Sunday, November 04, 2012
Antibiofilm Activity of Dendrophthoe falcata against Different Bacterial Pathogens.
Antibiofilm Activity of Dendrophthoe falcata against Different Bacterial Pathogens.
Source
Abstract
Labels: Antibiofilm, asthma, Bacterial Pathogens, Dendrophthoe falcata, hemiparasitic plant, impotence, menstrual troubles, paralysis, phytocompounds, pulmonary tuberculosis, skin diseases, ulcers, wounds
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Asthma and atypical bacterial infection
Chest. 2007 Dec
Sutherland ER, Martin RJ.
National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Department of Medicine, 1400 Jackson St, J220, Denver, CO 80206. sutherlande@njc.org.
A growing body of basic and clinical science implicates the atypical bacterial pathogens Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydophila (formerly Chlamydia) pneumoniae as potentially important factors in asthma, although their exact contribution to asthma development and/or persistence remains to be determined. Evidence from human studies links both M pneumoniae and C pneumoniae to new-onset wheezing, exacerbations of prevalent asthma, and long-term decrements in lung function, suggesting that these organisms can play an important role in the natural history of asthma. Furthermore, animal models of acute and chronic infection with these organisms indicate that they have the ability to modulate allergic sensitization and pulmonary physiologic and immune response to allergen challenge. These findings raise the possibility that, in at least some individuals with asthma, antibiotic therapy might have a role in long-term treatment. While antibiotics do not currently have a defined role in the treatment of stable patients with chronic asthma, there is emerging evidence that asthma symptoms and biomarkers of airway inflammation can improve when patients who have atypical bacterial infection as a cofactor in their asthma are treated with macrolide antibiotics. Ongoing research into the importance of atypical pathogens in asthma will further elucidate whether these infections are important in disease development or whether their prevalence is increased in asthmatic subjects due to chronic airway inflammation or other, yet unidentified, predisposing factors. Current studies will further define the role of macrolide antibiotics in the treatment of stable patients with asthma, ultimately determining whether these therapeutic agents have a place in asthma management.
PMID: 18079229 [PubMed - in process]
Labels: airway inflammation, asthma, atypical bacterial infection, Chlamydia, Chlamydophila pneumoniae, macrolide antibiotics, Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Monday, October 22, 2007
Childhood asthma after bacterial colonization of the airway in neonates.
N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 11
Danish Pediatric Asthma Center, Copenhagen University Hospital, Gentofte, Copenhagen. bisgaard@copsac.dk
BACKGROUND: Pathological features of the airway in young children with severe recurrent wheeze suggest an association between bacterial colonization and the initiating events of early asthma. We conducted a study to investigate a possible association between bacterial colonization of the hypopharynx in asymptomatic neonates and later development of recurrent wheeze, asthma, and allergy during the first 5 years of life.
METHODS: The subjects were children from the Copenhagen Prospective Study on Asthma in Childhood birth cohort who were born to mothers with asthma. Aspirates from the hypopharyngeal region of asymptomatic 1-month-old infants were cultured for Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Staphylococcus aureus. Wheeze was monitored prospectively on diary cards during the first 5 years of life. Blood eosinophil count and total IgE and specific IgE were measured at 4 years of age. Lung function was measured and asthma was diagnosed at 5 years of age.
RESULTS: Hypopharyngeal samples were cultured from 321 neonates at 1 month of age. Twenty-one percent of the infants were colonized with S. pneumoniae, M. catarrhalis, H. influenzae, or a combination of these organisms; colonization with one or more of these organisms, but not colonization with S. aureus, was significantly associated with persistent wheeze (hazard ratio, 2.40; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45 to 3.99), acute severe exacerbation of wheeze (hazard ratio, 2.99; 95% CI, 1.66 to 5.39), and hospitalization for wheeze (hazard ratio, 3.85; 95% CI, 1.90 to 7.79). Blood eosinophil counts and total IgE at 4 years of age were significantly increased in children colonized neonatally with S. pneumoniae, M. catarrhalis, H. influenzae, or a combination of these organisms, but specific IgE was not significantly affected. The prevalence of asthma and the reversibility of airway resistance after beta2-agonist administration at 5 years of age were significantly increased in the children colonized neonatally with these organisms as compared with the children without such colonization (33% vs. 10% and 23% vs. 18%, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Neonates colonized in the hypopharyngeal region with S. pneumoniae, H. influenzae, or M. catarrhalis, or with a combination of these organisms, are at increased risk for recurrent wheeze and asthma early in life.
Copyright 2007 Massachusetts Medical Society.
Labels: asthma, bacterial colonization, H. influenzae, or M. catarrhalis, S. pneumoniae

