violence, 2400 married women attending public clinics in Babol, Islamic Republic of Iran, were screened for domestic violence. Overall, 15.0% of women had suffered physical abuse from their husbands in the previous year, 42.4% sexual abuse and 81.5% various degrees of psychological abuse. A significant association with intimate partner violence was found for women with low income, age </= 20 years, unemployed, low education, non-pregnant and non-houseowners. There was no significant relationship between violence and parity or length of marriage. On multivariate regression, the strongest predictor of physical abuse was unemployment of the woman, whereas for psychological and sexual abuse it was rural residence. Empowering women through promoting employment and improving education may reduce the risk of intimate partner violence