The Impact of Lifestyle on the Immune System: Focus on Islamic Lifestyle: A Narrative Review.

"Lifestyle" is the way or style of people living in a special time and place and includes behaviors and functions of individuals which are formed in a specific geographical, economic, political, cultural, and religious context and influenced by them. Lifestyle as an essential and efficient agent, impacts different aspects of human health, including immune functions. In the Islamic lifestyle, many recommendations have beneficial effects on human health. Islamic lifestyle influences human immunity with comprehensive recommendations and rules for different stages of life from the beginning until death. Breastfeeding is strongly emphasized in the Islamic lifestyle with an essential role in passive immunity. The quality of breastfeeding has been noticed; therefore, some spiritual words during breastfeeding have been recommended, such as the name of God, which affect the mother's and baby's immune systems via the neuro-immuno-endocrine network. Islamic lifestyle, especially in nutrition and attention to permission and forbidden foods, can prevent obesity and nutritional disorders and therefore may influence infection spread and prevention of diseases. In addition, there is a good synchronization between the hours of prayer "Salat", circadian rhythm, and immune response. In fasting according to Islamic rules (Sawm), moderate hunger and thirst may result in the enhancement of T cell function, cytokine production, and NK cell activity and diminish the negative effects of cholesterol on the immune system. Emphasis on the necessity of paying attention to maintain spiritual health and piety (Taghva) and encouraging marriage are other examples of Islamic lifestyle-related recommendations with beneficial effects on human immune functions. Hence, it is believed that Islamic teaching presents patterns for a healthy life style that could be beneficial for the immune system.

Expression of Helicobacter pylori CagL gene in Lactococcus lactis MG1363 and evaluation of its immunogenicity as an oral vaccine in mice.

Helicobacter pylori is a gram negative pathogen which commonly colonizes in the human gastric mucosa from early childhood and persists throughout life. CagL is a 27-kDa protein that is located at the tip of T4SS pili and highly conserved among pathogenic H. pylori strains. Lactic acid bacteria especially Lactococcus lactis (L. lactis) could serve as an antigen-delivering vehicle for the development of edible vaccine. In this study H. pylori CagL gene was cloned in pAMJ2008 vector and transferred to Lactococcus lactis MG1363 as the host for CagL antigen production. This recombinant bacterium was orally subjected to mice, and the immune response to CagL was evaluated by ELISA. Intracellular expression of CagL protein was confirmed by Western blot analysis. Mucosal immunization of mice with the recombinant L. lactis significantly stimulated CagL-Specific antibodies: IgA, IgG, cytokine IL-17 and IFN-γ. Moreover, the specific anti-CagL IgA response was detected in the feces of immunized mice. These results indicate that CagL of H. pylori was successfully expressed in L. lactis and the recombinant bacteria can be potentially used as an edible vaccine against H. pylori infection.

Distribution of antimicrobial resistance genes and integrons among Shigella spp. isolated from water sources.

OBJECTIVES: Shigella spp. are an important group of waterborne pathogens worldwide. This study aimed to determine the frequency of Shigella spp. in a large collection of water samples and to uncover molecular aspects of antimicrobial resistance in the recovered isolates. METHODS: The antimicrobial resistance patterns, antimicrobial resistance genes (ARGs), including ß-lactamases (blaTEM, blaSHV, blaCTX-M, blaOXA, blaPER, blaVEB, blaGES and blaCMY), carbapenemases (blaKPC, blaNDM and blaIMP), plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes [qnrA, qnrB, qnrS and aac(6')-Ib] and tetracycline resistance genes [tet(A), tet(B), tet(C) and tet(D)], as well as class 1 and 2 integrons were analysed in Shigella spp. isolated from different water sources in Iran. RESULTS: Of 788 tested samples, Shigella sonnei and Shigella flexneri were detected in 9 (1.1%) and 6 (0.8%) samples, respectively. A multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype was observed in all of the isolates. Among the 15 Shigella isolates, 12 (80.0%), 5 (33.3%) and 7 (46.7%) were positive for genes encoding ß-lactam resistance, PMQR and tetracycline resistance, respectively. Class 1 integrons were more frequently detected among the isolates (8/15; 53.3%), consisting of 7 isolates (87.5%) with dfrA17-aadA5 and 1 isolate (12.5%) with sat1-aadA1 gene cassettes. The class 2 integron was detected in 3 isolates (20.0%) with the classic gene cassette array dfrA1-sat2-aadA1. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this study showed that Shigella spp. are prevalent in water sources in Iran. Furthermore, the potential role of ARGs and integrons in the emergence of a MDR phenotype in Shigella isolates of water origin was demonstrated.

The Inhibition Effect of Lactobacilli Against Growth and Biofilm Formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant and food-spoilage microorganisms has renewed efforts to identify safe and natural alternative agents of antibiotics such as probiotics. The aim of this study was the isolation of lactobacilli as potential probiotics from local dairy products with broad antibacterial and anti-biofilm activities against antibiotic-resistant strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and determination of their inhibition mechanism. Antibiotic susceptibility and classification of acquired resistance profiles of 80 P. aeruginosa strains were determined based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) new definition as multidrug-resistant (MDR), extensively drug-resistant (XDR), and pan-drug-resistant (PDR) followed by antibacterial assessment of lactobacilli against them by different methods. Among the 80 P. aeruginosa strains, 1 (1.3%), 50 (62.5%), and 78 (97.5%) were PDR, XDR, and MDR, respectively, and effective antibiotics against them were fosfomycin and polymyxins. Among 57 isolated lactobacillus strains, two strains which were identified as Lactobacillus fermentum using biochemical and 16S rDNA methods showed broad inhibition/killing and anti-biofilm effects against all P. aeruginosa strains. They formed strong biofilms and had bile salts and low pH tolerance. Although investigation of inhibition mechanism of these strains showed no bacteriocin production, results obtained by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis indicated that their inhibitory effect was the result of production of three main organic acids including lactic acid, acetic acid, and formic acid. Considering the broad activity of these two L. fermentum strains, they can potentially be used in bio-control of drug-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa.

Bovine colostrum in the management of nonorganic failure to thrive: a randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical efficacy of oral bovine colostrum in the management of nonorganic failure to thrive (FTT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a randomized clinical trial, 120 children (1-10 years of age) of either sex with mild or moderate nonorganic FTT were divided into 2 groups. Both groups were matched with regard to age, sex, weight, and height. One group (control) received routine treatments for FTT and the other group (case), besides routine treatments, received supplementary bovine colostrum at the dose of 40 mg . kg . day for a 3-month period. Following the initial visit, subsequent visits were completed following 1, 2, and 3 months of supplementation. For quantitative measurements, Waterlow I (height for age) and Gomez (weight for age) indices were used. RESULTS: The mean value of Gomez index in the case group (81.72) was significantly higher than the control group (77.12) at the end of the third month of supplementation (P = 0.003). Such a difference was not reported based on Waterlow I index between the case and control groups (92.91 vs 91.71; P = 0.094). According to Gomez index 12 patients (20%) who received colostrum became healthy at the end of the third month, which was significantly higher than the control group (2 cases, 3.3%); P = 0.006. CONCLUSIONS: Bovine colostrum supplementation for a 3-month period is a useful method without any side effects, in addition to known medical and psychological treatments, to increase the weight of children with nonorganic FTT.