Liquorice extract either separately or as Liquorice/Ca(OH)(2) mixture had a potent bactericidal effect against Enterococcus faecalis and retained compatibility with fibroblasts in tissue culture compared to the commonly used root canal medicament Ca(OH)(2).

No abstract

Biofilms cause recurrent and resistant device-related infections. We aimed to detect the prevalence of biofilm-dependent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) among catheterized patients, identify bacterial pathogens, antibiotic resistance pattern and risk factors associated with biofilm production. Adult and pediatric patients admitted to Mansoura University Urology and Nephrology Center and fulfilling the criteria of CAUTI were enrolled in this study. urine sample and a part of urinary catheter were collected for microbiological testing and assessment of biofilm formation using tube method (TM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The prevalence of biofilm-dependent CAUTI was 82.85%, in which Klebsiella pneuomoniae had the highest biofilm-forming potential. Biofilm producers uropathogens are more resistant to antibiotics. Extremes of age and prolonged duration of catheterization were significantly associated with biofilm formation. TM showed good correlation with SEM regarding degree of biofilm production, sensitivity (100%) and specificity (100%). Prevalence of biofilm-dependent CAUTI was high. Minimizing the duration of catheterization and usage of silicone catheter are recommended. Using carbapenems in treatment of biofilm-dependent CAUTI should be considered. TM can be implemented for biofilm detection as it is cheap, rapid, easy and showed good correlation with SEM.

No abstract

The most common uropathogen is Escherichia coli, which causes more than 80% of catheterassociated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). Catheter-associated uropathogenic E. coli is difficult to be eradicated due to biofilm formation alongside increasing antibiotic resistance. The goal of this study is to determine the prevalence of biofilm and non-biofilm producing uropathogenic E. coli isolates and the antibiogram of E. coli isolates among catheterized patients who were admitted to Mansoura's University Hospitals. Also, the expression of bla-CTX-M and Fim H genes was determined using quantitative real-time PCR. The correlation between expression of bla-CTX-M and Fim H genes was detected. Isolated E. coli were highly resistant to nitrofurantoin (75%), ceftazidime (72%), ceftriaxone (71%), amikacin (71%), piperacillintazobactam (61%), and cefepime (53%). Biofilm formation was detected in all E. coli isolates. Also, bla-CTX-M and FimH genes were highly expressed in all E. coli isolates, as their expression is higher than the reference gene by 359.3 and 914.6 folds respectively. Insignificant positive correlation was detected between bla-CTX-M expression and FimH expression (r= 0.05, P-value= 0). These findings confirmed the serious infections caused in the catheterized patients, hence the importance of performing appropriate aseptic procedures when inserting and maintaining catheters to avoid CAUTI.