Restriction of in vivo infection by antifouling coating on urinary catheter with controllable and sustained silver release: a proof of concept study.

Background: Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections are among the most common urological infections world-wide. Bacterial biofilms and encrustation cause significant complications in patients with urinary catheters. The objective of the study is to demonstrate the efficacy and safety of an anti-microbial and anti-encrustation silver nanoparticle (AgNP) coating on silicone urinary catheter in two different animal models.

Extraction and quantification of biofilm bacteria: Method optimized for urinary catheters.

Bacterial biofilms are responsible for the failure of many medical devices such as urinary catheters and are associated with many infectious and non-infectious complications. Preclinical and clinical evaluation of novel catheter coatings to prevent these infections needs to accurately quantify the bacterial load in the biofilm in vitro and ex vivo. There is currently no uniform gold standard for biofilm quantification for different surfaces and established biofilms.

A simple methodology for conversion of mouse monoclonal antibody to human-mouse chimeric form.

Passive immunotherapy has mainly been used as a therapy against cancer and inflammatory conditions. Recent studies have shown that monoclonal antibody-(mAb-) based passive immunotherapy is a promising approach to combat virus infection. Specific mouse mAbs can be routinely generated in large amounts with the use of hybridoma technology but these cannot be used for therapy in human beings due to their immunogenicity.

Role of chicken astrovirus as a causative agent of gout in commercial broilers in India.

Several outbreaks of gout were reported in commercial broilers in India during 2011 and 2012, causing up to 40% mortality in the birds. Gross and histopathological observations confirmed gout. Quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis from kidney samples of gout-affected birds indicated the presence of chicken astrovirus (CAstV) in 41.