Volume 6, Issue 3 (Summer 2020)
Abstract
Aims: Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that colonizes the gastric mucosa and is the main cause of gastritis as well as ulcer and gastric cancer. Due to the clinical significance and international increase in H. pylori multidrug resistance, it is necessary to search for new strategies improving eradication rates. Natural compounds have been demonstrated to have antimicrobial effect and the ability to restore the efficacy of conventional drugs. The objective of this work was to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of the hydroalcoholic extract of Curcuma longa L. (Cu) against H. pylori isolates.
Materials & Methods: The minimum bactericidal concentration of the extract was determined by means of the MTT assay; also, the combination and dose reduction indices for levofloxacin (LVX), metronidazole (MET), and rifampicin (RIF) antimicrobial agents were determined by checkerboard format. Interaction analysis was performed using the CompuSyn program.
Findings: About 90% of H. pylori isolates studied (9/10) were sensitive to the hydroalcoholic extract. Synergism was observed in more than 50% of Cu-LVX, Cu-MET, and Cu-RIF combinations. Additionally, for different concentrations of the extract, reduction rates in antimicrobial agents were determined to be between 0.5 and 360 times.
Conclusions: The hydroalcoholic extract of turmeric showed a good potential to be used as an antimicrobial agent in the treatment of H. pylori infection, either alone or in combination with antibiotics used, suggesting the renewal of the effectiveness of conventional antimicrobials in reducing the phenomenon of antimicrobial resistance.
M. Sattaei Mokhtari, S. R. Miraei-Ashtiani, M. Jafaroghli, J. P. Gutierrez,
Volume 17, Issue 5 (9-2015)
Abstract
Studbook information collected from 1988 to 2011 in Jafarabad breeding station of Moghani sheep, north-west of Iran, related to 9,457 lambs were used to study the genetic diversity and to evaluate the effectiveness of an implemented rotational mating scheme using pedigree analysis. Lambs born during 2009-2011 were considered as reference population. Means inbreeding and average coancestry for the reference population were computed as 0.40 and 0.74%, respectively. The mean generation interval was 4.48 years with a longer generation interval on dam-progeny pathways. Average equivalent complete generation, as a measure of pedigree completeness, was 3.37. Effective population sizes were estimated to be 226 and 276 from the individual rate in coancestry and from the individual increase in inbreeding, respectively. Genealogical parameters estimated based on probabilities of gene origin including the effective numbers of founders, the effective numbers of ancestors, the effective numbers of founder genomes (founder genome equivalents) and the effective numbers of non-founder genomes considering the reference population were estimated as 143, 117, 67, and 126, respectively. Approximately, 50% of the total genetic variation was explained by the 43 most influential ancestors, with a maximum individual contribution of 3.27%. The results indicated that although some evidences on bottlenecks and genetic drift during recent years were identified in the studied population, a considerable genetic variability existed in this population due to implementation of an efficient rotational mating scheme for controlling inbreeding.