infections are prevalent in healthcare and community environments. Methicillin-resistant
is catalogued as a superbug of high priority among the pathogens. This Gram-positive coccus can form biofilms ...and produce toxins, leading to persistent infection and antibiotic resistance. Limited effective antibiotics have encouraged the development of innovative strategies, with a particular emphasis on resistance mechanisms and/or virulence factors. Medicinal aromatic plants have emerged as promising alternative sources. This study investigated the antimicrobial, antibiofilm, and antihemolysis properties of three different chemotypes of
essential oil (EO) against susceptible and drug-resistant
strains. The chemical composition of the EO was analyzed using GC-MS, revealing high monoterpene concentrations, with carvacrol and thymol as the major components in two of the chemotypes. The third chemotype consisted mainly of the sesquiterpene β-caryophyllene. The MIC values for the two monoterpene chemotypes ranged from 62.5 to 500 µg/mL for all strains, whereas the sesquiterpene chemotype showed activity against seven strains at concentrations of 125-500 µg/mL, which is the first report of its anti-
activity. The phenolic chemotypes inhibited biofilm formation in seven
strains, whereas the sesquiterpene chemotype only inhibited biofilm formation in four strains. In addition, phenolic chemotypes displayed antihemolysis activity, with IC
values ranging from 58.9 ± 3.8 to 128.3 ± 9.2 µg/mL. Our study highlights the importance of
EO from the Yucatan Peninsula, which has the potential for the development of anti-
agents.
This study aimed to determine the feasibility of applying machine-learning methods to assess the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and acute ...renal injury (AKI). The study was conducted on patients aged 18 years or older who were diagnosed with COVID-19 and AKI between April 2020 and March 2021, and admitted to a second-level hospital in Mérida, Yucatán, México. Of the admitted patients, 47.92% died and 52.06% were discharged. Among the discharged patients, 176 developed AKI during hospitalization, and 131 agreed to participate in the study. The study’s results indicated that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) for the four models was 0.826 for the support vector machine (SVM), 0.828 for the random forest, 0.840 for the logistic regression, and 0.841 for the boosting model. Variable selection methods were utilized to enhance the performance of the classifier, with the SVM model demonstrating the best overall performance, achieving a classification rate of 99.8% ± 0.1 in the training set and 98.43% ± 1.79 in the validation set in AUC-ROC values. These findings have the potential to aid in the early detection and management of CKD, a complication of AKI resulting from COVID-19. Further research is required to confirm these results.
Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widely used for multiple reasons such as treatment of diseases and their symptoms, empowerment, self-care, disease prevention, dissatisfaction, adverse ...effects or cost of conventional medicine, perception of compatibility with beliefs, and idiosyncrasy. This study investigated CAM use in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) undergoing peritoneal dialysis (PD).
A cross-sectional survey study was conducted with 240 eligible patients with CKD in the PD program. By applying the I-CAM-Q-questionnaire, the frequency, level of satisfaction, and reasons for CAM use were explored, and the demographic and clinical data of users and non-users were analyzed. Data analysis included descriptive analysis, Student's
-test, Mann-Whitney U, chi-square, and Fisher tests.
The main types of CAM used were herbal medicine, and chamomile was the most commonly used. To improve the state of well-being was the main reason for use, the attributable benefit of CAM was high, and only a low percentage of users reported side effects. Only 31.8% of the users informed their physicians.
The use of CAM is popular among renal patients, and physicians are not adequately informed; in particular, the CAM type ingested represents a risk for drug interactions and toxicity.
The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
strains threaten the control of tuberculosis. New antitubercular dihydrosphingosine analogs, named UCIs, have been evaluated in ...preclinical studies but their cellular and molecular mechanisms of action against
M. tuberculosis
are still unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of UCI exposure on gene expression of drug-sensitive H37Rv and MDR CIBIN:UMF:15:99 clones of
M. tuberculosis
which were isolated, phenotypically, and genetically characterized, cultured to log phase and treated with UCI compounds; followed by total RNA isolation, reverse transcription and hybridization assays on Affymetrix genomic microarrays. Data were validated with RT-qPCR assays. As results, UCI-05 and UCI-14 exposure increased
gltA1
expression in drug-sensitive H37Rv clones. Furthermore, UCI-05 increased
lprQ
expression in MDR CIBIN:UMF:15:99
M. tuberculosis
clones while UCI-14 reduced the expression of this gene in drug-sensitive H37Rv clones. In addition, UCI-05 reduced
rpsO
expression in drug-sensitive H37Rv clones. We found gene expression alterations that suggest these molecules may alter carbon and lipid metabolism as well as interfere in the protein-producing machinery in
M. tuberculosis
.
Schoepfia schreberi has been used in Mayan folk medicine to treat diarrhea and cough. This study aimed to determine the anti-growth, anti-resistance, and/or anti-virulence activities of S. schreberi ...extracts against Acinetobacter baumannii, a pathogen leader that causes healthcare-associated infections with high rates of drug-resistant including carbapenems, the last line of antibiotics known as superbugs, and analyze their composition using HPLC-DAD. Ethyl acetate (SSB-3) and methanol (SSB-4) bark extracts exhibit antimicrobial and biocidal effects against drug-susceptible and drug-resistant A. baumannii. Chemical analysis revealed that SSB-3 and SSB-4 contained of gallic and ellagic acids derivatives. The anti-resistance activity of the extracts revealed that SSB-3 or SSB-4, combined with imipenem, exhibited potent antibiotic reversal activity against A. baumannii by acting as pump efflux modulators. The extracts also displayed activity against surface motility of A. baumannii and its capacity to survive reactive oxygen species. This study suggests that S. schreberi can be considered a source of antibiotics, even adjuvanted compounds, as anti-resistant or anti-virulence agents against A. baumannii, contributing to ethnopharmacological knowledge and reappraisal of Mayan medicinal flora, and supporting the traditional use of the bark of the medicinal plant S. schreberi for the treatment of infectious diseases.
The new mulinane diterpenoids 1 and 2 were isolated from the EtOAc extract of Mulinum crassifolium, while the rearranged mulinane 5, which was isolated for the first time from a natural source, was ...isolated from Azorella compacta. Compounds 1-2 were prepared by semi-synthesis thorough acetylation of the diterpene 17-acetoxymulinic acid (3). A mechanism of reaction was proposed, while the structures of the new compounds were elucidated on the basis of comprehensive spectroscopic analysis and computational methods.
Mulinane- and azorellane-type diterpenoids have unique tricyclic fused five-, six-, and seven-membered systems and a wide range of biological properties, including antimicrobial, antiprotozoal, ...spermicidal, gastroprotective, and anti-inflammatory, among others. These secondary metabolites are exclusive constituents of medicinal plants belonging to the
,
, and
genera. In the last 30 years, more than 95 mulinanes and azorellanes have been reported, 49 of them being natural products, 4 synthetics, and the rest semisynthetic and biotransformed derivatives. This systematic review highlights the biosynthetic origin, the chemistry, and the pharmacological activities of this remarkably interesting group of diterpenoids.
Tuberculosis causes more than 1.2 million deaths each year. Worldwide, it is the first cause of death by a single infectious agent. The emergence of drug-resistant strains has limited pharmacological ...treatment of the disease and today, new drugs are urgently needed. Semi-synthetic mulinanes have previously shown important activity against multidrug-resistant (MDR)
. In this investigation, a new set of semi-synthetic mulinanes were synthetized, characterized, and evaluated for their in vitro activity against three drug-resistant clinical isolates of
: MDR, pre-extensively Drug-Resistant (pre-XDR), and extensively Drug-Resistant (XDR), and against the drug-susceptible laboratory reference strain H37Rv. Derivative 1a showed the best anti-TB activity (minimum inhibitory concentration MIC = 5.4 µM) against the susceptible strain and was twice as potent (MIC = 2.7 µM) on the MDR, pre-XDR, and XDR strains and also possessed a bactericidal effect. Derivative 1a was also tested for its anti-TB activity in mice infected with the MDR strain. In this case, 1a produced a significant reduction of pulmonary bacilli loads, six times lower than the control, when tested at 0.2536 mg/Kg. In addition, 1a demonstrated an adjuvant effect by shortening second-line chemotherapy. Finally, the selectivity index of >15.64 shown by 1a when tested on Vero cells makes this derivative an important candidate for future studies in the development of novel antitubercular agents.
Four new partially acylated tetrasaccharides of 11-hydroxyhexadecanoic acid (1−4) were isolated from a methanolic extract of Ipomoea tyrianthina. The structures of these compounds were elucidated by ...spectroscopic and chemical methods. The resin glycoside composition of I. tyrianthina varied with the location of growth in Mexico. Compounds 1−4 showed antimycobacterial activity, were cytotoxic against the KB cell line, and, in a mouse model, exhibited potentiation of hypnosis induced by pentobarbital, protected against seizures induced by pentylenetetrazole, and released GABA and glutamic acid.
Urinary tract infections (UTI) are a severe public health problem and are caused mainly by the uropathogenic 'Escherichia coli' (UPEC). Antimicrobial resistance and limited development of new ...antimicrobials have led to the reuse of old antibiotics such as fosfomycin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vitro efficacy of fosfomycin on a collection of multidrug-resistant (MDR) UPEC and the degradative activity on biofilm producers. A total of 100 MDR UPEC clinical isolates were collected from patients at Mexican second- and third-level hospitals. Microorganism identification was performed using an automated system, the evaluation of the susceptibility of clinical isolates to fosfomycin was performed using the resazurin microtiter assay, and the identification of biofilm producers and the effect of fosfomycin in biofilms were evaluated using the crystal violet method. Among planktonic MDR UPEC, 93% were susceptible to fosfomycin. Eighty-three MDR UPEC were categorized as weak (39.8%), moderate (45.2%), and strong (14.5%) biofilm producers. Fosfomycin exhibited degradative activity ranging from 164.4 g/mL to 1045 g/mL. Weak producers required statistically lower concentrations of fosfomycin to destroy the biofilm, contrary to moderate and strong producers. In conclusion, fosfomycin could be an option for the treatment of infections caused by MDR UPEC, for which the antimicrobial treatment is more often becoming limited.
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