A Three-Dimensional Model of Bacterial Biofilms and Its Use in Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing.

(1) Background: The discrepant antimicrobial susceptibility between planktonic and biofilm bacterial modes poses a problem for clinical microbiology laboratories and necessitates a relevant 3D experimental model allowing bacteria to grow in biofilm mode, in vitro, for use in anti-biofilm susceptibility testing. (2) Methods: This work develops a 3D biofilm model consisting of alginate beads containing biofilm and encased within two thick layers of alginate matrix. The constructed model was placed on a thin Boyden chamber insert suspended on a 24-well culture plate containing the culture medium.

Impact of udder infections on biochemical composition of milk in context of pesticides exposure.

Background And Aim: Environmental contaminants such as pesticides have shown immunomodulatory effects that can make animals highly susceptible to pathogenic invasion. The current work aims to study the incidence of udder infections in a single dairy herd of 160 cows in Qalyoubia Governorate, in relation to the potential intoxication of dairy cattle with organochlorine (OCs) pesticides. The study also aims to investigate the impact of udder infections on milk composition.

Effects of macrophage polarization on gold nanoparticle-assisted plasmonic photothermal therapy.

Tumor associated macrophages (TAM) are key pathogenic factors in neoplastic diseases. They are known to have plasticity and can polarize into two opposing phenotypes, including the tumoricidal M1 and the protumoral M2 phenotypes with high prevalence of M2-phentoypes in patients with poor prognosis. Strategies for targeting M2-TAM may consequently increase the efficacy of therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment.

Multidrug-Resistant and Genetic Characterization of Extended-Spectrum Beta-Lactamase-Producing Recovered from Chickens and Humans in Egypt.

Colonization of food chain animals such as chickens with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBL) poses a major health threat to human. The current study aimed to determine the phenotypic and genotypic relationship between ESBL-producing from diseased human and chickens in Egypt. A total of 56 out of 120 chicken farms (46.

Gold Nanorods as Drug Delivery Vehicles for Rifampicin Greatly Improve the Efficacy of Combating Mycobacterium tuberculosis with Good Biocompatibility with the Host Cells.

TB remains a challenging disease to control worldwide. Nanoparticles have been used as drug carriers to deliver high concentrations of antibiotics directly to the site of infection, reducing the duration of treatment along with any side effects of off-target toxicities after systemic exposure to the antibiotics. Herein we have developed a drug delivery platform where gold nanorods (AuNRs) are conjugated to rifampicin (RF), which is released after uptake into macrophage cells (RAW264.

Treatment of natural mammary gland tumors in canines and felines using gold nanorods-assisted plasmonic photothermal therapy to induce tumor apoptosis.

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) is a cancer therapy in which gold nanorods are injected at the site of a tumor before near-infrared light is transiently applied to the tumor causing localized cell death. Previously, PPTT studies have been carried out on xenograft mice models. Herein, we report a study showing the feasibility of PPTT as applied to natural tumors in the mammary glands of dogs and cats, which more realistically represent their human equivalents at the molecular level.

Targeting heat shock protein 70 using gold nanorods enhances cancer cell apoptosis in low dose plasmonic photothermal therapy.

Plasmonic photothermal therapy (PPTT) is a promising cancer treatment where plasmonic nanoparticles are used to convert near infrared light to localized heat to cause cell death, mainly via apoptosis and necrosis. Modulating PPTT to induce cell apoptosis is more favorable than necrosis. Herein, we used a mild treatment condition using gold nanorods (AuNRs) to trigger apoptosis and tested how different cell lines responded to it.