International Journal of Enteric Pathogens
Volume:10 Issue: 3, Aug 2022

 Cirrhosis reduced small bowel motility and transit time, with unknown mechanisms. Moreover, intestinal motility depends on the electrical activity and the autorhythmicity of interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC). If cirrhosis directly affects the intrinsic mechanism of intestinal motility, the isolated bowel of cirrhotic cases will also exhibit an electrical abnormality compared with normal cases.

 This study aimed to identify the effects of liver cirrhosis on the electrical autorhythmicity of isolated duodenum in rats.

 Six weeks after bile duct ligation (BDL) surgery, animals were anesthetized, and blood samples were obtained from the heart for the evaluation of plasma cirrhosis indices, including weight, plasma albumin, serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT), serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT), bilirubin, and direct bilirubin. Then, the duodenum of rats was isolated and compared with the control group for the rate of electrical slow waves and the maximum amplitude of slow waves.

 Significant differences were observed between the control and BDL group in terms of weight, plasma albumin, SGOT, SGPT, bilirubin, and direct bilirubin. Moreover, there was a significant decrease in the maximum amplitude of slow waves in the BDL group compared with the control.

 It seems that different factors directly harm the ICC network such as inflammation caused by microbiome amplification as a result of cirrhosis, which in turn reduces small bowel motility.

 The root smoke of Costus arabicus L. (Qust-e Shirin) has been used in Iranian traditional medicine (ITM) for rhinorrhea and catarrh, especially with infectious origin.

 This study aimed to inspect potential anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) activities of chemical compositions of this smoke through a docking study.

 Based on our previous study on the chemical compositions of C. arabicus root smoke, the chemical structure of components was revealed by GC-MS. In this study, these structures were generated in HyperChem software, and an energy-minimization procedure was performed for the molecules. For the docking study, the Hex software was used. Docking was performed using the Protein Data Bank (PDB) structure of the COVID-19 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) (PDB ID: 6M71) enzyme which was obtained from PDB bank, water molecules were removed, Coleman charge was added, and non-polar hydrogens were merged. Then, docking was performed.

 The result indicated the energy of each interaction between molecules and enzymes. The lower the energy, the higher the probability of interaction will be. The best molecule was 6H-quindoline which has the best total energy among the molecules. The next molecule was 5-methoxy-alpha methyl tryptamine with -210.82 kcal energy. Their similar structure in indole moiety suggests that this fragment can play a crucial role in attachment to the enzyme and can be kept intact in future designs against COVID-19 inhibitors.

 In conclusion, this study showed that C. arabicus root smoke may be effective in SARS-CoV-2 infection. Further in vitro and in vivo studies on the activity of the smoke and its constituents against COVID-19 would be fruitful.

 Toxocariasis caused by Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati is a worldwide zoonotic parasitic infection that can be acquired from contaminated soil. The soil contamination of public places and parks is one of the effective factors in human pollution.

 The current study was designed and implemented to investigate the prevalence of Toxocara species eggs in the soil of Marand parks (in the northwest of Iran).

 Present cross-sectional study was conducted between September and December 2021. Overall, 160 samples were collected from 10 large parks with high traffic and then analyzed by parasitological techniques (sucrose flotation).

 The overall prevalence was assessed at 27.2% in Marand public parks; the highest and lowest prevalence rates were related to Besat park and Shahr park, respectively (39.6% vs. 19.3%). The maximum number of recovered eggs from 100 grams of soil was seven eggs.

 Considering the remarkable prevalence of Toxocara spp. in the Marand parks, control and preventive measures seem necessary.

 Bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the progress made in medicinal plants have caused researchers to pay attention to antibacterial compounds in plants.

 In this study, we assessed the prebiotic and antipathogenic effects of the aqueous extract of Cinnamomum zeylanicum.

 Antibacterial activity of the aqueous extract was performed on various target cultures. Determining the activity of the extract n inhibiting the growth of bacteria was done using broth dilution technique. We evaluated the prebiotic activity of extract on Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus acidophilus probiotic bacteria.

 C. zeylanicum extract was able to inhibit the growth of all six pathogens. Furthermore, C. zeylanicum extract had prebiotic properties for L. reuteri and L. acidophilus bacteria.

 There are antibacterial substances in the aqueous extract of C. zeylanicum, and it has prebiotic activity. Therefore, this makes C. zeylanicum considered a good candidate for food supplementation to prevent gastroenteritis.

 Due to the increase of multidrug resistance (MDR) in organisms that cause urinary tract infections (UTIs), we need to investigate anti-microbial resistance (AMR) in these pathogens on a regular basis.

 The main purpose of this cross-sectional study was the use of updated phylotyping method to evaluate the possible correlations between biofilm production, hemolysin production, and antibiotic resistance among uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC).

 A total of 138 UPEC isolates were evaluated for biofilm formation, hemolysin production, and antimicrobial susceptibility to five classes of antibiotics, including quinolones, β-lactams, tetracyclines, and sulfonamides. The phylogenetic structure was determined using the original and recently updated protocols.

 Our results demonstrated that of 138 UPEC isolates, the majority belonged to phylogenetic group B2 (34.7%), followed by F (13.7%). Ninety-four (68%) isolates showed hemolytic activity but hemolysis had no correlation with antibiotic resistance while a correlation was observed between the hemolytic activity and biofilm formation. Moderate to strong biofilm production was observed in 34.7% of the isolates. Additionally, 73% of them showed hemolytic activity and most of them belonged to B2 phylogroup (37.5%). In this study, increasing rates of phylogroup F were detected compared to the old method that indicates the possible importance of this phylotype in UTI. Additionally, detecting the novel phylogroup G provides more precise data which can only be obtained by the new method.

 The findings of the present study showed that more precise phylotyping results can be obtained when evaluating different aspects of UPEC in epidemiological studies using the new complementary method.

 Cancer has spread rapidly all over the world, and its spread has been considered a big health problem by international organizations. Today, patients prefer to use medicinal plants to treat infectious and non-infectious diseases.

 Considering that Scutellaria has therapeutic properties, this study was conducted to investigate the anti-cancer and anti-bacterial effects of biologically active compounds of Scutellaria species.

 In this research, data were extracted from various research reports and other reliable sources. In this systematic review, websites and databases of Magiran, SID, PubMed, Iranmed, Scopus, and Google scholar were searched for papers published in Persian and English using the keywords of anti-cancer compounds, anti-bacterial, Scutellaria species, and cancer cells. No time limitation was applied. Several interventional studies were identified. These studies were selected based on the purpose of the study.

 The research results showed that Scutellaria species contain bioactive compounds such as wogonin, wogonoside, baicalein, baicalin, squalane, apigenin, flavonoid, and neobaicalein, which have anti-cancer and anti-microbial properties.

 Despite the anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties of Scutellaria species, whether Scutellaria can be used as an anti-cancer and anti-bacterial agent in clinical settings depends on many factors, which need further studies.