The low global burden of trichinellosis: evidence and implications.

Trichinellosis is a cosmopolitan foodborne disease that may result in severe health disorders and even death. Despite international awareness of the public health risk associated with trichinellosis, current data on its public health impact are still lacking. Therefore we assessed, for the first known time, the global burden of trichinellosis using the Disability-Adjusted Life Year metric.

Pre-clinical Evaluation of a New Antimicrobial Enzyme for the Control of Wound Bioburden.

 A new, optimized, antimicrobial enzyme system was developed for the control of wound bioburden. This Glucose oxidase-Lactoperoxidase-Guaiacol (GLG) system was analyzed for antimicrobial activity and cytotoxicity. The susceptibility of a wide range of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains to the GLG-enzyme system was analyzed using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC90), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) determination, and growth kinetics analysis.

Differential cell death programmes induced by silver dressings in vitro.

In past decades the gold standard for topical burn treatment was the use of silver sulfadiazine. Due to toxicity caused by the silver, the cream base itself, or a combination of both negatively influencing the wound healing process, the healthcare industry searched for alternatives. In recent years, various dressings containing silver have become available to wound professionals.

Cytotoxicity of submicron emulsions and solid lipid nanoparticles for dermal application.

The cytotoxicity and physical properties of various submicron O/W emulsions and solid lipid nanoparticles for dermal applications were investigated. Droplet size and zetapotential of submicron emulsions depended on the composition of the cosurfactant blend used. The viability of J774 macrophages, mouse 3T3 fibroblasts and HaCaT keratinocytes was significantly reduced in the presence of stearylamine.

Human antimicrobial peptides: defensins, cathelicidins and histatins.

Antimicrobial peptides, which have been isolated from many bacteria, fungi, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, are an important component of the natural defenses of most living organisms. The isolated peptides are very heterogeneous in length, sequence and structure, but most of them are small, cationic and amphipathic. These peptides exhibit broad-spectrum activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, yeasts, fungi and enveloped viruses.

Old yellow enzyme interferes with Bax-induced NADPH loss and lipid peroxidation in yeast.

The yeast transcriptional response to murine Bax expression was compared with the changes induced by H(2)O(2) treatment via microarray technology. Although most of the Bax-responsive genes were also triggered by H(2)O(2) treatment, OYE3, ICY2, MLS1 and BTN2 were validated to have a Bax-specific transcriptional response not shared with the oxidative stress trigger. In knockout experiments, only deletion of OYE3, coding for yeast Old yellow enzyme, attenuated the rate of Bax-induced growth arrest, cell death and NADPH decrease.

Role of oxidative phosphorylation in histatin 5-induced cell death in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The susceptibility of Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the anti-microbial peptide, histatin 5, was tested after pre-growth in fermentable and non-fermentable carbon sources and in the absence or presence of the uncoupler of oxidative phosphorylation, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP). S. cerevisiae was more resistant to histatin 5 when grown on a fermentable carbon source compared to growth on a non-fermentable carbon source, indicating an important role for oxidative phosphorylation in histatin 5-induced cell death.

Bax-induced cell death in Candida albicans.

Bax is a pro-apoptotic member of the Bcl-2 family of proteins involved in the regulation of genetically programmed cell death in mammalian cells. It has been shown that heterologous expression of Bax in several yeast species, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Pichia pastoris, also induces cell death. In this study we investigated the effects of Bax expression in the pathogenic yeast Candida albicans.