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Septic Iliac vein thrombophlebitis with associated psoas abscess is a rare and severe entity, which diagnosis is challenging when no risk factor is clearly present. We are presenting a case of severe septic cavitary pulmonary emboli complicated with Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) that evolved rapidly to respiratory distress and multi organ failure. A 61-year-old Hispanic male, had multiple emergency department visits due to back pain, being most of them intramuscular pain medications and steroids. In the history, he had back pain that worsened accompanied by poor mobility, generalized malaise, fever and chills. Computed tomography (CT) scan showed a paravertebral psoas abscess with L5 - S1 diskitis/spondylitis inflammatory changes, which was then later evidenced by a gallium study. Further imaging studies were done, showed bilateral cavitary lung lesions, consistent with septic emboli. Subsequent blood cultures were positive for Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), for which a successful combined therapeutic regimen was used. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiogram were not suggestive of endocarditis. Staphylococcus aureus (SA) bacteremia is one of the most common serious bacterial infections with a high risk of metastatic complications, which makes this pathogen a unique one. The combination of factors iliac vein thrombophlebitis, psoas muscle abscess, diskitis/spondylitis with ARDS makes cavitary pulmonary disease a challenging perspective. After a 6-week antimicrobial treatment, full anticoagulation, his clinical condition and image findings improved, and he was recently admitted for physical rehabilitation. Major vessels thrombophlebitis should always be considered, when primary source of septic pulmonary emboli is not clear. This case illustrates the complexity of illness and complications that may arise from a source of infection as the one in this patient. Further therapeutic strategies were tailored accordingly.

The emergence of COVID-19 worldwide in an unprecedented pandemic. COVID-19 has a significant mortality, mostly from acute lung injury. We reviewed the available literature from China and Europe in regard to the behavior of SARS-Cov2 and ability to adhere to the cell wall [1,2]. The evidence based literature describes three component for the virus to grant entry to the target cells including Cathepsin B/L (the viral cap protein needed for initial connectivity to the cell wall), the angiotensin converting enzyme 2 and a low PH environment to allow the first connectivity of the virus to the cell wall [3]. The goal of our Case study was to prevent SARS- SARS-Cov2 from entering target cells by raising the airways PH using sodium bicarbonate inhalation. The sodium Bicarbonate inhalation (4.2% concentration) has been used safely in Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients with inspissated mucoid impaction [3,4] and in chloride inhalation toxicity by opposing the effect of the low PH induced by the insulting agent [4,5]. It has not been administered for COVID -19 patients particularly prior to this study. 

In this article different numerical techniques for solving optimal control problems is introduced, the aim of this paper is to achieve the best accuracy for the Optimal Control Problem (OCP) which has the objective of minimizing the size of tumor cells by the end of the treatment. An important aspect is considered, which is, the optimal concentrations of drugs that not affect the patient’s health significantly. To study the behavior of tumor growth, a mathematical model is used to simulate the dynamic behavior of tumors since it is difficult to prototype dynamic behavior of the tumor. A tumor-immune model with four components, namely, tumor cells, active cytotoxic T-cells (CTLs), helper T-cells, and a chemotherapeutic drug is used. Two general categories of optimal control methods which are indirect methods and direct ones based on nonlinear programming solvers and interior point algorithms are compared. Within the direct optimal control techniques, we review three different solutions techniques namely (i) multiple shooting methods, (ii) trapezoidal direct collocation method, (iii) Hermit- Simpson’s collocation method and within the indirect methods we review the Pontryagin’s Maximum principle with both collocation method and the backward forward sweep method. Results show that the direct methods achieved better control than indirect methods.

The surgical treatment of prostate cancer (PCa) had as its initial milestone the first prostatectomy, performed by H.H. Young at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, in 1904 [1], however, the procedure only reached a fundamental role after 1982, based on a better understanding and description of the male pelvic anatomy, by Walsh [2-6] and other [7-11]. Subsequently, minimally invasive approaches emerged: laparoscopic prostatectomy (1992) [12] and robot- assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) (2000) [13], which modified and optimized the execution of key surgical steps of this procedure, such as bladder neck preservation, nerve-sparing dissection, and prostate apex management [14].

The drugs of biological origins have attracted the attention of many pharmaceutical companies where it is essential to protect the heterogeneous nature and the optimal three dimensional structures of the different macromolecules. These molecules are used in both the investigation and therapy purposes, so their maximum activities should be maintained. This requires the designing of certain delivery formulations that suits the macromolecule nature, its target organ, the required dose and delivery route, and that’s why the biotech companies invest millions of dollars towards achieving that. The first main focal point of this article includes the recent developments in the formulation technologies for several biomacromolecule classes. The second focal point concentrates on the current considerations for optimizing their delivery for a maximum performance in the body.

Background: Klebsiella pneumoniae is a bacterial species that often causes infections in humans. Infections occur most frequently in hospitalised or immunocompromised patients and are treated with antimicrobials. In recent decades, K. pneumoniae has developed significant resistance to many antimicrobials. Objective: The main goal of this study was to determine the frequency of resistance of isolated K. pneumoniae strains from urine samples of hospital patients and outpatients, and to find evidence of ESBL strains and their resistance to certain antibiotics. Methods: During the study period, Klebsiella pneumonia was isolated from the urine samples of 430 patients. The procedure for processing of urine samples, identification, susceptibility toward antimicrobials and evidence of ESBL strains were carried out according to the recommended standards. Results: Of the total K. pneumoniae isolates, 153 (35.6%) were isolated from hospital patients and 277 (64.4%) from outpatients. Strains isolated from hospital patients were resistant to each tested antibiotic. ESBL strains were detected in 169 (39.30%) samples, 92 (60.13%) from hospital patients and 77 (27.8%) from outpatients. Conclusion: Strains of K. pneumoniae isolated from the urine of hospital patients and outpatients have developed significant resistance against all tested antibiotic substances. A higher occurrence of ESBL strains was observed in hospital patients than in outpatients. ESBL strains were resistant to all penicillins and almost all cephalosporins. Highly effective antimicrobials were amikacin, colistine, carbapenem and fosfomycin. The best therapeutic results were achieved when patients were treated with fosfomycin and imipenem.

The sequence-independent, single-primer amplification (SISPA) enables the random amplification of nucleic acids, allowing the detection and genome sequencing of different viral agents. This feature of SISPA method provides evidence for application of it in monitoring the presence of adventitious RNA viruses in cell cultures. We evaluated SISPA method for the detection of a challenge RNA virus representing adventitious agent in cell cultures. Besides, by optimizing the SISPA method in our laboratory, we found false-positive results on negative control lanes in electrophoresis gels. To investigate the sources of contamination, false-positive results of SISPA were cloned into Escherichia coli cells, sequenced, and phylogenetically analyzed. This data revealed that the SISPA method can be used as an adjunct method to confirm the absence of unexpected adventitious RNA viruses in cell cultures. The phylogenetic analysis of SISPA contaminant sequences showed that the false-positive results were caused by nucleic acid amplification of commercial cDNA synthesis kit reagents, probably tracing back to expression plasmids and host ribosomal sequences, used for the production of enzymes. Therefore, laboratories using random amplification methods must be constantly aware of the potentials of such contaminations, yielding false-positive results and background noise in the final NGS reads.

In the classification of cancer data sets, we note that they contain a number of additional features that influence the classification accuracy. There are many evolutionary algorithms that are used to define the feature and reduce dimensional patterns such as the gray wolf algorithm (GWO) after converting it from a continuous space to a discrete space. In this paper, a method of feature selection was proposed through two consecutive stages in the first stage, the fuzzy mutual information (FMI) technique is used to determine the most important feature selection of diseases dataset through a fuzzy model that was built based on the data size. In the second stage, the binary gray wolf optimization (BGWO) algorithm is used to determine a specific number of features affecting the process of classification, which came from the first stage. The proposed algorithm, FMI_BGWO, describes efficiency and effectiveness by obtaining a higher classification accuracy and a small number of selected genes compared to other competitor algorithms.

The isolation of phytase using Pichia Pastoris under methanol/sorbitol co-feeding induction technique was investigated. The biological activity of extracellular phytase after optimization with co-substrates induction in 4 liters fermentor (NBS) increased to 13250 U/ml. This led to a 509 fold increases in comparison to the other type of phytase. This effect was studied via induction with sorbitol/methanol in fermentation by Pichia Pastoris GS115 (Mut+) at 20 °C. The interference of by products; methylal, hexamine and (S)-(+)-1,2-propanediol with release of phytase in Pichia Pastoris under methanol induction were detected and cannot be repressed by methanol induction alone. The TLC was used for glycerin analysis under methanol/sorbitol induction and the results were lesser compare to that obtained during phytase production under methanol induction alone. This work showed the higher expression of heterologous proteins and by fed batch fermentation; the expression identified an advantage of producing a significant activity of phytase. Practical applications Plant derived products including sorbitol have been used as alternative medicines for the therapeutic treatment of various diseases, food supplements and could be used in many manufacturing processes. It serves as a culture media for bacteria, and helps to distinguish the pathogenic E. coli O157:H7 from its most other strains. Cells growing on methanol require high oxygen consumption. Sorbitol was used as an alternative cheap co-feeding for the production of proteins and is a non-repressing carbon source for AOX1 promoter with no effect on the level of r-protein at its induction phase. This report describes the isolation of phytase using Pichia Pastoris under methanol/sorbitol co-feeding induction techniques, and sorbitol showed to be a promising co-substrate, as it could enhance both cell growth and targeted protein productivity. This co-feeding and fed-batch induction technique was used for recombinant phytase production in a small and large scale production and the metabolites were analyzed.

Background: A structured multidisciplinary team is very important during every phase of the amputation process and a good communicative team guarantees a greater tranquility for the patient, thanks to more homogenous information, that is already discussed between the clinicians. Aim: The aim of this study was to define the efficacy and outcome value of an innovative procedure tool (TRIA-MF protocol) in the treatment of lower limb amputees before and after prosthesis use with the purpose to quantify the quality of the procedure and its economic impact on the clinical patients’ recovery. Setting: A rehabilitation institute for the treatment of neurological and orthopaedic gait disorders. Methods: 12 patients (4 women and 8 males) subjected to lower limb amputation and admitted according to the principles of inclusion criteria of the TRIA-MF protocol at the Rehabilitation Department of the Clinical Institute Città di Brescia were recruited in this study. All patients were included in an integrated and task-specific management protocol of the amputee, which allowed to follow the rehabilitation process from amputation to the final restoration, for a period of 6 months for each patient. Patients were evaluated 5 times during the study, collecting their degree of pain (VAS), their independence profile (Barthel Index) and the cirtometry of their amputation stump. Data on the duration of their admission to the rehabilitation unit, the inter-time between the amputation and acquisition of the temporary prosthesis, and between temporary prosthesis acquisition and the final prosthesis acquisition were also reported. Results: Patients of our sample, at the end of their hospitalization, highlight a significant modification of the temporal data at 1 month and 6 months from their hospital discharge. A statistical significant increase of the Barthel Index value was observed in all patients recruited in this study proceeding from time T0 to time T4; in the same way, a statistical significant decrease of the VAS scale was observed in all patients recruited proceeding from time T0 to time T4; the cirtometry of the amputation stump (expressed in cm) showed a statistical significant decrease in all patients recruited proceeding from time T0 to time T4. We haven’t observed a statistical significant correlation between the duration of the rehabilitative hospitalization and our clinical data; no statistical significant correlation was observed between the amputation stump cirtometry time-related modification and our intertime data. Conclusions: The protocol was found to be a clear and relevant tool with the definition of the operational profile for each single professional figure involved; it could also be considered as an optimal tool for coding the management and evaluation of the effectiveness of amputee treatment, with a related high reproducibility, sensitivity and specificity profile. In line with the literature, the TRIA-MF protocol has allowed us not to exceed a period of hospitalization in rehabilitation units of more than 23 days, thus showing that it is an excellent tool for optimizing the management costs of the amputee over time.

Background: Herbal essential oil contains pharmacological benefits for intervention treatment of various diseases. Studies have demonstrated its antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory effect involving in vitro cell culture and preclinical animal models. It has been also traditionally used to reduce anxiety and hypertension in human. However, scientific studies elucidating its mechanism of action and pharmacological targets, as well as its effectiveness and safety as phytotherapeutic compounds are still progressing. Recent studies showed its promising effect in depression-cardiovascular disease intervention. However, comprehensive evaluations to enlighten latest advancement and potential of herbal essential oil are still lacking. Objective: In this systematic review, the depression-cardiovascular effects of herbal essential oil on lipid profile, biochemical and physiological parameters (e.g haemodynamic) are presented. The route of delivery and mechanism of action as well as main bioactive compounds present in respective essential oil are discussed. Methods: Article searches are made using NCBI PubMed, PubMed Health, SCOPUS, Wiley Online, tandfonline, ScienceDirect and Espacenet for relevant studies and intellectual properties related to essential oil, depression and cardiovascular disease. Results: In experimentation involving in vitro, in vivo and clinical trials, herbal essential oil showed its effectiveness in reducing coronary artery disease (narrowing of the arteries), heart attack, abnormal heart rhythms, or arrhythmias, heart failure, heart valve disease, congenital heart disease, heart muscle disease (cardiomyopathy), pericardial disease, aorta disease, Marfan syndrome and vascular (blood vessel) disease. Conclusion: This review gives a valuable insight on the potential of essential oil in the intervention of depression associated with cardiovascular diseases. Studies showed that herbal essential oil could act as vasodepressor, calcium channel blocker, antihyperlipidemia, anticoagulant, antiatherogenesis and antithrombotic. It can be proposed as an interventional therapy for depression-cardiovascular disease to reduce doses and long-term side-effect of current pharmacological approach.

In the actual medical therapy of BPH, we can see: antibiotics, alpha blockers, 5-ARI, fitotherapeutics/natural products (Serenoa repens) with different which display clinical activities and other molecules such as FANS (local or systemic dosage forms) cortisones and others. Relationship between immune systems and chronic prostatitis are strictly involved in BPH progression. A vicious cycle that involve chronic flogosis, tissue remodeling, grow factors, inhibition of apoptosis, and other phenomena. Observing BPH pathogenesis under an immunologic point of view make possible to search new pharmacological strategies, to improve actual therapy. The aim of this work is to observe some relevant literature in our opinion related the management of BHP and its progression under a pharmaceutical and immunological point of view. A deep knowledge in the pharmaceutical properties of some molecules (antimicrobials, anti-phlogosis agents, Anti-androgenic agents, alpha blockers, 5-ARI and other treatments, techniques, interventions or instruments) can help the physicians to pick the right choice.

In this article, we describe the case of a fifty-year-old patient with autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) with constitutional symptoms, jaundice, unquantified fever and progressive dyspnea. The patient had history of smoking and Hepatitis A and following a physical exam she was found in a regular condition, icteric but with no other further signs. Her laboratory tests revealed hemolytic anemia with a hemoglobin of 8.5 g/dL, an increase of total and indirect bilirubin, an elevated ferritin, a decreased transferrin and haptoglobin and a positive result for direct Coomb’s test. Considering this, an immune profile was ordered finding a negative result of ANAs and ENAs and a decrease of complement C3 and C4. The patient was diagnosed with AIHA and as an initial step a corticosteroid treatment was administrated however the patient showed no clinical nor chemical improvement. At her third day of hospitalization, she was unstable hemodynamically requiring transfer to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to optimize management. After 24 hours on ICU, due to persistence of deterioration of the patient, it was decided to manage with erythropoietin (EPO). In the following days, the patient showed a rise in her hemoglobin and an overall improvement made possible the transfer to hospitalization service. The AIHA is an uncommon disease and is not the first option that comes to mind with these symptoms, currently there are not controlled studies to the treatment due to its complexity and the heterogeneity of the results. We strongly support the use of EPO in refractory cases of this pathology.

Corona Virus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become one of the most serious diseases in the history of mankind. It has captured the entire world and solutions are yet to be discovered to fight this global crisis. The outcomes of COVID-19 are influenced by a variety of pre-existing factors. The secondary microbial infections are one of the prominent ones that are major contributors for Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) as they warrant the use of antimicrobial medications. The present review aimed at exploring the potential relationship between AMR under such circumstances and COVID-19 related outcomes. The published literature across the globe has delineated that the impact of COVID-19 may have worsened by a great degree due to the presence of secondary infections majorly bacterial ones. The consequences of COVID-19 have been fatal and a significant proportion can be a major attributor to AMR, either directly or indirectly. Although, there is a dearth of studies that can establish a very strong and direct relationship between AMR and negative COVID-19 outcomes so in-depth research on this topic is required to further explain this relationship in detail. 

Capsicum spp. is one of the most important economical horticulture crops due to its high consumption either by fresh vegetable or dried spice. Molecular genetic markers offer a number of applications in the genetic improvement of crop plants, which plays an important role in the areas of plant classification and breeding programs. The polygenetic characters of rare species, which are difficult to analyze by traditional methods can, be analyzed easily and classified by using molecular markers. In our study, genetic relationships of twenty-two paprika species were examined to estimate their genetic variations/similarities and to detect the polymorphism present within and among the paprika species by using RAPD-PCR markers. The results revealed that the maximum similarities among the 16 ICBD lines were 100%. The ICBD 03 had 76% similarity compared with other ICBD lines. The CC01 had comparatively low similarity with ICBD forms (30%), followed by EC01 (28%), EC02 (33%), CC02 (35%), and Kt.Pl-19 (60%). The similarity between EC01 and EC02 were 54%. Kt.Pl-19 showed different similarities compared to CC01 (41%), CC02, EC01 (38%), EC02 (29%) and ICBD 03 (40%). The different combinations were tried to optimize the RAPD-PCR profile, which helped to assessing the polymorphism/similarities within and among the Paprika germoplasms were studied.

Aim: Study the monitoring method of separation of Salvianolate through macroporous resin chromatographic column using UV spectral data. Method: HPLC was used to determine the concentration of Salviol B in the eluent liquid of macroporous resin chromatographic column. The UV spectrum of the eluent liquid was measured using portable UV spectrometer. Stepwise regression was used to develop the model to predict the concentration of Salviol B in the eluent liquid of macroporous resin chromatographic column using the UV spectral data. Result: Stepwise regression model was developed to predict the concentration of Salviol B in the eluent liquid of macroporous resin chromatographic column. RMSE was 0.3263, MAP was 0.2323 and CV was 0.1796. Conclusion: Stepwise regression model could be used to predict the concentration of Salviol B in the eluent liquid of macroporous resin chromatographic column using UV spectral data

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the extremely popular causes of febrile illness in children, demanding antimicrobial therapy [1]. Overall, 8% of females and 2% of males, experience at least one incident of UTI by seven years of age, and recurrence takes place in up to 30% during a year [2].

Chronic prostatitis today show high level of relapses and recurrent pathological events even if using the best pharmacological therapy. A better understanding of physiopathological effect of ischemic hypoxic condition (pelvic, prostate tissue) and the lymphatic congestion in same body region contribute in evolution of a complex condition. The same focusing the strategy in biofilm reduction or in leukocyte infiltration can be a right way to reduce relapses and progression of the prostatic disease. Hypoxia is also related to prostatic cancer progression and prostatic biofilm if responsible of making a new micro- environment often drug resistance. A deep knowledge in this kind of phenomena can improve the clinical effect of drug therapy.

Despite critical care advances, robust antibiotic therapy and improved strategies in early detection and prevention of infection, the incidence of morbidity and mortality from neonatal sepsis worldwide in preterm and low birth weight neonates remains overwhelmingly high. Neonatal sepsis is characterised by a clinical syndrome of systemic signs of infection and bloodstream bacteraemia in newborns within the first months of life. The risk of sepsis in neonates is inversely proportional to gestational age and birth weight due to deficiency in humoral immunity and the need for more invasive supportive neonatal intensive care unit interventions. Adverse effects such as necrotising enterocolitis associated with antimicrobial therapy are serious enough to warrant exploration of alternative therapeutic strategies. Immunoglobulin replacement therapy offers hope of enhancing immune competence and reducing infection rates in vulnerable populations. It is evident from the relevant studies to date that the benefits offered by intravenous immunoglobulin prophylaxis may not be significant enough for routine hospital implementation. Further research to better understand the mechanisms underlying immunodeficiency will lead to the realisation of alternative therapeutic and prophylactic interventions.

Burns injuries induce a state of immunodepression that predisposes to a bacterial infectious complication that leads to several comorbid diseases and high mortality rate. Previous studies about anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Aloe vera (L.) Burm., Calendula officinalis L.and Matricaria recutita L. are acknowledge by antimicrobial effects. Previous studies about anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of Aloe vera (L.) Burm., Calendula officinalis L. and Matricaria recutita L. are knowledge by antimicrobial effects. Bacterial cellulose membrane (nature BCM) is a potential carrier as a drug delivery system in the wound and burn treatment. The present study aimed to evaluate the antibacterial activity of extracts of A. vera, C. officinalis, and M. recutita incorporated in BCM against bacterial strains commonly present in wound and burns. The agar-dilution susceptibility testing was used to determine the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) for S. aureus, E. coli, and P. aeruginosa. The standardized extracts of A. vera, M. recutita, and C. officinalis were, respectively, used at 3.25% of total polysaccharides, 1% of apigenin 7-O-glucoside and 0.084% of total flavonoids expressed in quercetin. The BCM incorporated with A. vera extract was efficient to prevent the growth of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus. BCM loaded with C. officinalis inhibited the growth of S. aureus. The BCM loaded with A. vera and C. officinalis extract showed better antibacterial activities against P. aeruginosa and S. aureus and, consequently, properties to prevent infectious disease in the wound or burn caused by these bacteria.