Molecular Modelling Study and Antibacterial Evaluation of Diphenylmethane Derivatives as Potential FabI Inhibitors.

The need for new antibiotics has become a major worldwide challenge as bacterial strains keep developing resistance to the existing drugs at an alarming rate. Enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductases (FabI) play a crucial role in lipids and fatty acid biosynthesis, which are essential for the integrity of the bacterial cell membrane. Our study aimed to discover small FabI inhibitors in continuation to our previously found hit MN02. The process was initially started by conducting a similarity search to the NCI ligand database using MN02 as a query. Accordingly, ten compounds were chosen for the computational assessment and antimicrobial testing. Most of the compounds showed an antibacterial activity against Gram-positive strains, while RK10 exhibited broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. All tested compounds were then docked into the saFabI active site followed by 100 ns MD simulations (Molecular Dynamics) and MM-GBSA (Molecular Mechanics with Generalised Born and Surface Area Solvation) calculations in order to understand their fitting and estimate their binding energies. Interestingly, and in line with the experimental data, RK10 was able to exhibit the best fitting with the target catalytic pocket. To sum up, RK10 is a small compound with leadlike characteristics that can indeed act as a promising candidate for the future development of broad-spectrum antibacterial agents.

Mobile Phones: Reservoirs of Resistant Bacteria during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

BACKGROUND: Mobile phones are excessively used even though microbes' ability to survive on phone surfaces was confirmed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy hygiene practices have been applied to mobile surfaces. Therefore, it is interesting to evaluate the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria on mobile phone surfaces. METHODS: A random sampling technique was utilized on residents in Abu Dhabi, UAE between May and June 2021. A swab sample from each participant's mobile phone was collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Furthermore, a cross-sectional study was conducted via a self-administered questionnaire filled by participants. The questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data, phone frequency usage and cleaning methods. RESULTS: One hundred two-sample swabs and data have been included in the study. The majority of participants (91.1%) reported cleaning their mobile phones with wipes and alcohol. However, 100% of participants had a mobile phone contaminated by bacteria such as S. aureus, E. coli, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Micrococcus, Bacillus, Streptococcus, Citrobacter, Proteus, Enterococcus, klebsiella, Pseudomonas and Actinobacteria. Interestingly, most of these potentially pathogenic bacteria were found to be resistant to ampicillin, ceftazidime and cefotaxime. CONCLUSION: The continuous hand and mobile disinfectant have contributed to the emergence of resistant bacteria.

Association between visual impairment and sleep duration in college students: A study conducted in UAE and Lebanon.

Objective: To examine whether self-reported sleep duration and visual impairment were associated among College students. Participants: Students (n = 1002, age 17-35 years) from Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. Methods: Students were asked to complete a validated questionnaire between October 2018 and May 2019. The questions were related to sociodemographics, lifestyle characteristics, visual impairment status, sleeping pattern, mobile-phone use and chronic conditions. Results: 18.3% of the respondents reported to suffer from visual impairment. Among them, 72.7% were females (p < .001), 65% admitted to frequently use mobile phones before sleeping (p < .001), 54.6% reported to sleep less than 7 h (p = .008) and 71.6% reported to suffer from sleep disturbances (p = .05). Visual impairment was associated with poor sleep quality (p < .001), mobile phone use before sleeping (p < .01) and daily stress (p < .05). Conclusion: Visual impairment in college students is associated with short sleep duration, mobile phone use before sleeping and stress level.