Anti-leishmanial effects of Eryngium planum and Ecbilliun elaterum methanolic extract against Leishmania major.

Leishmaniasis is a vector-borne disease, one of the most important neglected tropical diseases. Existing anti-leishmanial treatments are not effective for a long time and associated with toxic side effects so searching for a new, effective and safe alternative treatments against infectious diseases is greatly needed. This study is aimed to assess the leishmaniacidal effects of methanolic extracts of Eryngium planum (E. planum) and Ecbilliun elaterum (E. elaterum) on Leishmania major (L. major), In vitro. The selected plants were collected from northern areas of Iran. The methanolic extract from the aerial parts of plants were prepared using maceration methods. GC- Mass analysis was used to determine the compounds of the plants. Promastigotes of L. major was cultured in RPMI-1640 medium and the anti-leishmanial and cytotoxicity effects of extracts at concentrations of 100, 200, 400 and 800 µg/ml were assessed using MTT assay. The data obtained from gas chromatography revealed that α-Pinene, Caryophyllene oxide, ß-Caryophyllene, Bicyclogermacrene and α-Bisabolol are the main compounds extracted from E. planum and α-Pinene, Germacrene D, Caryophyllene oxide, γ-Eudesmol and α-Bisabolol are the main components of E. elaterum. The results of MTT Assay revealed that E. planum at concentrations of 800 µg/ml after 24 h at 400 µg/ml after 48 h and the E. elaterium at concentrations of 800 µg/ml after 48 h at 400 µg/ml after 72 h had similar anti-leishmanial effects to the positive control. These results indicated that E. planum and E. elaterum are the potential sources for the discovery of novel anti-leishmanial treatments.

Prevalence of Pneumocystis jirovecii among immunocompromised patients in hospitals of Tehran city, Iran.

Pneumocystis jirovecii is an opportunistic organism that can cause extreme complications such as Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunocompromised individuals. There is no comprehensive study was conducted Iran to determine the prevalence of this infection in susceptible individuals. In the present study, 160 sera samples were collected from immunocompromised patients, including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients, diabetic patients, Hodgkin lymphoma patients and non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients. The specimens were collected from Imam Khomeini and army's 501 hospitals. The specimens were examined using indirect fluorescent antibody test. The results of the study showed that 39.30% specimens were found positive, with different rates in different groups, including 20, 22.50, 37.50, and 77.50% of diabetic patients, non-Hodgkin patients, Hodgkin lymphoma patients, and AIDS patients, respectively. This occurrence is relatively high and can be a potential life-threatening hazard to infected patients in studied groups, on the other hand the organism can be transmitted from infected people to other susceptible individuals.