Globally, Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) has been identified as a serious source of infections. The objectives of our study were to investigate the prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) K. pneumoniae in Tanta University Hospitals, Gharbia Governorate, Egypt; characterize their carbapenem resistance profiles; and identify their different capsular serotypes. We identified and isolated 160 (32%) K. pneumoniae from 500 different clinical samples, performed antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and then used multiplex PCR to detect carbapenemase genes and capsular serotypes K1, K2, K3, K5, K20, K54, and K57. We detected phenotypic carbapenem resistance in 31.3% (50/160) of the isolates; however, molecular assays revealed that 38.75% (62/160) of isolates were carrying carbapenemase-encoding genes. Generally, blaOXA-48 was the prevalent gene (15.5%), followed by blaVIM (15%), blaIMP (7.5%), blaKPC (4%), and blaNDM (3.8%). BlaVIM and blaOXA-48 correlated with phenotypic resistance in 91.67% and 88% of the isolates that harbored them, respectively. Capsular typing showed that the most prevalent pathotype was K1 (30.6%), followed by K57 (24.2%), K54 (19.35%), K20 (9.67%), and K2 (6.45%). A critical risk to community health is posed by the high incidence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) virulent K. pneumoniae isolates from our hospital, and our study examines this pathogen’s public health and epidemiological risks.

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Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies among females worldwide. Globally, distant metastases were reported to be responsible for a large proportion of breast cancer-related deaths. The metastasis-associated colon cancer-1 (MACC1) gene was reported as a reliable biomarker for early detection of metastasis and prediction of prognosis of breast cancer. This study investigated the prognostic significance of MACC1 in breast cancer in relation to the clinicopathologic characteristics and patients’ survival. Furthermore, the possible correlation between MACC1 expression and the different immune cells in the tumor microenvironment was explored. MACC1 mRNA was identified using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction in 120 breast cancer specimens and adjacent non-cancerous tissues. MACC1 mRNA expression was significantly higher in the cancerous relative to the non-cancerous tissues (p < 0.001). High MACC1 expression was significantly associated with poor prognostic parameters, such as larger tumor size, grade III tumors, positive nodal metastasis, lymphovascular invasion, stage III tumors, and elevated Ki-67 expression. Higher MACC1 mRNA levels were positively correlated with CD163+ tumor-associated macrophages (r = 0.614, p < 0.001), and were negatively correlated with CD56+ natural killer cells (r = −0.398, p < 0.001) and CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (r = −0.323, p < 0.001). MACC1 expression was associated with poor patient overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis suggested that MACC1 expression and the presence of lymphovascular invasion could be independent prognostic indicators for breast cancer (p = 0.015 and 0.042, respectively). In conclusion, MACC1 is highly expressed in cancerous tissues and is significantly related to poor prognostic factors, overall survival, and progression-free survival. MACC1 may influence infiltration of the immune cells in the tumor microenvironment, enhance immune escape of tumor cells, and may serve as a reliable independent prognostic factor for breast cancer.

The present work was conducted to study the effectiveness of powdered seeds of six plant species namely: Brassica rapa, Eruca sativa, Juniperus communis, Lepidium sativum, Raphanus sativus, Sinapis alba on controlling Meloidogyne incognita infecting pepper plants cv. Top Star under greenhouse conditions. The application of S. alba seed powder overcome other treatments and accomplished the highest reduction percentages of nematode stages with the maximum values of 93.09, 93.94, and 95.75% for final nematode population, galls, and egg masses numbers, respectively at a rate of 6g/plant, while the least values were achieved by E. sativa seed powder with values of 67.88, 77.38 and 81.71 % for previous criteria, respectively at a rate of 2g/plant. There was a significant improvement in the plant characters (length, fresh weight & dry weight plant and leaf numbers). Among all treatments, the best plant growth character (plant length:143.1%, fresh weight:118.4%, dry weight plant:100.0%, and leaf numbers:99.5%) were observed with B. rapa grind seeds, followed by J. communis at a rate of 6g/plant. Increasing the used powdered seed rate from 4 to 6g/plant for S. alba and L. sativum cause a decrease in the plant growth parameters. Overall, all tested applications increased the percentages of chemical constituents i.e., nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium concentrations, and phenol contents as well as decrease total chlorophyll percentages to a certain extent. The present study indicated the potential of screened plant seed powders to control M. incognita under greenhouse conditions and can be used as soil amendments after further investigations.

Background: Central venous catheters (CVCs) are often used as a vascular access in patients with end stage renal diseases when emergency hemodialysis is required, before maturation of arteriovenous fistula or graft, or when a permanent access becomes non-functioning. The most common complication following insertion of a CVC is infections including exit site infection, tunnel infection, or central line related blood stream infections (CLABSIs). Preventing such complications is crucial in these vulnerable patients and this can be accomplished by strict adherence to infection control guidelines. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of implementation of a CVC care bundle composed of best evidence based practices to see whether the rates of CLABSIs rates would decrease. Methods: the study was divided into pre and post intervention phases. The duration of each phase was 6 months during which rates of confirmed CLABSIs per 1000 catheter days as well as the causative microorganisms were recorded. The data were then compared and analyzed to evaluate the intervention. Results: CLABSIs rates decreased from 6.7 in phase 1 to 4.1 in phase 2. The relative risk reduction was 0.39. Conclusions: Implementation of bundles for insertion and maintenance of CVCs can help preventing CRBSIs which is very important to improve patient care.