Infectious Disorders - Drug Targets (Formerly Current Drug Targets - Infectious Disorders) - Volume 16, Issue 3, 2016

Quinolones and fluoroquinolones are principal weapons against variety of bacterial infections and exert their antibacterial potential by interfering the activities of bacterial enzymes. As these agents are associated with some limitations, an important approach to overcome these major constraints is to prepare covalent derivatives, i.e. prodrugs. Prodrug design has been employed to improve the limitations of these drug Read More

The inadequate benefits of the existing therapies and the new insights into the pathophysiology of inflammatory airway diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma have led to the breakthrough of newer targets and innovative compounds as the treatment alternatives. The enhanced interpretation of immune cell signalling and signal transduction pathways at the molecular level involved in t Read More

Background: Multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa has been increasing worldwide. Various mechanisms create this cross resistance in this bacterium including, acquisition beta-lactamases and intrinsic mechanisms, such as the presence of multidrug efflux pumps. Generally, multidrug efflux pumps inhibitor is used as a phenotypic method for the detection of active efflux pump systems. Methods: In this study, 100 P. aeruginosa were Read More

Background and Purpose: Giardia duodenalis is an intestinal flagellate parasite which spreads all over the world and is considered as a health problem in the most rural and low sanitation areas. Many diagnostic tests have been developed for the detection of Giardia parasite in stool samples but all of them have some disadvantages such as lack of sensitivity and specificity. In search for a simple and accurate test, dia Read More

Background: A total of 94 lactic acid bacteria (LAB) were isolated from Tunisian artisanal (Ricotta cheese’s whey) and industrial (bactofugate) milk waste, identified and then screened for their antimicrobial activity against some bacteria implicated on nosocomial infections. Objective: Bacterial genera and species identification was performed using molecular tools. The antimicrobial activity was tested against 7 strains of Gram-n Read More

Background: Candida spp. remains the fungal species most commonly associated with biofilm formation. Increase in Candida infections in last decades has almost paralleled the increase and wide spread use of a broad range of medical implant devices mainly in population with impaired host defences. One of the most important characteristics of biofilms is their high level of resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Aims and Obj Read More

Background: The human immune system can be impaired due to lack of adherence to treatment among HIV positive patients. This is reflected in lower levels of CD4 count and incomplete viral suppression leading to the disease's progression and increased risks of opportunistic infections. Little is known about adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and Tuberculosis (TB) treatment and barriers to ART adherence faced by priso Read More

Background: Lead compounds that target tubulin are being developed as agents against the human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. It is important to define the binding sites of these molecules on the tubulin dimer: Taxol, Vinca domains or novel binding pockets; however, extraction of native parasite tubulin is difficult. Objective: This report aims to develop assays that allow the rapid assessment of binding sites of comp Read More