Expansion of the range of Ixodes ricinus ticks further north and to higher altitudes affects the spread of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) in new territories and increases the risk of human infections. Over the past decade, the number of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) cases has increased in Norway and parts of the southern coast have been established as endemic. The aims of this study were to confirm the existence of TBEV endemic foci, determine the spread of TBE in different localities of Norway, review and compare relevant published records on the prevalence of TBEV in the different developmental stages and sex of the ticks. Ticks were collected from nine locations along the southern coast of Norway during June-July 2009. For the detection of TBEV-specific RNA, a real-time RT-PCR targeting a part of the 3’ non-coding region of the TBEV genome was used. A total of 1542 ticks grouped in 250 pools were examined and TBEV RNA was detected in 5 pools with overall prevalence of 0.32%.
Green synthesis of nanoparticles is a widely researched and popular direction in the development of nanotechnology. It is a simple, cheap and effective method for obtaining nanoparticles with interesting biological properties. In light of the development of antibiotic resistance to important clinical strains of bacteria, this method was used in the present study to obtain silver nanoparticles with antibacterial activity. The aim of this study was to synthesise silver nanoparticles with antibacterial action by yeast in a process known as “green synthesis”. We are also considering the prospect of using silver nanoparticles as an antibacterial substance for drug development. The production of nanoparticles was confirmed by UV spectroscopy. Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923 and Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 test strains and Staphylococcus aureus 1536 and Klebsiella pneumoniae 520 clinical isolates were used to study the antibacterial effect. The effect of synthesised nanoparticles on the metabolic activity of bacterial cells and their ability to adhere, as well as the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of synthesised nanoparticles for each of the strains, were determined. Following UV spectroscopy, the nanoparticles obtained were found to have a pronounced peak in optical absorption at 400 nm, corresponding to the plasmon resonance of silver nanoparticles, and demonstrated a high antibacterial effect against all the strains studied.
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