Archives of Medical Laboratory Sciences

Background: Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter Baumannii (CRAB) hospital infection poses a serious threat to the health of the newborns in neonatal intensive care units (NICU). The present study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and resistance of hospital infections in the NICU ward at Imam Khomeini hospital in Tehran.

Materials and Methods: The bla_{OXA-51 like} gene was investigated with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Then, sensitivity of isolates to different antibiotics was assessed using disc diffusion method and broth micro dilutions to determine the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). Pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used for typing of randomly collected CRAB infection at different wards of this hospital.

Results: A total of 10 CRAB infections were isolatedduringthe6-month study period, and it was found that 100% of them were positive forbla_OXA-51-like gene in PCR assay.  All  isolates were resistant to all tested antibiotics, except colistin, polymyxin B, and tigecycline. CRAB isolates had a high MIC values for imipenem, cefotaxim, and amikacin, showing multidrug resistant (MDR) phenotype. According to PFGE analysis,3palsotypes including clone A (7%), clone B (2%), and clone D (1%) were seen in the 10 CRAB isolates. Clone A was a dominant clone and spread in different wards of the hospital, especially in other ICUs and the emergency ward. Moreover, the similarity between the palsotypes showed the ability of transferring CRAB infection from different wards of the hospital to the NICU.

Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, CRAB infection, with a high resistance rate, has the ability to enter into important wards such as NICU, and thus it is highly important to control the presence of these isolates in different parts of the hospital.

Background: Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) is one of the leading causes of hospital acquired infections. Infections with P. aeruginosa are often hard to treat because of existence of different mechanisms of antibiotic resistance changes in permeability of drugs and activity multidrug efflux pumps. The aim of current study was to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern of P. aeruginosa and existence of efflux pump MexAB genes using PCR technique.

Materials and Methods: 506 isolates cultured from different clinical specimens of patients hospitalized at Nohom Dey and Razi hospitals of Torbat Heydarie (northeast Iran) were collected and used in this study. Isolates were identified using conventional bacteriology and their susceptibility to different antibiotics were assessed using agar disk diffusion method. The PCR assay was used to detect efflux pump MexAB genes.

Results: From 506 isolates, 50 were identified as P. aeruginosa and these were isolated from isolated from blood, tracheal, burn, and wound. Incidence of P. aeruginosa was greater in males than females, wound infections had the highest number of occurrence and patients between 30-50 years were the most infected age group. In total, 60.86% of strains were multidrug resistant (MDR). The PCR technique revealed that most of the P. aeruginosa isolates and all the MDR strains contained MexA and MexB genes.

Conclusions: The emergence of MDR microorganisms poses serious therapeutic problems for patients. Determining bacterial resistance mechanisms is complex. In this way, efflux systems were responsible for antibiotic resistance and played an important role in the MDR phenotype among P. aeruginosa isolates.

Background: Previous studies reported that Palladium (Pd)(II) drug compounds showed significant anti-tumor activity in comparison with cis-platin.

Materials and Methods: In this study, we investigated the biological evaluations of a designed Pd (II) complexes (bi pyridine ethyl dithiocarbamate palladium II nitrate) via its anti-proliferative effects on the alterations in the function and structure of human hemoglobin (Hb) at different temperatures of 25 and 37°. Also for further investigation, multi-spectroscopic methods such as fluorescence and the far-UV circular dichroism (CD) with hemoglobin target were assessed.

 Results: Fluorescence data showed the pure ability of Pd(II) complex to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of Hb. The binding constant, number of binding sites, and thermodynamic parameters at two temperatures were assessed and the results demonstrated the major possibility of occurring electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions in the Pd (II) complex–Hb interaction. For evaluating the change of secondary structure of Hb upon interaction with various concentrations of complex, far-UV CD spectra was applied and it was observed that in high dose of complex, significant changes occurred which is indicative of some side effects in overdosing of this complex.

Conclusion: Our results suggested that using palladium complex as an anticancer agent might cause some disorders in structure and function of Hb as well as improve understanding of the side effects of newly designed metal anticancer drugs.

Background: Cancer prevention, by the use of natural dietary or secondary metabolites in plants is one of the strategies has been attracting some of the scientific interests. One of these natural agents is Quercetin, which has anti-metastatic and anti-cancer effects. MiR-21 among different miRNAs is one of the most important frequently up-regulated miRs in numerous cancers including breast and increase cell proliferation and decrease apoptosis and therefore leads to increases in cancer incidence. We assessed the effects of Quercetin on cell viability, MiR-21, Maspin and PTEN gene expression in the MCF-7 cell line.

Materials & Methods: The human MCF-7 breast cancer cell line was cultured in RPMI1640 and treated with different concentrations of Quercetin (0.01-100 μM) for 24 hours. The cytotoxic effect of Quercetin on MCF-7 viability was determined using Methyl-Thiazolyl-Tetrazolium (MTT) assay by IC50 determination. The relative expression of MiR-21, Maspin, and PTEN gene expression were determined by real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR).

Results: The maximum inhibitory effect of Quercetin on cell viability was observed at 100 μM after 24-hour incubation. The expression of MiR-21 in the treated cells compared to controls was significantly decreased after treatment with three different concentrations of Quercetin. In addition, expression of Maspin and PTEN in the treated cells compared to controls was significantly increased.

Conclusions: Quercetin decreases cell viability and miR-21 gene expression in a dose-dependent manner. Also, Quercetin decreases mir-21 gene expression and increases Maspin and PTEN expression in MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. The growth inhibitory properties and therapeutic effect of Quercetin on the breast cancer may be mediated by reduction of miR-21 expression, and for verifying this hypothesis and the possible therapeutic implication of Quercetin in this direction further studies are necessary.

Background: The current study was designed to investigate the changes of fasting blood glucose (FBG ), urea, uric acid, creatinine, aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-c), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-c), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-c), thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), thyroxin (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) of rats after long-term drinking of cold water.

Materials & Methods: In this experimental study, 12 adult male Wistar rats weighting 220-200 g were used. The rats were divided into 2 equal groups including, control and experimental groups.  The control and experimental groups received normal water (20 ° C) and cold water (4 ° C) for 60 days, respectively. At the end of the 60 days, blood was taken from the heart of animals. After separating the serum, concentration of FBG, urea, uric acid and creatinine, ALT, AST, TG, TC, HDL-c were assayed by spectrophotometer and LDL-c, VLDL-c were calculated by the Friedewald formula. The serum concentrations of TSH, T4 and T3 were identified by ELISA.

Results: Results showed that cold water significantly increased the levels of ALT,AST,TG, LDL,VLDL,TSH,T4 and T3 (P<0.05) and had no significant effect on urea, uric acid, creatinine, TC and HDL levels in experimental group compared to control group.

Conclusion: Cold water can have a devastating effect on the metabolism of the body in the long-term. Although more studies are needed.

Background: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a common virus that infects people of all ages. HCMV infection is an important and common complication in immunocompromised patients, especially transplant recipients. Antigenemia test and real-time PCR are one of the most common assays for diagnosis and monitoring of CMV infections. The aims of this study were to compare two common detection methods in order to identify clinically useful CMV infection in kidney transplant patients.

Material and methods: One hundred and fifty peripheral blood samples from kidney transplant patients, including 78 men and 72 women aged from 4 to 73 years; with mean age of 36 years, collected during March 2016 to June 2016. Then samples were investigated for pp65-antigen on polymorphonuclear cells and HCMV DNA viral load on plasma and whole blood.

Results: Out of 150 samples analyzed, HCMV DNA was detected in 47(31.33%) cases; with 26 (55.32%) and 21(44.68%) cases in men and women, respectively. The pp65 antigen was detected in 42(28%) casas; with 23 (54.76%) and 19 (45.24%) cases in men and women, respectively. Of the 150 samples, 42 (28%) were positive for both assays and 108 (72%)were negative.

Conclusion: Our findings showed both tests were significantly correlated and can be useful for monitoring of CMV infection. Hence, higher viral loads have been found to be associated with increase of disease complication, Real- time PCR is more suitable. The findings merit more investigations involving larger numbers of samples

Tacrolimus is a macrolide lactone antibiotic, and acts as a calcineurin inhibitor. It is widely used to prevent organ transplant rejection. It has been approved as first-line treatment after organ transplantation. Tacrolimus has narrow therapeutic range and wide individual variability in its pharmacokinetics. In organ transplantation, immunosuppression is associated with important risks, in particular, related to infections and cardiovascular diseases, which are the predominant causes of death in those with a functioning graft. This review focuses on toxicity of tacrolimus after transplantation. Tacrolimus toxicity is a major determinant of morbidity and mortality in organ recipients after transplantation. Therefore, reducing toxicities has become a priority. To decrease the incidence of side effects, and expand graft survival, the appropriate initial and maintenance dose of tacrolimus is essential. Clinical conditions that influence tacrolimus pharmacokinetics, such as hemorrhage, systemic inflammation and shock, all result in higher variations of tacrolimus concentrations. In addition, unbound plasma concentration is a major important reasonable parameter for monitoring of receiving optimal tacrolimus dosing in the unstable patient. Therefore, the approach of tacrolimus monitoring is vital and will support to avoid tacrolimus toxicity in the early days after transplantation.