Antimicrobial activity of glucoprotamin-containing disinfectants.

Introduction of a new antimicrobial agent as a drug--for treatment of infections or as a disinfectant and antiseptic, may result in the occurrence of resistance mechanisms against this agent among microorganisms. Two disinfectants of different composition--Incidin Plus for surface disinfection and Sekusept Plus for medical devices disinfection, both containing glucoprotamin as the active substance, were investigated in this study in order to analyze their antimicrobial activity. Standard bacterial and fungal strains recommended by European Standards, established by European Standardization Committee for testing bactericidal and fungicidal activity of chemical disinfectants were used in the study. Furthermore, 60 clinical bacterial strains with different susceptibility to antibiotics and chemotherapeutics, mostly multiresistant, isolated from different specimens from hospitalized patients were analyzed. In addition, 184 fungal clinical strains isolated from hospitalized patients and outpatients were also included in this study. Antimicrobial activity was evaluated according to EN 1040:2005 --using bacterial strains and according to EN 1275:2005--using fungal strains. Glucoprotamin proved to be a very effective and rapidly acting bactericidal and fungicidal agent. Low concentration of glucoprotamin--0.5% showed to be very effective (1 min) against clinical bacterial isolates. Incidin Plus was also very effective (5 min) against clinical fungal isolates.

A novel member of the thermolysin family, cloning and biochemical characterization of metalloprotease from Staphylococcus pseudintermedius.

Thermolysins constitute a family of secreted bacterial metalloproteases expressed, among others, by several pathogens. Strains of Staphylococcus pseudintermedius isolated from diseased dogs and judged as protease-positive, by skim milk agar plate culture, were investigated for protease content. No proteolytic activity was detected when the bacteria were grown in regular liquid media. Unexpectedly, supplementation of the medium with calcium ions resulted in expression of a metalloprotease and profound changes in the profile of extracellular proteins. On the basis of homology to other staphylococcal metalloproteases, the nucleotide sequence of the gene encoding this protease (Pst) and its flanking regions was determined. The full-length pst codes for a protein with an open reading frame of 505 amino acids. The internal region contains the HEXXH catalytic domain that is conserved in members of the thermolysin family. Regardless of the presence of calcium in the medium, the expression of the protease gene was of the same intensity. This suggests that regulation of the metalloprotease production by calcium ions is at a post-transcriptional level. Isolates of S. pseudintermedius exhibit a proteolytic phenotype due to the metalloprotease expression, however only in presence of calcium ions, which most probably stabilize the structure of the protease.

[Fatal traffic accidents vs. alcohol consumption in the victims in the archival material collected by the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University in Cracow, in the years 2000- 2003]. / Wypadki komunikacyjne ze skutkiem smiertelnym a alkohol na obszarze Malopolski w latach 2000-2003 na podstawie materialu archiwalnego Zakladu Medycyny Sadowej CM UJ w Krakowie.

The report presents the issue of fatal traffic accidents, emphasizing in particular blood alcohol levels in victims involved in such fatalities. According to data provided by the Central Police Headquarters, in recent years, the annual number of traffic accidents in Poland has been in excess of 50000; of this number, more than 10% have resulted in fatalities. The number of traffic accidents in the Malopolska province has amounted to 5000, and more than 7% of these accidents have been fatal. In the years 2000-2003, at the Department of Forensic Medicine, Collegium Medicum, Jagiellonian University, a total of 884 victims of fatal traffic accidents that occurred in the Cracow region were autopsied. In the group, car drivers accounted for 26%, passengers - for 16%, while the most numerous subgroup, represented by more than 57% of victims, included pedestrians hit by moving vehicles. In the autopsied car drivers, individuals being under the influence of alcohol and intoxicated accounted for 40-42% in the years 2000-2002 (as compared to the total number of investigated subjects); in 2003, the percentage decreased reaching 31%. Among the passengers, the mean percentage of those being under the influence of alcohol and in drunk was slightly higher in this period, ranging between 27 and 57%. However, the highest percentage of victims included individuals under the influence of alcohol, and especially alcohol intoxicated pedestrians hit by moving vehicles, whose number exceeded 50% of the total group of the autopsied corpses.