Prevalence of Parasitic Contamination in Salad Vegetables Collected from Supermarkets and Street Vendors in Amman and Baqa'a - Jordan.

One of the main ways in transmitting parasites to humans is through consuming contaminated raw vegetables. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of parasitological contamination (helminthes eggs, Giardia and Entamoeba histolytica cysts) of salad vegetables sold at supermarkets and street vendors in Amman and Baqa'a - Jordan. A total of 133 samples of salad vegetables were collected and examined for the prevalence of parasites. It was found that 29% of the samples were contaminated with different parasites. Of the 30 lettuce, 33 tomato, 42 parsley and 28 cucumber samples examined the prevalence of Ascaris spp. eggs was 43%, 15%, 21% and 4%; Toxocara spp. eggs was 30%, 0%, 0% and 4%; Giardia spp. cysts was 23%, 6%, 0% and 0%; Taenia/Echinococcus eggs was 20%, 0%, 5% and 0%; Fasciola hepatica eggs was 13%, 3%, 2% and 0%; and E. histolytica cysts was 10%, 6%, 0% and 0%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of parasite in salad vegetables either between supermarkets and street vendors, or between Amman and Baqa'a, Ascaris spp. was found to be the highest prevalent parasite in salad vegetables from supermarkets and street vendors and from Amman and Baqa'a. Our results pointed out that, the parasitic contamination of salad vegetables found in our study might be caused by irrigating crops with faecal contaminated water. We concluded that salad vegetables sold in Amman and Baqa'a may cause a health risk to consumers.

Serum Biomarkers for Chemotherapy Cardiotoxicity Risk Detection of Breast Cancer Patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate level fluctuations of serum biomarkers that are associated with cardiotoxicity risk, such as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and apolipoprotein-B (Apo-B) in response to chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. METHOD: The serum levels of hs-CRP and Apo-B were evaluated in 56 breast cancer patients with main inclusion criteria: HER2 negative and who received adjuvant chemotherapy AC [A: Adriamycin, C: Cyclophosphamide] or AC→T [A: Adriamycin, C: Cyclophosphamide, T: Taxane] regimes at early II (n = 26) and late IV (n = 30) clinical stages by using particle enhanced turbidimetric assay. RESULTS: The results of this study suggest that a high level of pre-treatment hs-CRP is a good prognostic marker in comparison to Apo-B. Moreover, the AC-T chemotherapy regime treatment in both early and late stages exhibited a significantly higher level of hs-CRP compared to that in the AC regime. Hs-CRP was significantly elevated in the early stage in comparison to the late stage among cancer patients, meanwhile Apo-B behaved inversely. Furthermore, the results showed that hs-CRP levels were significantly higher in late-stage cancer patients compared with those in early-stage in both chemotherapy regimens groups. On the other hand, Apo-B showed no significant differences. CONCLUSION: Monitoring hs-CRP level changes in comparison to Apo-B can be used to assist the side effect risk difference among different chemotherapy regimens, and staging reflecting a positive correlation between them more notable in the late stage.

Isolation and detection of Campylobacter concisus from saliva of healthy individuals and patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

The presence of Campylobacter concisus in the saliva of healthy individuals and patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was examined. C. concisus was detected in 97% of the healthy individuals and 100% of the patients with IBD tested. The C. concisus culture positivity rate in younger children was significantly lower than that in the other age groups.

PKM2 and HIF-1α regulation in prostate cancer cell lines.

Prostate cancer (PCA) is one of the most common cancer types in men, with cancer progression being linked to hypoxia and the induction of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF).We investigated the expression of pyruvate kinase M2 (PKM2), its regulation by HIF isoforms 1α and 2α, and its role in HIF stabilization. We additionally examined cell survival in the prostate cancer cell lines PC3 and LNCaP under severe hypoxic (0.1% O2) and normoxic (20% O2) conditions. qRT-PCR showed higher up-regulation of PKM2 mRNA expression in LNCaP cells than in PC3 cells, while western blotting showed that PKM2 protein levels were up-regulated only in LNCaP cells. Inhibition of HIF-1α and HIF-2α by small interfering RNA (si-RNA) demonstrated HIF-1α dependent up-regulation of PKM2 at the mRNA and protein levels in LNCaP cells. PKM2 inhibition by si-RNA significantly decreased hypoxia-response element (HRE) activation in a gene reporter assay and down-regulated HIF-1α target vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) mRNA expression in PC3 cells, whereas HIF-1α protein levels were not significantly reduced. Additionally, PKM2 inhibition significantly reduced clonogenic survival in both cell lines in a colony formation assay. Prolyl hydroxylase 3 (PHD3) mRNA expression was up-regulated in both cell lines. It has been shown that PKM2 expression is regulated by HIF-1α and that PKM2 favors HIF-1α transactivation under mild (1% O2) but not severe (0.1% O2) hypoxic conditions, and some of our findings are consistent with these previous results. However, this mechanism was not fully observed in our studied cell lines, as PKM2 regulation and HIF-1α stabilization at the transactivation level occurred under severe hypoxic conditions. This discrepancy suggests that tumor tissue origin and cell type influence this model. Our findings expand the current knowledge of the mechanisms of PCA regulation, and would be important in developing novel therapeutic strategies.

Prevalence of Parasitic Contamination in Salad Vegetables Collected from Supermarkets and Street Vendors in Amman and Baqa'a - Jordan.

One of the main ways in transmitting parasites to humans is through consuming contaminated raw vegetables. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of parasitological contamination (helminthes eggs, Giardia and Entamoeba histolytica cysts) of salad vegetables sold at supermarkets and street vendors in Amman and Baqa'a ­ Jordan. A total of 133 samples of salad vegetables were collected and examined for the prevalence of parasites. It was found that 29% of the samples were contaminated with different parasites. Of the 30 lettuce, 33 tomato, 42 parsley and 28 cucumber samples examined the prevalence of Ascaris spp. eggs was 43%, 15%, 21% and 4%; Toxocara spp. eggs was 30%, 0%, 0% and 4%; Giardia spp. cysts was 23%, 6%, 0% and 0%; Taenia/Echinococcus eggs was 20%, 0%, 5% and 0%; Fasciola hepatica eggs was 13%, 3%, 2% and 0%; and E. histolytica cysts was 10%, 6%, 0% and 0%, respectively. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of parasite in salad vegetables either between supermarkets and street vendors, or between Amman and Baqa'a, Ascaris spp. was found to be the highest prevalent parasite in salad vegetables from supermarkets and street vendors and from Amman and Baqa'a. Our results pointed out that, the parasitic contamination of salad vegetables found in our study might be caused by irrigating crops with faecal contaminated water. We concluded that salad vegetables sold in Amman and Baqa'a may cause a health risk to consumers.

The effects of oral and enteric Campylobacter concisus strains on expression of TLR4, MD-2, TLR2, TLR5 and COX-2 in HT-29 cells.

Campylobacter concisus, a Gram-negative bacterium that colonizes the human oral cavity, has been shown to be associated with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). The effects of different C. concisus strains on intestinal epithelial expression of Toll like receptors (TLR) have not been investigated. This study examined the effects of C. concisus strains isolated from patients with IBD and controls on expression of TLR4, its co-receptor myeloid differentiation factor (MD)-2; TLR2, TLR5, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and interleukin (IL)-8 in HT-29 cells.Fourteen oral and enteric C. concisus strains isolated from patients with IBD and healthy controls were co-incubated with HT-29 cells. Expression of TLR4, MD-2, TLR2, TLR5 and COX-2 in HT-29 cells in response to C. concisus infection was examined by Western blot, flow cytometry analysis and immunofluorescent staining visualized by confocal microscope. Production of IL-8 was evaluated by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Both oral and enteric C. concisus strains upregulated expression of TLR4 in HT-29 cells. The levels of glycosylated TLR4 (Gly-TLR4) and surface TLR4 induced by C. concisus strains isolated from patients with IBD were significantly higher than those induced by C. concisus strains isolated from the healthy controls. Four C. concisus strains isolated from patients with IBD induced more than two-fold increase of surface expression of MD-2. C. concisus did not affect expression of TLR2 and TLR5. All C. concisus strains induced production of IL-8 and COX-2 in HT-29 cells.This study shows that some C. concisus strains, most from patients with IBD, upregulate surface expression of TLR4 and MD-2 in HT-29 cells. These data suggest that a potential role of specific C. concisus strains in modulating the intestinal epithelial responses to bacterial LPS needs to be investigated.

Investigation of the enteric pathogenic potential of oral Campylobacter concisus strains isolated from patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND: Campylobacter concisus, a bacterium colonizing the human oral cavity, has been shown to be associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). This study investigated if patients with IBD are colonized with specific oral C. concisus strains that have potential to cause enteric diseases. METHODOLOGY: Seventy oral and enteric C. concisus isolates obtained from eight patients with IBD and six controls were examined for housekeeping genes by multilocus sequence typing (MLST), Caco2 cell invasion by gentamicin-protection-assay, protein analysis by mass spectrometry and SDS-PAGE, and morphology by scanning electron microscopy. The whole genome sequenced C. concisus strain 13826 which was isolated from an individual with bloody diarrhea was included in MLST analysis. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: MLST analysis showed that 87.5% of individuals whose C. concisus belonged to Cluster I had inflammatory enteric diseases (six IBD and one with bloody diarrhea), which was significantly higher than that in the remaining individuals (28.6%) (P<0.05). Enteric invasive C. concisus (EICC) oral strain was detected in 50% of patients with IBD and none of the controls. All EICC strains were in Cluster 1. The C. concisus strain colonizing intestinal tissues of patient No. 1 was closely related to the oral C. concisus strain from patient No. 6 and had gene recombination with the patient's own oral C. concisus. The oral and intestinal C. concisus strains of patient No. 3 were the same strain. Some individuals were colonized with multiple oral C. concisus strains that have undergone natural recombination. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence that patients with IBD are colonized with specific oral C. concisus strains, with some being EICC strains. C. concisus colonizing intestinal tissues of patients with IBD at least in some instances results from an endogenous colonization of the patient's oral C. concisus and that C. concisus strains undergo natural recombination.