BACKGROUND Urtica dioica is a flowering plant with long history of use in folk medicine and as a food source. OBJECTIVES This study examined in vitro antibacterial potential of alcoholic extracts of U. dioica. MATERIALS AND METHODS Hydroalcoholic extracts from aerial parts were prepared using aqueous solution of ethanol and methanol and their inhibitory effects against clinical isolates was...

Staphylococcus epidermidis is an important opportunistic pathogen causing nosocomial infections and is often associated with infections in patients with implanted prosthetic devices. A number of virulence determinants have been identified in S. epidermidis, which are typically acquired through horizontal gene transfer. Due to the high recombination potential, bacteriophages play an important ro...

New strategies are needed for prevention of biofilm formation. We have previously shown that 24 hr of 2,000 µA of direct current (DC) reduces Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm formation in vitro. Herein, we examined the effect of a lower amount of DC exposure on S. epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Propionibacterium acnes, and Candida albicans biofil...

Two shuttle vectors containing the gene for protein A (spa) from Staphylococcus aureus have been constructed to study expression of the gene in various strains of S. aureus and in the coagulase-negative species Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus capitis, and Staphylococcus xylosus. One plasmid, pSPA15, contains the complete structural gene for protein A, which binds to the cell wall in ...

Doented 63 anos, sexo masculino, admitido por síndrome febril. Tinha uma história prévia de endocardite da válvula aórtica causada por streptococcus viridans aos 41 anos. Nesse internamento foram efectuados os diagnósticos adicionais de comunicação interventricular (CIV), estenose subaórtica e insuficiência aórtica (IA). Após curso de antibioterapia dirigida, foi submetido a cirurgia cardíaca, ...

Staphylococcus epidermidis is one of the most important opportunistic pathogens in nosocomial infections. The main pathogenicity associated with S. epidermidis involves the formation of biofilms on implanted medical devices, biofilms dramatically decrease the efficacy of conventional antibiotics and the host immune system. This emphasizes the urgent need for designing novel anti-staphylococcal ...

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence and mechanisms of resistance to fusidic acid in clinical isolates of Staphylococcus epidermidis. METHODS MICs of fusidic acid were determined for S. epidermidis isolates collected from the Leeds General Infirmary and from around Europe. Fusidic acid-resistant isolates were probed for the presence of the horizontally acquired resistance determinants fusB ...

A total of 299 isolates of gram-positive, catalase-positive, coagulase-negative cocci were isolated from a variety of specimens collected from patients at a large university hospital, and 281 (94%) were identified as staphylococci by established methods. Using the scheme of Kloos and Schleifer, we determined the species of the coagulase-negative staphylococci. Staphylococcus epidermidis was the...

Use of the agar plate test for the enzyme deoxyribonucleate 3'-nucleotidohydrolase (deoxyribonuclease) can result in frequent misdiagnosis of Staphylococcus epidermidis as S. aureus.

Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilms cause chronic infections due to their ability to form biofilms. The excretions/secretions of Lucilia sericata larvae (maggots) have effective activity for debridement and disruption of bacterial biofilms. In this paper, we demonstrate how chymotrypsin derived from maggot excretions/secretions disrupts protein-dependent bacterial biof...