Summary Because of the emergence of antibiotic‐resistant pathogens worldwide, a number of infectious diseases have become difficult to treat. This threatening situation is worsened by the fact that very limited progress has been made in developing new and potent antibiotics in recent years. However, a group of antimicrobials, the so‐called bacteriocins, have been much studied lately because they hold a great potential in controlling antibiotic‐resistant pathogens. Bacteriocins are small antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) produced by numerous bacteria. They often act toward species related to the producer with a very high potency (at pico‐ to nanomolar concentration) and specificity. The common mechanisms of killing by bacteriocins are destruction of target cells by pore formation and/or inhibition of cell wall synthesis. Several studies have revealed that bacteriocins display great potential in the medical sector as bacteriocinogenic probiotics and in the clinic as therapeutic agents. In this review, we discuss the emerging antibiotic resistance and strategies to control its dissemination, before we highlight the potential of AMPs from bacteria as a new genre of antimicrobial agents.

Objective The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in Lower Egypt.Design A cross-sectional clinic-/hospital-based survey.Setting Five district medical centres in Dakahlia Governorate: Shirbin, Bilquas, Samblawen, Dekrinis and Mansoura City.Population One thousand married women aged between 16 and 49 years.Methods Data were collected by personal interview in a questionnaire format in addition to physical examination (when allowed).Main outcome measures FSD and associated risk factors.Results The response rate was 93.6%. 68.9% of women had one or more sexual problems; however, 23% of the women with sexual problems were not distressed by these issues. 31.5% of women suffered from dyspareunia. 49.6% of the women had decreased sexual desire, 36% had difficult arousal and 16.9% had anorgasmia (primary and secondary). Marital disharmony, 'hate' and unfavourable socio-economic circumstances were the most common aggravating factors (28.1%) for sexual dysfunction among the participants, followed by pregnancy-related events (15.7%). Most women (84.5%) received no help for their sexual problems. 90.3% of the women were circumcised. Only 7.1% (46 of 645) of women with sexual problems had received treatment, with no real improvement reported in 58.7% (27 of the 46 women).Conclusions FSD is a highly prevalent problem within the scope of this study. Low reporting rates and very low treatment rates were identified in the sample from Lower Egypt.

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AMEs genes are disseminated in different clones of A. baumannii and P. aeruginosa isolates in Iran. Other than AMEs, there are more complex and multifactorial mechanisms that result in aminoglycoside-resistant phenotypes.

Although most bacterial infectious diseases can be treated successfully with the remarkable array of antibiotics, the microbial pathogens continue to be one of the most critical health challenges worldwide. One of the common efforts in addressing this issue lies in improving the existing antibacterial delivery systems since inefficient delivery can lead to poor therapeutic outcome of the administered drug. Recently, nanoliposomal systems have been widely used as promising strategies to overcome these challenges due to their unique set of properties. This article tries to briefly summarize the current studies that have taken advantage of liposomal nanoparticles as carriers to deliver antibacterial agents. The reviewed investigations demonstrate the immense potential of liposomal nanoparticles as carriers for antibiotic delivery and highlight the latent promise in this class of vehicles for treatment of bacterial infections. The future of these promising approaches lies in the development of more efficient techniques for preparing liposomal nanoparticles with great potential in effective and selective targeting of antibiotics to bacterial cells for eradication as well as the highest safety for human host.

Researchers have demonstrated that antimicrobial agents in nanoparticle (NP) forms have better activities. Vancomycin (VCM), as a glycopeptide antibiotic with antimicrobial activity against gram positive bacteria, is poorly absorbed from the intestinal tract. Enterococcus is a genus of bacteria that became resistant to a wide range of antibiotics in last decades, and cause severe infections in hospitalized patients. This paper describes preparation of VCM--loaded poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) NPs and compares the antimicrobial effects with drug solution against clinical Enterococcus isolates. VCM-loaded PLGA NPs were fabricated by W1/O/W2 solvent evaporation method. The comparison of obtained Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values showed a significant decrease in the antimicrobial effect of VCM -loaded NPs. Results also indicated that the potency of the NPs against VCM resistant isolates of Enterococcus was less than VCM susceptible isolates. The reduced antimicrobial effect of formulated NPs in invitro condition is perhaps related to the strong electrostatic linkage between hydrophilic drug (VCM) and hydrophobic polymer (PLGA) that lead to the slow release of the antibiotic from polymeric NPs.

Electrochemical synthesis of two different series of sulfonamides was performed using the same precursors, 4-(4-nitrophenyl)urazole and arylsulfinic acids, by controlling the potential during electrolysis.

Rapid and sensitive detection techniques for indicator pathogens are important in pharmaceutical industry. However, common detection methods rely on bacterial culture in combination with biochemical tests, a process that typically takes 5–6 days to complete. Thus, the aim of this study was to develop a multiplex polymerase chain reaction (mPCR) assay for simultaneous detection and identification of four indicator pathogenic bacteria in a single reaction. Specific primers for indicator bacteria, namely Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosaand Salmonella, were applied to allow simultaneous detection of them, and the sensitivity and specificity of each primer pairs were determined. In the mPCR with mixed DNA samples, specific bands for corresponding bacteria were simultaneously detected. Agarose gel electrophoresis of PCR products revealed 100% specificity of mPCR with single bands in the expected sizes. Low levels of microbial contamination less than 10 cfu per milliliter or gram of product were detected using mPCR assay. The detection of all four indicator pathogenic bacteria were completed in less than 8 h with this novel mPCR method, whereas the conventional United States Pharmacopeia methods and uniplex PCR required 5–6 days and 27 h for completion, respectively. Using mPCR assay, the microbial quality control of nonsterile pharmaceutical products can be performed in a cost‐effective and timely manner in pharmaceutical industry. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Detection of pathogenic indicatiors of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the mandatory tests in microbial quality of nonsterile pharmaceutical products; therefore, rapid and sensitive detection of the contaminations is of great importance for product release. According to the results of the present study, simultaneous detection of low levels of four major potential pathogenic bacteria in pharmaceutical finished products can be performed using mPCR in a cost‐effective and timely manner, and upon these properties of the mPCR assay it could have potential applications in pharmaceutical industry.