The Effects of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics on Wound Infection: A Systematic Review.

INTRODUCTION: This systematic review aimed to summarize the currently available evidence on the effect of oral probiotic therapy on infected wound healing among patients who underwent surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An electronic search was conducted for articles published during 2010- 2022 in Embase, PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar using the keywords "probiotics," "prebiotics," "synbiotics," and "wound infection." The titles and abstracts of 2625 articles were screened, and 22 publications that fulfilled the inclusion criteria were included. RESULTS: The current review provides evidence of the beneficial effects of probiotics on wound infection, significantly reducing the duration of antibiotic usage and the length of hospital stay for patients, with no serious side effects reported. Wound infections following various surgeries, such as abdominal wound surgery, colorectal cancer resection, periampullary neoplasms treatment, liver and bile duct resection, pancreaticoduodenectomy, esophagostomy, dental wound surgery, plastic surgery, and burns, are shown to be positively affected by probiotic usage. Although, in some cases, the improvements were not statistically significant, overall, the administration of probiotics appears to be satisfactory in this regard. CONCLUSION: Probiotics demonstrate the ability to prevent the growth of pathogens and maintain wound space sterility by recruiting M2 macrophages, which produce anti-inflammatory markers and enhance the activity of phagocytic cells. Additionally, probiotics can reduce bacterial translocation from their niche to other areas and inhibit the production of bacterial mediators that lead to bacterial invasion.

Nitrofurantoin: properties and potential in treatment of urinary tract infection: a narrative review.

Nitrofurantoin (NF), a wide-spectrum antibiotic accessible since 1953, is utilized widely to treat urinary tract infections as it usually stays active against drug-resistant uropathogen. The use of Nitrofurantoin has increased exponentially since new guidelines have repositioned it as first-line therapy for uncomplicated lower urinary tract infection (UTI). To, although fluoroquinolones are usually used to re-evaluate the first- and second-line therapies for treating uncomplicated UTI, their level of utilization is thought to be inappropriately excessive and will eventually have a detrimental impact; thus, we hypothesize that NF might be the best choice for this condition, because of its low frequency of utilization and its high susceptibility in common UTI pathogens. It can be concluded from this review that NF can be considered as the most effective drug in the treatment of acute urinary infection, but due to the long-term side effects of this drug, especially in elderly patients, it is essential to introduce some criteria for prescribing NF in cases of chronic UTI.

Association between virulence factors and biofilm formation in Enterococcus faecalis isolated from semen of infertile men.

PROBLEM: Enterococcus faecalis is a common microbial semen contaminant. Although virulence factors and biofilm formation have often been analyzed in Enterococcus spp., there is little information about these features in isolates obtained from the genitourinary tract. This study was intended to characterize and determine the relationship between biofilm-forming ability and the presence of E. faecalis virulence factors isolated from human semen. METHOD OF STUDY: A total of 32 patients diagnosed with primary infertility and 28 healthy men were included in the study. Semen analyses were performed according to the WHO guidelines. PCR reactions were applied for the detection of ace, esp, efeA, gelE, asa1, and cylA genes. Microtiter plate assay, via measurement of OD560, was used to measure the biofilm-forming ability of the isolates. RESULTS: Sixty E. faecalis isolates from semen of infertile and fertile men were characterized by phenotypic and genotypic methods. The prevalence of ace, esp, efeA, gelE, asa1 and cylA were reported to be 81.3%/100.0%, 81.3%/89.3%, 81.3%/85.7%, 71.9%/53.6%, 8.8%/75.0%, and 62.5%/67.9% in infertile/fertile groups; respectively. Strong, weak, and non-biofilm reactions were reported to be 50.0%/21.4%, 40.6%/64.3%, and 9.4%/14.3% in infertile and fertile groups; respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There was a significant relationship between fertility and weak biofilm reaction and also between biofilm formation and possession of the esp gene (P < .05). It could be speculated that colonization with E. faecalis with a strong ability for biofilm formation could become a potential threat to men's fertility.

Brucellosis control methods with an emphasis on vaccination: a systematic review.

INTRODUCTION: Brucellosis is considered as one of the main zoonotic infections and a major public health concern worldwide. The aim of the present study was to evaluate various strategies for controlling brucellosis with an especial emphasis on efficacy of vaccination. AREAS COVERED: International databanks (Web of Science, PubMed, Embase) were searched for potentially relevant studies published from 1 January 2011 to 25 March 2021 using the following keywords: 'Brucella,' 'Brucella abortus,' 'Brucella melitensis,' 'Brucella canis,' 'Brucella suis,' 'brucellosis,' 'Bang disease,' 'undulant fever,' 'Malta fever,' 'vaccination,' 'vaccine,' and 'immunization.' The literature search was restricted to original articles published in English. EXPERT OPINION: Various methods are employed to prevent and control brucellosis, such as removing sick animals by slaughtering, separating sick animals from the herd, and vaccination. Preventing, controlling, and eradicating brucellosis requires a lot of financial support, perseverance, and time. In order to conduct a detailed study, it is recommended that more studies be conducted in developing countries and different parts of the world.