The increase in antibiotic resistance and the possible changes in serotype prevalence as a consequence of a new conjugated vaccine have contributed to renewed interest in the study of pneumococcal serotypes and their antibiotic resistances. Spain still has one of the highest penicillin resistance rates, but in the past 4-5 years a slight decrease has been observed. The level of resistance has n...

Heteroresistance to beta-lactam antibiotics has been mainly described for staphylococci, for which it complicates diagnostic procedures and therapeutic success. This study investigated whether heteroresistance to penicillin exists in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Population analysis profile (PAP) showed the presence of subpopulations with higher penicillin resistance in four of nine clinical pneumo...

Sir, Reduced susceptibility of Neisseria meningitidis to penicillin (MICs 0.12 mg/L) in the UK was reported by Jones & Sutcliffe in 1990 to be at a level of 3%, comparable to that found in 1987. We have recently undertaken an in vitro study to investigate the susceptibility of meningococci from our collection of strains, to a variety of antimicrobial agents, including penicillin, using BSAC met...

Introduction: The Serum/Glucose deprivation -induced cell death in cultured PC12 cells represents a useful in vitro model for the study of brain ischemia and neurodegenerative disorders. Nigella sativa L. has been known as a source of antioxidants. To elucidate the neuroprotective actions of N. sativa extract in vitro, we studied the effect of N. sativa extract on cultured PC12 cells under s...

The combination of penicillin and aminoglycoside is the recommended therapy for endocarditis caused by nutritionally variant streptococci (NVS). However, the optimal aminoglycoside dosing regimen remains controversial. We compared the efficacies of four regimens of tobramycin alone or combined with procaine penicillin in the therapy of rabbits with endocarditis caused by Streptococcus adjacens,...