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Abstract Background The extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains of Acinetobacter baumannii have become a major cause of nosocomial infections, increasing morbidity and mortality worldwide. Many different treatments, including phage therapy, are attractive ways to overcome the challenges of antibiotic resistance. Methods This study investigates the biofilm formation ability of 30 XDR A. baumannii isolates and the efficacy of a cocktail of four tempetate bacteriophages (SA1, Eve, Ftm, and Gln) and different antibiotics (ampicillin/sulbactam, meropenem, and colistin) in inhibiting and degrading the biofilms of these strains. Results The majority (83.3%) of the strains exhibited strong biofilm formation. The bacteriophage cocktail showed varying degrees of effectiveness against A. baumannii biofilms, with higher concentrations generally leading to more significant inhibition and degradation rates. The antibiotics-bacteriophage cocktail combinations also enhanced the inhibition and degradation of biofilms. Conclusion The findings suggested that the bacteriophage cocktail is an effective tool in combating A. baumannii biofilms, with its efficacy depending on the concentration. Combining antibiotics with the bacteriophage cocktail improved the inhibition and removal of biofilms, indicating a promising strategy for managing A. baumannii infections. These results contribute to our understanding of biofilm dynamics and the potential of bacteriophage cocktails as a novel therapeutic approach to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Lung and breast cancers are among the most common cancers. In the present work, initially, 6-bromo-; and 6-chloro-3-hydroxychromone compounds were prepared. In the next step, a series of 8-bromo-; and 8-chloro-dihyropyrano[3,2-b]chromene derivatives were synthesized by one-pot three component reaction of these two compounds, aromatic aldehydes, and ethyl cyanoacetate in the presence of triethylamine in EtOH at reflux conditions. The synthesized compounds were tested for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against A549 (lung cancer) and MCF-7 (breast cancer) cell lines. It was found that some compounds have high to moderate cytotoxicity, which makes them potential candidates for further studies. This study can be the basis for further studies to design and synthesis potent anticancer compounds and investigating their mechanism of action.

Statement of the Problem: Severe early childhood caries (S-ECC) is common among infants and toddlers. It has many problems and challenges for families as well as dentists in fields of prevention and treatment. Purpose: The study aimed to investigate the relationship between occurrence of S-ECC and level of lactose in breast milk, in infants aged 12 to 24 months. Materials and Method: This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study was carried out from April to July 2020 on 30 children aged 12 to 24 months with or without S-ECC, who were sol-ely breastfed; their mothers answered questions about their breastfeeding habits. After the child's dental visit, the mother was asked to express 10 to 20ml of her milk as a sample and give it to the researchers. The samples were immediately kept at -4°C and then they were tested for lactose measurement. Finally, the test results were analyzed by SPSS 21 software using independent t-test. Results: The average amount of lactose in the breast milk of cases with S-ECC infant was 5.74g/100 ml and the average amount of lactose in the breast milk of cases without S-ECC infant was 4.64g/100 ml. There was no significant difference in lactose concentration between the two groups (p Value=0.64). The average number of breastfeeding times in cases with S-ECC infants was 7.87 per day while in the healthy cases this was 7.33 per day. There was no significant difference between the numbers of breastfeeding times per day in two groups. Conclusion: According to this study, the amount of lactose in breast milk of children with S-ECC was slightly higher than the amount of lactose in breast milk in children with healthy teeth.

Background: the aim of this study was the isolation of phages able to lyse some strains of MDR-K. pneumoniae (named vB_Kp1 and vB_Kp2) and E. aerogenes (named vB_Ea1) from swages. Materials and Methods: Different Klebsiella pneumoniae and Enterobacter aerogenesis strains isolated from clinical specimens (January to September 2018) in three Hospitals in Amol, (Mazandaran, Iran). Kirby Bauer’s disc diffusion method was used for determination of resistance profiles of these isolates using different antibiotics. The resistant strains to multi tested antibiotics (MDR) were selected to investigate the effect of isolated phages from wastewater and hospital sewage. Presence of phage investigated by plaque formation and after enriching and concentrating the isolated bacteriophages and staining the samples, a transmitting electron microscope (TEM) was used to observe the morphology of the bacteriophages. Phage identification tests including host range and One-step growth were performed. Results: TEM analysis revealed that tree phages have an icosahedral capsid and long contractile tail. Therefore, they are a member of the Myoviridae family. Phages were able to lyse 14 (56%) of the 25 strains of multidrug-resistant bacteria isolated. The one-step growth curve showed large burst sizes and short latent times. Conclusions: The formation of clear plaques shows the high lyse power of phages, so they have good potential for further analysis for clinical use as a therapeutic agent in the future.

Introduction: Pharmacy training is one of the important courses in pharmacy education, its practical parts are trained in educational pharmacies and some parts are taught theoretically. Due to some problems in teaching theoretical parts such as lack of students’ interests, virtual education is employed in this study to compare the possible effect of face-to-face and virtual education on Kerman pharmacy students’ marks in a pharmacy training course. Methods: This study was conducted on 191 pharmacy students in Kerman University of Medical Sciences in the academic years 2017 and 2018 using availability sampling. In the academic year 2017, students who were defined as control group (n=106), taught by lecture method in conventional classroom with practical sessions at pharmacy. In the academic year 2018, the students of experimental group (n=85) were taught through the virtual education using a Learning Management system (Navid) and then practiced at pharmacy like the control group. Independent t and chi-square tests were employed to analyze the gathered data. Results: The mean score of the experimental group in final exam (14.35±4.42) was significantly higher than of the control group (13.16±3.18) (t=2.097, p=0.038). Using Chi-square test, no statistically significant difference was found in term of male or female participants between the two groups (p=0.151, df=2, X2=3.78). Seventy-three students from the experiment group (85.9%) were tended to be educated by virtual education method in the pharmacy training course. Conclusion: Virtual education can be considered as a complementary method alongside with traditional-classroom-based teaching. Given the availability of a suitable platform through the Virtual Medical University and students’ satisfaction, blended- pharmacy training course is recommended.

Background and purpose: Combination therapy in cancer is a promising approach to increase efficacy and tolerability and to decrease adverse effects and drug resistance. Recently, anti-cancer properties of H2-receptor antagonists have been reported in several pre-clinical and clinical studies. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of cimetidine and famotidine H2-blockers on cytotoxicity of doxorubicin (DOX) on A549, MCF-7, and HT-29 human cancer cell lines. Materials and methods: The cytotoxicity of cimetidine and famotidine, alone and in combination with DOX, was determined using MTT assay after 24 h incubation. Results: Co-administration of H2-blockers with DOX led to an increase in cytotoxicity of the cell lines studied. While DOX at 1 μM could not reduce the viability of the cultured cells below 50%, its use in combination with cimetidine or famotidine at 25 μM reduced the percentage of viable cells below 50%. Conclusion: Combination of cimetidine/famotidine with DOX could be a potential candidate for chemotherapy.

Background: Depression and anxiety are two psychosocial illnesses that mostly are comorbid. The prevalence of these diseases is increasing worldwide. Both can affect general health also oral and dental health. The effects can be physiological and behavioral. Patients with these disorders are not willing to keep oral hygiene. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between depression/anxiety and oral health indices in the 15–75-year-old population of Kerman. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study recruited 5900 people aged 15–75 years through one-stage cluster sampling (Kerman coronary artery disease risk factors study, KERCADRS). Data were collected through beck questionnaires for anxiety and depression and clinical examinations. Oral health indices including decayed, missing, filled teeth, gingival index (GI), and community periodontal index (CPI) were also measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS 21 software. Chi-square, t-test and regression analysis were used to determine the relationship between the variables. P ≤0.05 was considered as the level of statistical significance. Results: In the study, 1975 (33.6%) of patients showed moderate-to-severe anxiety and 3502 (59.5%) got the scores as depressed. There was a significant difference between GI and CPI indices of the normal and depressed group (P < 0.01), but the difference in the anxious and normal group was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The results of the study showed a significant relationship between depression and oral health indices but not with anxiety. Therefore, the present study suggests that more attention should be paid to the oral health of people with a history of depression.

Background and Objectives: Multi-drug-resistant Enterobacter aerogenes is associated with various infectious diseases that cannot be easily treated by antibiotics. However, bacteriophages have potential therapeutic applications in the control of multi-drug-resistant bacteria. In this study, we aimed to isolate and characterize of a lytic bacteriophage that can lyse specifically the multi-drug-resistant (MDR) E. aerogenes. Materials and Methods: Lytic bacteriophage was isolated from Qaem hospital wastewater and characterized morphologically and genetically. Next-generation sequencing was used to complete genome analysis of the isolated bacteriophage. Results: Based on the transmission electron microscopy feature, the isolated bacteriophage (vB-Ea-5) belongs to the family Myoviridae. vB-Ea-5 had a latent period of 25 minutes, a burst size of 13 PFU/ml, and a burst time of 40 min. Genome sequencing revealed that vB-Ea-5 has a 135324 bp genome with 41.41% GC content. The vB-Ea-5 genome codes 212 ORFs 90 of which were categorized into several functional classes such as DNA replication and modification, transcriptional regulation, packaging, structural proteins, and a host lysis protein (Holin). No antibiotic resistance and toxin genes were detected in the genome. SDS-PAGE of vB-Ea-5 proteins exhibited three major and four minor bands with a molecular weight ranging from 18 to 50 kD. Conclusion: Our study suggests vB-Ea-5 as a potential candidate for phage therapy against MDR E. aerogenes infections.

Background Active learning methods are strategies used by most universities worldwide to enhance the problem-solving ability and develop critical thinking in students. Team-based learning (TBL) is one of these methods, in which students study the lesson prior to discussion. At the beginning of the session, the individual readiness assurance test (iRAT) is given to students, and then they answer the same questions through discussion in a team. Finally, problems are resolved by the teacher and results are given to students. Methods In the current study, 30 pharmacology students were randomly assigned to two groups of 16 and 14 subjects. The educational content of pharmaceutical biotechnology was given to the 16- and 14-subject groups using traditional lecturing and TBL methods, respectively. Finally, both groups were assessed and compared based on a same method. Results The average scores of the lecturing and TBL groups were 6.77 ± 1.97 and 8.32 ± 2.65 out of 13.75, respectively (6.25 scores belonged to class activities, which were not included in comparisons). No significant difference was observed between the mean score of groups (P = 0.07), although the difference was very close to significant, which can be attributed to the current study’s small sample size. One subject in the TBL group and six in the lecturing group failed to pass the course; the difference between the groups in this regard was noticeable. Conclusions Although results of the current study showed no significant superiority of TBL over the lecturing method, most students were satisfied with the TBL method. Hence, it is recommended to employ this method with freshmen.