Comparative Analysis of Mechanical Properties and Microbiological Resistance of Polyfilament and Monofilament Suture Materials Used in the Operation "Tooth Extraction".

In surgical dentistry, suture material is the only foreign body that remains in the tissues after surgery, and it can lead to several negative reactions, for example, infection of the wound. The purpose of this study was to compare the mechanical properties and microbiological resistance of mono- and polyfilament suture materials used in tooth extraction operations. The study of elongation and knot force was carried out on an Instron 5969 Dual Column Testing System device. The capillarity of the materials was studied on a setup assembled by the authors manually by immersing the ends of the filaments in a colored manganese solution. A microbiological study was carried out on the threads taken for the experiment immediately after wound suturing, and on day 7, at which time they were removed. The comparison was made according to Rothia mucilaginosa, Streptococcus sanguinis, Staphylococcus epidermidis. Results: monofilament suture materials (Prolene and Glycolon), after calculating the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney indices, showed better performance in all experiments compared to polyfilament sutures (Vicryl and PGA). In capillarity comparison, there was a significant difference between groups (p = 0.00018). According to the sum of the results of three microbiological studies on day 7, monofilament suture materials absorbed less of the studied bacteria on their surface compared to the polyfilament ones (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Of the studied suture materials, Prolene had the best microbiological resistance and good mechanical properties.

Off-target effects of an insect cell-expressed influenza HA-pseudotyped Gag-VLP preparation in limiting postinfluenza Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Clinical and historical data underscore the ability of influenza viruses to ally with Staphylococcus aureus and predispose the host for secondary bacterial pneumonia, which is a leading cause of influenza-associated mortality. This is fundamental because no vaccine for S. aureus is available and the number of antibiotic-resistant strains is alarmingly rising. Hence, this leaves influenza vaccination the only strategy to prevent postinfluenza staphylococcal infections. In the present work, we assessed the off-target effects of a Tnms42 insect cell-expressed BEI-treated Gag-VLP preparation expressing the HA of A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 (H1N1) in preventing S. aureus superinfection in mice pre-infected with a homologous or heterologous H1N1 viral challenge strain. Our results demonstrate that matched anti-hemagglutinin immunity elicited by a VLP preparation may suffice to prevent morbidity and mortality caused by lethal secondary bacterial infection. This effect was observed even when employing a single low antigen dose of 50 ng HA per animal. However, induction of anti-hemagglutinin immunity alone was not helpful in inhibiting heterologous viral replication and subsequent bacterial infection. Our results indicate the potential of the VLP vaccine approach in terms of immunogenicity but suggest that anti-HA immunity should not be considered as the sole preventive method for combatting influenza and postinfluenza bacterial infections.

The Potential of Influenza HA-Specific Immunity in Mitigating Lethality of Postinfluenza Pneumococcal Infections.

: Influenza virus infections pre-dispose an individual to secondary pneumococcal infections, which represent a serious public health concern. Matching influenza vaccination was demonstrated helpful in preventing postinfluenza bacterial infections and associated illnesses in humans. Yet, the impact of influenza hemagglutinin (HA)-specific immunity alone in this dual-infection scenario remains elusive. In the present study, we assessed the protective effect of neutralizing and non-neutralizing anti-hemagglutinin immunity in a BALB/c influenza-pneumococcus superinfection model. Our immunogens were insect cell-expressed hemagglutinin-Gag virus-like particles that had been differentially-treated for the inactivation of bioprocess-related baculovirus impurities. We evaluated the potential of several formulations to restrain the primary infection with vaccine-matched or -mismatched influenza strains and secondary bacterial replication. In addition, we investigated the effect of anti-HA immunity on the interferon status in mouse lungs prior to bacterial challenge. In our experimental setup, neutralizing anti-HA immunity provided significant but incomplete protection from postinfluenza bacterial superinfection, despite effective control of viral replication. In view of this, it was surprising to observe a survival advantage with non-neutralizing adaptive immunity when using a heterologous viral challenge strain. Our findings suggest that both neutralizing and non-neutralizing anti-HA immunity can reduce disease and mortality caused by postinfluenza pneumococcal infections.