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Background: Primary infertility and secondary infertility of men in the reproductive age represent 1.9 and 10.5%, respectively. Many etiological factors are involved, among which urogenital bacterial infections play an important role. Materials and Methods:Semen analysis, bacteriological culture, and sensitivity analyses were carried out to investigate the effect of genitourinary infections on semen parameters of infertile men. Results: Staphylococcus aureus was the most common isolated pathogen (46.2%) followed by urogenic gram-negative pathogens (24.1%). The isolated microorganisms are highly sensitive to piperacillin/tazobactam, imipenem, meropenem, gentamicin, doxycycline, amikacin, and nitrofurantoin. These antibiotics could be used empirically while awaiting the results of semen culture. Conclusion: Semen culture is an important diagnostic tool in all patients undergoing fertility investigations to detect genitourinary infections, pyospermia, and bacteriospermia. Moreover, early treatment should be considered according to the results of culture whenever possible. Wide range of broad-spectrum antibiotics can be used as an empirical treatment for infertile patients to adjust the seminal parameters and reduce the number of leukocytes in semen ejaculates.

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Introduction: The increasing incidence of methicillin resistance among Staphylococci has led to renewed interest in the usage of macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) antibiotics to treat S. aureus infections, with clindamycin being the preferable agent owing to its excellent pharmacokinetic properties. Inducible clindamycin resistance my lead to therapeutic failure. Aim: Detection of the prevalence of constitutive and inducible clindamycin resistance in clinical isolates of S. aureus to improve the clinical outcomes in patients. Methodology: A total of 176 non-duplicate staphylococcal isolates were isolated from different clinical samples. Methicillin resistance was detected using Cefoxitin disk diffusion (CDD) method. Phenotypic clindamycin resistance was performed for all isolates by D test. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay were done for detection of erm resistance genes (ermA, ermB and ermC). Results: Out of 176 strains of S. aureus, 108 isolates (61.3%) were identified as MRSA. Erythromycin and clindamycin resistance was detected in 96 isolates (54.5%) and 68 isolates (38.6%) respectively. Clindamycin resistance (cMLSB) was significantly higher (p value < 0.001) in MRSA strains (56 isolates) compared to MSSA (12 isolates). Resistant genes were detected in 160 isolates (91%). The ermA gene was detected in 28 isolates (16%), the ermB gene was detected in 80 isolates (45.5%) (p < 0.001). Conclusions and recommendations: The frequency of constitutive and inducible clindamycin resistance in MRSA isolates emphasizes the need to use D test in routine antimicrobial susceptibility testing to detect the susceptibility to clindamycin as the inducible resistance phenotype can inhibit the action of clindamycin and affect the treatment efficacy.

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Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of gastritis, peptic ulcer, and gastric cancer. The presence of pathogenicity islands (PAI) genes contributes to the pathogenesis of many gastrointestinal disorders. Cytotoxin-associated gene A (cagA) and vacuolating cytotoxin gene (vacA) are the most known virulence genes in H. pylori. So, our aim was to study H. pylori virulence genes’ role in gastric disorders pathogenesis. Our study included 150 adult patients who suffered dyspeptic symptoms and were referred to the GIT endoscopy unit. Gastric biopsies were attained for rapid urease test (RUT) and histopathological examination, and multiplex PCR technique for detection of virulence genes was performed. It was found that 100 specimens were (RUT) positive, of which sixty samples (60%) were PCR positive for H. pylori ureC gene. The vacA and cagA genes were identified in 61.6% and 53% of H. pylori strains, respectively. Only 5 cases were vacA-positive and cagA-negative. The most virulent vacA s1 allele existed in 56.6% of cases. Out of the 60 H. pylori strains, 66% had at least one virulence gene and 34% did not show any virulence gene. H. pylori infection showed significant increase with age. H. pylori are prevalent amid dyspeptic patients in our region. The main genotype combinations were vacA+/cagA+ of s1m1 genotype and they were frequently associated with peptic ulcer diseases, gastritis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Sry related high mobility group box 17 (Sox17), which is a marker of endodermal cells and a transcriptional regulator, has a critical role in the maintenance of fetal and neonatal hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). Sox17 has been identified as a key regulator of the development and differentiation of fetal hematopoietic progenitors from the aorta-gonad-mesonephros (AGM) region. The co-culture of Sox17-transduced hematopoietic progenitor cells (CD45 low c-Kit high cells) from AGM regions on OP9 stromal cells gives rise to multipotential hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Here, we show that in a primary transplantation experiment, Sox17-transduction in CD45 low c-Kit high cells of embryonic day (E) 10.5 AGM increased the absolute number of common myeloid progenitors (CMPs) in the bone marrow (BM) of recipient mice in comparison to that of granulocyte/macrophage progenitors (GMPs) and the megakaryocyte/erythroid progenitors (MEPs). When Sox17-transduced cells were cultured with OP9 stromal cells, Sox17-transduced GMPs (Sox17-GMPs), Sox17-transduced CMPs (Sox17-CMPs), and Sox17-transduced MEPs (Sox17-MEPs) were generated. Sox17-GMPs and Sox17-CMPs maintained their self-renewal capacity and the hematopoietic ability upon co-culture with the OP9 stromal cells for some passages. Moreover, Sox17-GMPs exhibited the increase in expression of c-Mpl and GATA-2 in comparison to GMPs of BM and Sox17-CMPs showed the increase in expression of c-Mpl, NF-E2, and b-globin genes in comparison to CMPs of BM. Furthermore, when Sox17-transduced cells were cultured in methylcellulose to examine the colony-forming ability, Sox17-GMPs and Sox17-CMPs maintained the formation of mixed colonies for some passages. Taken together, Sox17 is suggested to regulate the maintenance and differentiation of hematopoietic progenitors derived from AGM regions at midgestation, in particular myeloid progenitors.