In this study, the sera collected from a variety of mammalian species (ass-mules, cat, cattle, dog, horse, human and sheep) in 10 representative provinces of Turkey, were surveyed for the presence of neutralizing antibodies to West Nile virus (WNV). Overall, 1 of 40 (2.5%) ass-mules, 4 of 100 (4%) cattle, 43 of 114 (37.7%) dogs, 35 of 259 (13.5%) horses, 18 of 88 (20.4%) humans and 1 of 100 (1%) sheep, tested positive for WNV-neutralizing antibodies. The results indicate that a wide range of mammals are exposed to a West Nile-related virus and this could contribute to the long-term survival of this virus in the absence of overt disease.

Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii is an important cause of nosocomial infections, particularly in patients in the intensive care units. As chronic infections are difficult to treat, attempts have been made to discover new antimicrobials. Ceragenins, designed to mimic the activities of antimicrobial peptides, are a new class of antimicrobial agents. In this study, the in vitro activities of CSA-13 either alone or in combination with colistin (sulphate), tobramycin, and ciprofloxacin were investigated using 60 carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii strains isolated from bacteremia patients blood specimens. MICs and MBCs were determined by microbroth dilution technique. Combinations were assessed by using checkerboard technique. The MIC50 values (mg/L) of CSA-13, colistin, tobramycin, and ciprofloxacin were 2, 1, 1.25, and 80, respectively. The MIC90 (mg/L) of CSA-13 and colistin were 8 and 4. The MBCs were equal to or twice greater than those of the MICs. Synergistic interactions were mostly seen with CSA-13-colistin (55%), whereas the least synergistic interactions were observed in the CSA-13-tobramycin (35%) combination. No antagonism was observed. CSA-13 appears to be a good candidate for further investigations in the treatment of A. baumannii infections. However, future studies should be performed to correlate the safety, efficacy, and pharmacokinetic parameters of this molecule.

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Aim: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has led to over 200,000,000 confirmed cases and over 4,250,000 confirmed deaths worldwide. The present study aimed to explore the links between epidemiological, clinical, biochemical, microbiological, and radiological data and treatment responses of inpatients with COVID-19 pneumonia. Material and Method: The study included 131 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia. Laboratory values ​​such as complete blood count, coagulation profile, AST, LDH, sedimentation, CRP, BUN, creatinine, and D-dimer of the patients were analyzed. The diagnosis of COVID-19 was established by RT-PCR testing of respiratory tract samples. Thoracic CT images were used to determine the severity of involvement in patients. Statistical analyses were performed to establish the differences between the groups and the relationships between the variables. Results: The most common comorbidities of the patients were hypertension (35.1%) and diabetes mellitus (24.5%). The patients with fever, cough, and dyspnea and who were PCR positive had the highest radiological involvement severity score. The involvement severity scores were negatively correlated with the lymphocyte count, lymphocyte percentage, and albumin levels ​​(p

Our study showed types of adenoviruses in patients with ocular infection that occurred in this region of Turkey for the first time. Furthermore, sequence-based typing method is an efficient, accurate, and rapid means of diagnosis and typing of the adenovirus and has significant clinical and epidemiologic implications. HAdV-8 was major type for acute conjunctivitis in Ankara, Turkey. Further studies are required to reveal the major types of HAdVs that cause ocular diseases in this region of the world.

Halloysite nanotube (HNT), a natural clay, was modified with branched polyethyleneimine (PEI) to form PEI‐HNT using epichlorohydrin (ECH) as coupling agent, then protonated with HCl to obtain H‐PEI‐HNTs providing [NH3]+[Cl]− functionality for potential antimicrobial properties. Upon PEI modification, zeta potential value of HNTs was increased to +37.3 mV from −34.5 mV and to +41.1 mV for H‐PEI‐HNTs. Only 1.87 wt % H‐element in HNT was increased to 3.03 wt % upon PEI modification along with newly generated elements of N and C at 2.99 and 9.93 wt %, respectively. Moreover, ionic liquid (IL) forms of HNTs with [NH3]+[N(CN)2]−, [NH3]+[PF6]− and [NH3]+[BF4]− functionality were generated via anion exchange of H‐PEI‐HNTs with sodium dicyanamide (SDC), ammonium hexafluorophosphate (AHFP), and sodium tetrafluoroborate (STFB). The antimicrobial properties of the modified, protonated, and IL forms of HNTs were determined via macro dilution, diffusion and agar screening tests against Escherichia coli ATCC 8739, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 10145, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 strains, and Candida albicans ATCC 10231 strains. It was found that H‐PEI‐HNTs possesses potent antimicrobial effect compared with the other forms of HNTs with 2–4 mg mL−1 MIC and 8–16 mg mL−1 MBC values via the macro dilution method. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48352.