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Rhodococcus equi--an emerging human pathogen in immunocompromized hosts: a report of four cases from Malaysia

Puthucheary SD, Sangkar V, Hafeez A, Karunakaran R, Raja NS, Hassan HH

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 2006 Jan;37(1):157-61.
PMID: 16771229

Rhodococcus equi, a recognized pathogen in horses, is emerging as a human opportunistic pathogen, especially in immunocompromized hosts. We describe four immunocompromized patients who had serious R. equi infections with an overall mortality of 75%. The natural habitat of R. equi is soil, particularly soil contaminated with animal manure. Necrotizing pneumonia is the commonest form of infection but extrapulmonary infections, such as wound infections and subcutaneous abscess, have also been described in humans. R. equi is cultured easily in ordinary non-selective media. Large, smooth, irregular colonies appear within 48 hours. It is a facultative, intracellular, nonmotile, non-spore forming, gram-positive coccobacillus, which is weakly acid-fast staining and bears a similarity to diphtheroids. It forms a salmon-colored pigment usually after 48 hours incubation. A particular characteristic of this organism is that it undergoes synergistic hemolysis with some bacteria on sheep blood agar. R. equi may be misidentified as diphtheroids, Mycobacterium species, or Nocardia. In vitro R. equi is usually susceptible to erythromycin, ciprofloxacin, vancomycin, aminoglycosides, rifampin, imipenem and meropenem. The organism can be difficult to eradicate, making treatment challenging. Increased awareness of the infection may help with early diagnosis and timely treatment.
Salmonellosis in persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus: a report of seven cases from Malaysia

Puthucheary SD, Ng KP, Hafeez A, Raja NS, Hassan HH

Southeast Asian J. Trop. Med. Public Health, 2004 Jun;35(2):361-5.
PMID: 15691137

Persons infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have an increased risk of salmonellosis when compared to the general population. We describe seven such patients with Salmonella bacteremia, of whom two had recurrent salmonellosis. In the latter two cases the infection was unusually severe, characterized by widespread infection, bacteremia and relapse, despite standard antimicrobial therapy. HIV-infected individuals will benefit from education on the source of Salmonella, mode of acquisition and prevention through safe food handling and food preparation practices. Because of the difficulty of eradicating Salmonella infection in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, long-term suppressive treatment with antimicrobials is warranted.
Synthesis, spectral analysis and biological evaluation of Nalkyl/aralkyl/aryl-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide derivatives

Rehman A, Abbasi MA, Siddiqui SZ, Mohyuddin A, Nadeem S, Shah SA

Pak J Pharm Sci, 2016 Sep;29(5):1489-1496.
PMID: 27731801

New potent organic compounds were synthesized with an aim of good biological activities such as antibacterial and anti-enzymatic. Three series of sulfonamide derivatives were synthesized by treating N-alkyl/aryl substituted amines (2a-f) with 4-chlorobenzensulfonyl chloride (1) to yield N-alkyl/aryl-4-chlorobenzenesulfonamide(3af) that was then derivatized by gearing up with ethyl iodide (4), benzyl chloride (5) and 4-chlorobenzyl chloride (6) using sodium hydride as base to initialize the reaction in a polar aprotic solvent (DMF) to synthesize the derivatives, 7a-f, 8af and 9a-f respectively. Structure elucidation was brought about by IR, 1H-NMR and EIMS spectra for all the synthesized molecules which were evaluated for their antibacterial activities and inhibitory potentials for certain enzymes.
Phytochemicals from Dodonaea viscosa and their antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities with structure-activity relationships

Muhammad A, Tel-Çayan G, Öztürk M, Duru ME, Nadeem S, Anis I, et al.

Pharm Biol, 2016 Sep;54(9):1649-55.
PMID: 26866457 DOI: 10.3109/13880209.2015.1113992

Context Dodonaea viscosa (L.) Jacq (Sapindaceae) has been used in traditional medicine as antimalarial, antidiabetic and antibacterial agent, but further investigations are needed. Objective This study determines the antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities of six compounds (1-6) and two crystals (1A and 3A) isolated from D. viscosa, and discusses their structure-activity relationships. Materials and methods Antioxidant activity was evaluated using six complementary tests, i.e., β-carotene-linoleic acid; DPPH(•), ABTS(•+), superoxide scavenging, CUPRAC and metal chelating assays. Anticholinesterase activity was performed using the Elman method. Results Clerodane diterpenoids (1 and 2) and phenolics (3-6) - together with three crystals (1A, 3A and 7A) - were isolated from the aerial parts of D. viscosa. Compound 3A exhibited good antioxidant activity in DPPH (IC50: 27.44 ± 1.06 μM), superoxide (28.18 ± 1.35% inhibition at 100 μM) and CUPRAC (A0.5: 35.89 ± 0.09 μM) assays. Compound 5 (IC50: 11.02 ± 0.02 μM) indicated best activity in ABTS assay, and 6 (IC50: 14.30 ± 0.18 μM) in β-carotene-linoleic acid assay. Compounds 1 and 3 were also obtained in the crystal (1A and 3A) form. Both crystals showed antioxidant activity. Furthermore, crystal 3A was more active than 3 in all activity tests. Phenol 6 possessed moderate anticholinesterase activity against acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase enzymes (IC50 values: 158.14 ± 1.65 and 111.60 ± 1.28 μM, respectively). Discussion and conclusion This is the first report on antioxidant and anticholinesterase activities of compounds 1, 2, 5, 6, 1A and 3A, and characterisation of 7A using XRD. Furthermore, the structure-activity relationships are also discussed in detail for the first time.
Connotations of psychological and physiological health in the psychosocial work environment: An industrial context

Javaid MU, Bano S, Mirza MZ, Isha ASN, Nadeem S, Jawaid A, et al.

Work, 2019;64(3):551-561.
PMID: 31658088 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-193016

BACKGROUND: Psychological conditions are experiences of the conscious and unconscious elements of the work context, which revolve around workers' perceptions of feeling either engaged or disengaged with the assigned tasks. In the psychosocial work environment of hazardous industries like petrochemicals where production lasts twenty-four hours a day and continues seven-days-a-week, a psychologically available worker is extremely important. Psychological availability refers to when workers who are physically, emotionally and psychologically engaged at the moment of performing tasks.
OBJECTIVE: The broad objective of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of behavioral factors on the psychological and physiological health of workers.
METHODS: The latest, second generation technique, which is structural equation modeling, is used to identify the relationships between behavioral antecedents and health outcomes. A total of 277 technical workers participated, aged between 20 and 49 and were healthy in all aspects.
RESULTS: The study results showed quantitative demands, emotional demands, work-family conflict, and job insecurity were significantly associated with both psychological (stress) and physiological (Body Mass Index) factors. The social support of colleagues produced mixed findings with direct and indirect paths. Stress also significantly mediates the psychosocial factors and burnout of the workers.
CONCLUSION: The study concluded that workers were physically available, but they experienced distractions as members of social systems, affecting their physiological and psychological health.
Source, occurrence, distribution, fate, and implications of microplastic pollutants in freshwater on environment: A critical review and way forward

Kurniawan TA, Haider A, Ahmad HM, Mohyuddin A, Umer Aslam HM, Nadeem S, et al.

Chemosphere, 2023 Jun;325:138367.
PMID: 36907482 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138367

The generation of microplastics (MPs) has increased recently and become an emerging issue globally. Due to their long-term durability and capability of traveling between different habitats in air, water, and soil, MPs presence in freshwater ecosystem threatens the environment with respect to its quality, biotic life, and sustainability. Although many previous works have been undertaken on the MPs pollution in the marine system recently, none of the study has covered the scope of MPs pollution in the freshwater. To consolidate scattered knowledge in the literature body into one place, this work identifies the sources, fate, occurrence, transport pathways, and distribution of MPs pollution in the aquatic system with respect to their impacts on biotic life, degradation, and detection techniques. This article also discusses the environmental implications of MPs pollution in the freshwater ecosystems. Certain techniques for identifying MPs and their limitations in applications are presented. Through a literature survey of over 276 published articles (2000-2023), this study presents an overview of solutions to the MP pollution, while identifying research gaps in the body of knowledge for further work. It is conclusive from this review that the MPs exist in the freshwater due to an improper littering of plastic waste and its degradation into smaller particles. Approximately 15-51 trillion MP particles have accumulated in the oceans with their weight ranging between 93,000 and 236,000 metric ton (Mt), while about 19-23 Mt of plastic waste was released into rivers in 2016, which was projected to increase up to 53 Mt by 2030. A subsequent degradation of MPs in the aquatic environment results in the generation of NPs with size ranging from 1 to 1000 nm. It is expected that this work facilitates stakeholders to understand the multi-aspects of MPs pollution in the freshwater and recommends policy actions to implement sustainable solutions to this environmental problem.
Fulltext Viscosine as a Potent and Safe Antipyretic Agent Evaluated by Yeast-Induced Pyrexia Model and Molecular Docking Studies

Muhammad A, Khan B, Iqbal Z, Khan AZ, Khan I, Khan K, et al.

ACS Omega, 2019 Sep 03;4(10):14188-14192.
PMID: 31508540 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.9b01041

The antipyretic potential of viscosine, a natural product isolated from the medicinal plant Dodonaea viscosa, was investigated using yeast-induced pyrexia rat model, and its structure-activity relationship was investigated through molecular docking analyses with the target enzymes cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 (mPGES-1). The in vivo antipyretic experiments showed a progressive dose-dependent reduction in body temperatures of the hyperthermic test animals when injected with viscosine. Comparison of docking analyses with target enzymes showed strongest bonding interactions (binding energy -17.34 kcal/mol) of viscosine with the active-site pocket of mPGES-1. These findings suggest that viscosine shows antipyretic properties by reducing the concentration of prostaglandin E2 in brain through its mPGES-1 inhibitory action and make it a potential lead compound for developing effective and safer antipyretic drugs for treating fever and related pathological conditions.