one-layer wound dressings cannot meet all the clinical needs due to their individual characteristics and shortcomings. Therefore, bilayer wound dressings which are composed of two layers with different properties have gained lots of attention. in the present study, polycaprolactone/gelatin (pcL/Gel) scaffold was electrospun on a dense membrane composed of polyurethane and ethanolic extract of propolis (pU/eep). the pU/eep membrane was used as the top layer to protect the wound area from external contamination and dehydration, while the PCL/Gel scaffold was used as the sublayer to facilitate cells' adhesion and proliferation. the bilayer wound dressing was investigated regarding its microstructure, mechanical properties, surface wettability, anti-bacterial activity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and its efficacy in the animal wound model and histopathological analyzes. Scanning electron micrographs exhibited uniform morphology and bead-free structure of the PCL/Gel scaffold with average fibers' diameter of 237.3 ± 65.1 nm. Significant anti-bacterial activity was observed against Staphylococcal aureus (5.4 ± 0.3 mm), Escherichia coli (1.9 ± 0.4 mm) and Staphylococcus epidermidis (1.0 ± 0.2 mm) according to inhibition zone test. The bilayer wound dressing exhibited high hydrophilicity (51.1 ± 4.9°), biodegradability, and biocompatibility. The bilayer wound dressing could significantly accelerate the wound closure and collagen deposition in the Wistar rats' skin wound model. taking together, the pU/eep-pcL/Gel bilayer wound dressing can be a potential candidate for biomedical applications due to remarkable mechanical properties, biocompatibility, antibacterial features, and wound healing activities. Skin is always at the exposer of different types of damages 1. Severe skin damages can be life-threatening due to loss of human body fluids, electrolytes, and nutritional components from the wound area. Therefore, wound dressings have gained lots of attention 2. An ideal wound dressing should protect the wound from external contaminants and facilitate the healing process. However, one-layer wound dressings cannot meet all the clinical needs due to their individual characteristics and shortcomings. Therefore, bilayer wound dressings which are

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Introduction Nocardia are Gram-positive partially acid-fast bacilli capable of inducing a wide range of infections in patients with immunodeficiency, AIDS, cancer, lupus erythematous and diabetes. Nocardia cyriacigeorgica was first isolated in 2001 from a patient with chronic bronchitis. Since then, there have been reports on the clinical significance of this organism in patients with bronchitis, brain abscess and lung diseases. We, herein, report a case of brain abscess in an elderly diabetic patient from Iran.Case presentation The patient was a 73 year-old woman admitted to hospital due to severe headache and shortness of breath. The patient had lived with diabetes for 20 years and suffered from chronic foot ulcer. She was admitted to hospital with fever, weakness, drowsiness and vomiting. Clinical examination and the head CT scan of the left frontal lobe of the brain revealed a metastatic carcinoma involving skull bone in the tumor that resulted in two surgical operations in the following two years. The brain abscess biopsy revealed an infection with Nocardia cyriacigeorgica confirmed by phenotypic and molecular tests including a PCR-based amplification of a target genetic marker, a 596 bp fragment of 16S rRNA gene, followed by almost full 16S rRNA sequencing.Conclusion The rare infections, such as brain abscess with Nocardia, are easily neglected or misdiagnosed due to the fastidious nature of the organism and inadequate microbiological experience of laboratories in the hospitals of developing countries. This case shows that hospitals should consider a better laboratory protocol to deal with the clinical cases in which fastidious organisms, and in particular Nocardia, are involved.