Bibliometric Review on New Possibilities of Antimycobacterial Agents: Exploring Siderophore Desferrioxamine's Applications as an Antimicrobial Agent

Mycobacteria cause tuberculosis and other serious diseases. Understanding their mechanisms of resistance to our immune system and exploring novel drugs are critical strategies to combat infections. A bibliometric analysis was performed to identify publication trends and critical research areas in the field of the antimicrobial activity of desferrioxamine. A total of twenty-four publications on the topic, from 2012 to 2023, were retrieved from databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and Embase, using specific keywords. The quality of the publications was assessed using impact and productivity metrics, with an average annual publication rate of 2.1 articles. The United States emerged as the most productive country, with medicine (23.4%, 11 publications) and biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology (21.3%, 10 publications) as the top research fields. The five most cited publications accounted for 672 citations, with a relatively low h-index (11:11). In conclusion, there has been a lack of publications on this topic in the last decade. The United States dominates production and publication in this area, and there appears to be limited exchange of knowledge, ideas, and technology within the field. Therefore, fostering international cooperation through funding is essential to facilitate further research and development of desferrioxamine-related studies.

Effect of Silver Diamine Fluoride on the Bonding Properties to Caries-affected Dentin

PURPOSE

To evaluate 1. the microtensile bond strength (µTBS) and in situ degree of conversion (DC) of adhesives applied using two bonding strategies after silver diamine fluoride (diamine) application on carious dentinal lesions, and 2. dentin etching patterns using SEM and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Human molars were randomly divided into 12 experimental groups according to: 1. application of a silver diamine fluoride solution (carious dentinal lesion without silver diamine fluoride treatment [control], with 12% silver diamine fluoride [diamine 12%] or 38% silver diamine fluoride [diamine 38%]); 2. adhesives (Clearfil Universal Bond Quick [CUQ] and Scotchbond Universal [SBU]); 3. adhesive strategy (etch-and-rinse [ER] and self-etch [SE]). After restoration, the specimens were sectioned and submitted to µTBS testing. Sticks from each tooth were used for DC evaluation. To examine the changes induced by diamine before and after phosphoric acid treatment, SEM/EDX analysis was performed. Data from the µTBS and DC tests were analyzed using three-way ANOVA and Tukey's test (α = 0.05).

RESULTS

Both concentrations of diamine resulted in a statistically significantly higher mean µTBS compared to the control (p < 0.0001). Diamine 38% showed a statistically significantly higher mean µTBS for both adhesives in SE mode compared to diamine 12% (p < 0.0001). The application of diamine to carious dentinal lesions did not significantly influence the mean DC values for either adhesive (p = 0.72). SBU showed a higher mean DC compared to CUQ (p = 0.03). After diamine treatment, there was an increase in the Ca peak intensity and the presence of residual silver ions mainly when diamine 38% was applied along with the SE approach.

CONCLUSION

Independent of the adhesive application approach, the use of diamine may be a promising alternative to increase µTBS without jeopardizing the DC of the two adhesives in carious dentinal lesions.

Molecular detection of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 in pregnant women from Maranhão state, Brazil

The human T cell lymphotropic virus (HTLV) has a worldwide distribution. HTLV is endemic in some states in the northeastern region of Brazil. This study investigated the prevalence of HTLV-1/2 in 713 pregnant women attended at the Central Laboratory of Public Health of Maranhão (LACEN-MA) between February 2015 and May 2017. Serological screening was performed by chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA), and reactive sera were subsequently confirmed by Western blot (WB) analysis. Five samples were determined to be HTLV-1/2-reactive by CMIA analysis, while in the WB analysis, three sera were positive for HTLV-1, and two were indeterminate. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis used to detect HTLV-1 proviral DNA showed a specific 336 base pair fragment for HTLV-1 in all CMIA-reactive serum samples. PCR products were purified and sequenced. We observed a 0.7% molecular prevalence of HTLV-1 infection. The average age of the HTLV-1-positive pregnant women was 25.6 ± 8.2 years, and the average age of the HTLV-1-negative pregnant women was 24.3 ± 6.2 (p = 0.60). We observed that there was no association of HTLV-1 infection with age, ethnicity, marital status, educational level, family income, age of first sexual intercourse, previous pregnancy, breastfeeding, intravenous drug use by partner, history of blood transfusions, or use of condoms. The prevalence of HTLV-1 observed in pregnant women demonstrated the need to implement public health policies for the screening of HTLV-1/2 in prenatal care and counseling to avoid breastfeeding by infected women; this approach could control vertical transmission and reduce the spread of this virus in the population.