IRANIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGY
Year:2020 | Volume:14 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

Background: Scientometrics studies are one of the most efficient methods of quantitative evaluation of the scientific outputs of valuable information and citation databases for understanding and observing the status of scientific publications in different subject areas. The main aim of this article was to study the 50 years of Coronavirus scientific publications in the world. Materials & Methods: This applied research was carried out using scientometrics methods and an analytical approach. The statistical population of this article includes 5128 Coronavirus subject area documents indexed on the WoS from 1970 to 2019. The keywords were extracted from MeSH and analyzed using Excel 2016. Results: Data analysis showed that the highest science production was in 2005, and the highest citation number was in 2019. “ Enjuanes L. ” is the most proliferated author, the United States, the most productive country, and the University of Hong Kong, the top organization in Coronavirus in the last half-century. Conclusion: The results showed, there is a direct relationship between the Coronavirus outbreaks and the amount of Scientific Publications in this area in the World. The quality of the researchers' productions in this area can be deliberated by scientific methods and researchers' self-citation has affected their h-index. For health care researchers, policymakers, and planners, it is necessary to be aware of the results of scientific studies of strategic and vital research areas, such as Coronavirus, to identify more appropriate therapeutic goals, make better decisions, and provide more effective solutions in the shortest time.

The global regulatory plan for vaccines provides a unique opportunity to develop safe and effective ones with assured quality. Methods used by regulators address challenges of new products and technologies and also increase understanding of benefits and risks of existing products. First, the laboratory-based regulatory sciences evolve correlates of immunity and safety; or improve the product characterization and potency assays. Second, these sciences design clinical trial tools to analyze novel benefit-risk methodologies for vaccines, and standardize regulatory processes. The aim of the Global regulatory agenda is to transform current national efforts into a coordinated execution plan to support worldwide immunization goals. In the current article, it has been defined the role of regulatory science to improved access to effective vaccines, and identified gaps that could be addressed through that. Also, the challenges of implementing a regulatory agenda have been investigated, and proposed strategies to resolve these gaps. In this way, an appropriate agenda will enable regulators, academics and other stakeholders to work in a coordinated way to innovate in the regulatory processes in support of global immunization goals.

Background: Cancer is the priority of the World Health Organization (WHO) and a serious challenge in death of human untimely. Assessment of social and physiological risk factors in gastric carcinoma patients can reveal the reasons of high prevalence gastric carcinoma in Sanandaj city. Materials & Methods: In a descriptive cross-sectional study, the variables of sex, age, education, occupation and active Helicobacter pylori infection were evaluated in two groups of 50 patients with gastritis and 50 patients with gastric carcinoma referred to Sanandaj hospitals during 2018-2019. After recording the results of each patient in the questionnaire, data were analyzed using SPSS 25 and Chi-square test. Results: The results of this study showed that increasing of age, increased the prevalence of gastric carcinoma (P=0. 000). On the other hand, the prevalence of gastric cancer decreased with increasing of the level of education and job stability, whereas the prevalence of gastric cancer in the illiterate group was the highest rate (P=0. 000). The prevalence of gastric carcinoma in men was 4 times higher than women (P=0. 001). G2 tumor was the highest prevalence amongst other tumor grades. The prevalence of H. pylori infection was 48% in patients with gastric carcinoma and 46% in patients with gastritis. Conclusion: Prevalence of Social and physiological risk factors among patients with gastric carcinoma refer to Sanandaj hospitals is similar to societies with high prevalence.

Background: Acinetobacter baumannii is one of the causes of nosocomial infections, especially in the intensive care unit. The emergence of multidrug-resistant strains of A. baumannii has caused many problems. One of the ways to handle the phenomenon of antibiotic resistance is the use of herbal medicines and their derivatives in place of or in combination with antibiotics. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of inhibitory effects of berberine as a barberry derivative on clinical isolates of A. baumannii, resistant to ciprofloxacin and imipenem in Hamadan hospitals. Materials & Methods: In this study, 70 clinical isolates of A. baumannii. were identified and diagnosed using conventional microbiology. Resistance of isolates was detected against imipenem and ciprofloxacin by disk diffusion and broth microdilution method. Minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of berberine as well as its combined effect with antibiotics were performed using broth microdilution method. Results: The results of this study showed that more than 90% of isolates are resistant to ciprofloxacin and imipenem. Imipenem and ciprofloxacin MICs were dtermined from 8 to 28 and 4 to 32 μ g / mL, respectively. The berberine decreased the imipenem and ciprofloxacin MIC from zero to two fold and zero to one-fold, respectively. Conclusion: High level resistance to imipenem and ciprofloxacin among A. baumannii isolates is cause of concern. Berberin, in combination with imipenem and ciprofloxacin, reduces MIC to a proper level, which can be used as an effective agent to reduce antibiotic resistance in bacteria.

Background: Activity of norA efflux pump is one of the antibiotic resistance mechanisms in ciprofloxacin resistant Staphylococcus aureus. In this study, the effect of Artemisia ciniformis extract on reducing the expression of norA efflux pumps gene in ciprofloxacin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates was studied. Materials & Methods: Ciprofloxacin resistant S. aureus isolates, were treated by different concentration of A. ciniformis extract. After extracting RNA and synthesizing cDNA, norA efflux pump expression was evaluated by Real Time PCR. Results: There was significant decrease of norA efflux pump expression in ciprofloxacin-resistant S. aureus isolates treated by A. ciniformis extract (P<0. 05). Also, a different expression of norA efflux pump gene was reported. Conclusion: It seems A. ciniformis extract as a natural inhibitor, had potential for suppression of norA efflux pump activity.

Background: Melanin is a negative charge hydrophobic complex pigment. Melanin is produced naturally in bacteria to protect them against UV, free radicals and environmental stresses. Pigment production in bacteria has more advantages than other biosources due to its rapid growth, higher efficiency and easier extraction. The aim of this study was the isolation, biochemical and molecular identification the melanin pigment producing bacterium in the presence of l-tyrosine and the evaluation of the pigment biological properties. Materials & Methods: The soil sample was collected from the University of Isfahan Park, and cultured in nutrient agar medium containing l-tyrosine. The colony with brown halo was isolated and identified using phenotypic and molecular methods. The bacterial growth and melanin production were evaluated by spectrophotometry at 600 and 400 nm, respectively. The melanin pigment was extracted by increasing the acidity of the broth culture supernatant. The melanin production yield, antioxidant activity and sun protection factor (SPF) of melanin were determined. Results: Pseudomonas stutzeri strain UIS2 capable to grow in nutrient agar and melanin production, was isolated and registered in NCBI GenBank with accession no. MG519615. The maximum melanin production was obtained 600 mg l-1 by isolated strain. The antioxidant property of melanin in DPPH test was determined as 74. 9% and its SPF was 49. 05 U/mL. Conclusion: The melanin pigment from the isolated Pseudomonas showed high SPF and high antioxidant activity against ROS stresses. So, it can be suggested as a suitable candidate for application in cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and environmental decontaminant.

Background: Cervical and breast cancer are considered to be the most common cause of death among Iranian women. Various studies have shown that probiotics are effective fighting cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of Lactobacillus brevis on apoptosis and casp (casp3, casp8) gene expression in HeLa cancer cells. Materials & Methods: In this study, L. brevis bacteria were collected from the vaginal fluid of females referred to Alzahra Hospital and isolated and cultured in MRS agar medium. Inhibition of HeLa cancer cell proliferation by bacteria was evaluated by MTT assay. Apoptosis of cancer cells was measured by fluorescent microscopy using DAPI method. Finally, expression of Caspase and akt genes was measured by Real time PCR. Results: The results indicated that L. brevis had the same effect on HeLa cancer cells (P=0. 42, P=0. 26). On the other hand, there was no significant increase in akt gene expression (p> 0. 05). Conclusion: Lactobacillus brevis bacteria can be considered biologically safe for the development of a novel, high-impact, low-throughput therapeutic strategy. On the other hand, side-by-side treatment and prevention against cancer will be costeffective.

Background: One of the most important complications of toxoplasmosis is its early diagnosis. It seems that GRA7 protein can be a good candidate for detection of the acute phase in Toxoplasmosis. Accordingly, the present study aimed to diagnose toxoplasmosis via a newly immunochromatographic test using recombinant antigen gra7. Methods: The parasite was cultured in mice and then were used for DNA extraction. The gra7 gene was amplified by PCR and cloned into the pET-32a (+) plasmid. Thereafter, the recombinant vector was transferred into the Escherichia coli Rosetta strain and gra7 was detected via SDS-PAGE and western blotting. The bacterial lysate was used to purify the protein by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography. Anti-human gold conjugated antibody, test line and control line were injected to conjugate pad and nitrocellulose membrane, respectively, and all the layer were assembled. By using serum of patients and healthy individuals, manufactured kits were evaluated. Results: Our results indicated that the selected gene was correctly cloned and the protein of interest was produced and purified. The test revealed sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 96. 7 percent, respectively. The kit was also shown to be stable over 16 weeks in 37° C. Conclusion: The choice of antigen based on cellular and clinical features of the parasite, as well as the use of previous outcomes yielded to develop a rapid diagnostic test for toxoplasmosis.