Background:Methicillin resistance is a serious health concern since it has spread among Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) that are frequent community and nosocomial pathogens worldwide. Methicillin-resistant strains are often resistant to other classes of antibiotics, making their treatment difficult. Nigella sativa oil is known to be active against Gram-positive cocci, yet its in vitro cytotoxicity is rarely investigated, is a proper and powerful candidate for treatment of methicillin-resistant isolates.Objectives:The aim of this study is to evaluate the in vitro antibacterial activity and cytotoxicity effect of N. sativa oil.Materials and Methods:The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of N. sativa oil were determined by broth microdilution method against four different American Type Culture Collection strains, 45 clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and 77 methicillin-resistant CoNS (MRCoNS). The effects of different dilutions (0.25 μg/mL, 0.5 μg/mL, and 1 μg/mL) of N. sativa oil on the proliferation of gingival fibroblasts were evaluated.Results:The MIC values of N. sativa oil against clinical isolates of Staphylococci were between <0.25 μg/mL and 1.0 μg/mL. Compared to the control group, there was no cytotoxic effect on the proliferation of the gingival fibroblasts.Conclusion:In the present study, the oil of N. sativa was very active against MRSA and MRCoNS and had no in vitro cytotoxicity at relevant concentrations. These findings emphasize that there is a requirement for further clinical trials on N. sativa oil for “safe” medical management of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococci.SUMMARY The minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of Nigella sativa oil against Staphylococcus aureus American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) 29213, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 29212, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853 standard strains were 0.5 μg/mL, 2 μg/mL, 64 μg/mL, and 64 μg/mL, respectivelyThe N. sativa oil showed an excellent antibacterial activity against clinical isolates of methicillin-resistant S. aureus and methicillin-resistant coagulase-negative Staphylococci with very low MIC range of <0.25–1.0 µg/mLThe N. sativa oil exhibited no cytotoxic effect on the proliferation of the gingival fibroblasts. Abbreviation used: ATCC: American Type Culture Collection; CLSI: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute; CoNS: Coagulase-negative Staphylococci; DMEM: Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; DMSO: Dimethyl sulfoxide; FBS: Fetal bovine serum; HGF: Human gingival fibroblast; MIC: Minimal inhibitory concentration; MRCoNS: Methicillin-resistant CoNS; MRSA: Methicillin-resistant S. aureus

This finding suggests the possibility of using these markers in diagnosis of MetS in adolescents to prevent future complications.

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Aims: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is characterized by a transition in vaginal microflora from lactobacilli to anaerobic bacteria. Gardnerella vaginalis and Atopobium vaginae are considered the most responsible pathogens for the etiology of BV. Colonization of male urethra with BV-associated bacteria has been rarely investigated. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences in the presence of BV-associated bacteria in the healthy male urethra in regard to sexual exposure. Methodology and results: The first-catch urine specimens, representative of urethral swabs, from 114 healthy male volunteers, were included in this study.

The artificial intelligence literature on the COVID-19 pandemic, which negatively affects the whole world in every field, is overgrowing. This study provides a bibliometric analysis of the global scientific output of artificial intelligence research on the COVID-19 pandemic. We collected literature data from the Web of Science Core Collection. The articles, proceeding papers, reviews, and early access documents published in English up to October 9, 2021, were included in the study. We used VOSviewer, and CiteSpace to analyze the retrieved data records. Moreover, we used the h-index of the authors and the impact factor of the publications. The annual publications of artificial intelligence research on COVID-19 have significantly increased to 103.76% from 2020 (1,648) to 2021 (3,352). By October 9, 2021, 5,368 documents were determined, 5,028 of which were included in the analysis. IEEE Access (140) has published the most articles. Harvard Medical School (71) is the best institute according to the number of publications. The USA (1,297) contributed the most publications with 8,906 citations, followed by the People's Republic of China (837), India (754), England (455), and Italy (333). Zhang, Yu-Dong is the best writer with 15 publications, followed by Al-Turjman, Fadi (13), Hassanien, Aboul Ella (13), Wang, Shui-Hua (12), and Wang, Wei (11). Moreover, the top five cited documents are Wynants (2020), Li (2020b), Ozturk (2020), Apostolopoulos (2020), and Yang (2020), respectively. We hope this bibliometric analysis will be helpful for researchers, practitioners, and other interested persons to find the latest trends regarding artificial intelligence research on the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings should contribute to filling in the gaps in the field, provide new perspectives for future research, and promote collaboration.

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Abstract. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with several non-homeostatic conditions and/or diseases like inflammation, atherosclerosis, cardiovascular disease and mortality. YKL-40 is a glycoprotein, secreted by macrophages, neutrophils and different cell types and it is also associated with inflammation and pathological tissue remodeling. In this study, we aimed to evaluate relationship between the proinflammatory biomarkers YKL-40 and hs-CRP levels and vitamin D deficiency. Our study group includes 45 subjects with vitamin D deficiency (Group 1) (20 M, 25 F; mean age 37.72 ± 7.70 years) and 40 age and sex-matched healthy subjects with normal serum levels of vitamin D (Group 2) (19 M, 21 F; mean age 39.26 ± 7.41 years). Plasma 25 (OH) vitamin D levels were measured by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. Plasma YKL-40 analysis was performed by ELISA. Serum hs-CRP levels were measured by nephelometric method. Plasma vitamin D levels below 20 ng/mL were accepted as vitamin D deficiency. Although we could not find any significant differences by means of serum hs-CRP levels between Group 1 and Group 2 (2.21 (0.27–11.70); 1.79 (0.16–9.85) mg/L, p = 0.247), plasma YKL-40 levels were significantly higher in group 1 than group2 (70.47 (17.84–198.50); 47.14 (4.80–135.48) ng/mL, p = 0.047). In literature, vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation. In our study, we found similar hs-CRP levels between groups and higher YKL-40 levels in group 1. Vitamin D deficiency may be related to high YKL-40 levels in terms of causing chronic inflammation.