Denture stomatitis is a very common disease affecting the oral mucosa of denture wearers. The aim of this study was to measure the antifungal effect of henna against Candida albicans adhered to acrylic resin as a possible method for prevention of denture stomatitis. One-hundred-eighty acrylic plates were prepared of heat-cured acrylic denture resin. The specimens were divided into six groups of 30 samples each. The first group was only polymer and monomer following the conventional manufacturer instruction for processing complete dentures. The other five groups were processed by adding different concentration of Yamani henna powder (Harazi) to the polymer in a concentration of henna: polymer 1%, 2.5%, 5%, 7.5% and 10%, respectively. Samples were incubated in artificial saliva rich with Candida albicans at 37 °C, and the effect of henna on Candida albicans was evaluated in two different methods: semi-quantitative slide count and a culture-based quantitative assay (quantitative). Variation in the number of live Candida was observed with the increase in the concentration of Yamani henna powder. It was observed that the variation in live Candida, between control group and group B (concentration of Yamani henna powder was 1%), was statistically significant with a p-value of 0.0001. Similarly, variations in live Candida were significant, when the concentration of powder was 7.5% or 10% in contrast with control group and p-values were 0.0001 and 0.001 respectively. Adding henna to acrylic resin denture could be effective in controlling Candida albicans proliferation on the denture surface; however, its effects on the physical properties of acrylic resin denture need further studies.

BackgroundTuberculosis (TB) is a disease which kills two million people every year and infects approximately over one-third of the world's population. The difficulty in managing tuberculosis is the prolonged treatment duration, the emergence of drug resistance and co-infection with HIV/AIDS. Tuberculosis control requires new drugs that act at novel drug targets to help combat resistant forms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and reduce treatment duration.Methodology/Principal FindingsOur approach was to modify the naturally occurring and synthetically challenging antibiotic thiolactomycin (TLM) to the more tractable 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold to generate compounds that mimic TLM's novel mode of action. We report here the identification of a series of compounds possessing excellent activity against M. tuberculosis H37Rv and, dissociatively, against the β-ketoacyl synthase enzyme mtFabH which is targeted by TLM. Specifically, methyl 2-amino-5-benzylthiazole-4-carboxylate was found to inhibit M. tuberculosis H37Rv with an MIC of 0.06 µg/ml (240 nM), but showed no activity against mtFabH, whereas methyl 2-(2-bromoacetamido)-5-(3-chlorophenyl)thiazole-4-carboxylate inhibited mtFabH with an IC50 of 0.95±0.05 µg/ml (2.43±0.13 µM) but was not active against the whole cell organism.Conclusions/SignificanceThese findings clearly identify the 2-aminothiazole-4-carboxylate scaffold as a promising new template towards the discovery of a new class of anti-tubercular agents.

BackgroundMethicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) constitutes a major global health concern causing hospital and community acquired infections. A wide diversity of MRSA genotypes are circulating in geographically related regions. Therefore understanding the molecular epidemiology of MRSA is fundamental to design control and clearance measures.MethodsA total of 106 MRSA isolates from infection (51) and carrier colonization sites (55) are characterized genetically based on SCCmec and MLST genotyping methods in addition to detection of PVL, TSST-1 and enterotoxins.ResultsSccmec-IV was the most frequently detected genotype (77.3%) followed by genotype V (13.2%) and III (9.4%). SCCmec-IVa was more prevalent among the carrier group (p value 0.002). CC80 was the most commonly identified clonal complex (CC). CC6 and CC22 were significantly more prevalent among the carrier group (p value 0.02 and 0.01, respectively). PVL was highly prevalent among the isolates (58.5%). PVL was detected in 70.6% of isolates from infection sites and 47.3% of isolates from carriers. All strains were sensitive to vancomycin, however, MRSA strains isolated from infection sites had significantly higher MICs compared to strains isolated from carrier colonization sites (p value 0.021). Five new sequence types mainly from the carrier group were identified and described in the study.ConclusionsMRSA population is genetically very diverse among carriers and infected individuals. With SCCmec type IV being most prevalent, this suggests a community origin of most MRSA strains. Therefore very well designed surveillance and clearance strategies should be prepared to prevent emergence and control spread of MRSA in the community.

Dormancy models for Mycobacterium tuberculosis play important roles in understanding various aspects of tuberculosis pathogenesis and in the testing of novel therapeutic regimens. By simulating the latent tuberculosis infection, in which the bacteria exist in a non-replicative state, the models demonstrate reduced susceptibility to antimycobacterial agents. This minireview outlines the models available for simulating latent tuberculosis both in vitro and in several animal species. Additionally, this minireview discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these models for investigating the bacterial subpopulations and susceptibilities to sterilization by various antituberculosis drugs.

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