According to the results and presence of 36/46 MCs in patients with lumbar disc herniation, positive for P. acnes suggests that P. acnes can lead to edema on the vertebrae endplates near to infected area.

Staphylococcus aureus infections, particularly infections caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) strains, are emerging as a major public health problem. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of MRSA, antibiotic resistance profile and staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec) type of MRSA isolates obtained from clinical samples. Totally, 162 S. aureus isolates were obtained from clinical samples at three university hospitals in Kerman, Iran from March 2011 to February 2012. All isolates were identified as S. aureus by phenotypic methods and confirmed by PCR amplification of the nuc gene. MRSA isolates were screened by phenotypic tests and confirmed by presence of mecA gene. The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the MRSA isolates against antibacterial agents were determined by E-test. All isolates were analyzed by PCR for the presence of mecA and pvl genes. SCCmec typing of MRSA isolates was performed by multiplex PCR assay. Strain typing was carried out with REP-PCR. Using mecA gene PCR and phenotypic methods, 56.8% of the isolates were identified as MRSA. All MRSA isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid. The sensitivity of MRSA isolates to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, clindamycin, ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, and erythromycin was 70.66, 66.53, 42.4, 38.05, and 29.35%, respectively. The most frequent SCCmec types were type III (48.31%) followed by type V (19.1%), type I (16.85%), and type IV (3.37%). The pvl gene was detected in 3.08% of isolates (two MRSA and three MSSA isolates). REP-PCR typing divided the 92 MRSA isolates into 10 distinct clusters. Our results indicate that vancomycin and linezolid are the most effective antibacterial agents against MRSA isolates and SCCmec type III is predominant in MRSA strains in this area.

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Introduction: Gastric cancer is considered the second prevalent cause of death around the world. This type of cancer is generally induced by Helicobacter pylori which could colonize within the gastric mucosa of the infected cases. To date, triple antibiotic therapy has routinely been utilized for controlling the H. pylori-induced infection. However, this strategy has been unsuccessful, in large part because of issues such as occurring point mutations in the H. pylori genome that can induce resistance to the antibiotics administered. Recently, it has been shown that different probiotics may have strong anti-cancer effects, in which they are capable of inhibiting H. pylori by both immunological and non-immunological mechanisms. Here, we aimed at finding possible anticancer impacts of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus plantarum on gastric cancer, AGS cells. Methods: The anti-cancer effects of the conditioned media of the locally isolated L. plantarum on the AGS cells were evaluated by different analyses such as flow cytometry, DNA ladder assay, DAPI staining, and RT-PCR. Results: Our findings showed that the conditioned media of L. plantarum can inhibit both H. pylori and AGS cells through up-/down-regulation of PTEN, Bax, TLR4, and AKT genes. The exudates of the probiotic L. plantarum bacteria can increase the expression of PTEN, Bax, and TLR4, and also decrease the expression of AKT gene. Conclusion: In agreement with different reports, our results proved the anti-cancer effects of the locally isolated L. plantarum through some immunological cell signaling pathways. Accordingly, it seems the probiotics could be considered as at least a complementary treatment for different types of malignancies.