Hypertension is a major risk factor for heart attack, produce atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), congestive heart failure, stroke, kidney infection, blindness, end-stage renal infection, and cardiovascular diseases. Many mechanisms are involved in causing hypertension, i.e., via calcium channels, alpha and beta receptors, and the renin-angiotensin system (RAS). RAS has an important role in blood pressure control and is also involved in the metabolism of glucose, homeostasis, and balance of electrolytes in the body. The components of RAS that are involved in the regulation of blood pressure are angiotensinogen, Ang I (angiotensin I), Ang II (angiotensin II), ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme), and ACE 2 (angiotensin-converting enzyme 2). These components provide for relevant therapeutic targets for the treatment of hypertension, and various drugs are commercially available that target individual components of RAS. Angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and ACE inhibitors are the most popular among these drugs. ACE is chosen in this review as it makes an important target for blood pressure control because it converts Ang I into Ang II and also acts on the vasodilator, bradykinin, to degrade it into inactive peptides. This review highlights various aspects of blood pressure regulation in the body with a focus on ACE, drugs targeting the components involved in regulation, their associated side effects, and a need to shift to alternative therapy for putative hypertension treatment in the form of bioactive peptides from food.

The rising prevalence of antibiotic-resistance is currently a grave issue; hence, novel antimicrobial agents are being explored and developed to address infections resulting from multiple drug-resistant pathogens. Biogenic CuO, ZnO, and WO₃ nanoparticles can be considered as such agents. Clinical isolates of E. coli, S. aureus, methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), and Candida albicans from oral and vaginal samples were treated with single and combination metal nanoparticles incubated under dark and light conditions to understand the synergistic effect of the nanoparticles and their photocatalytic antimicrobial activity. Biogenic CuO and ZnO nanoparticles exhibited significant antimicrobial effects under dark incubation which did not alter on photoactivation. However, photoactivated WO₃ nanoparticles significantly reduced the number of viable cells by 75% for all the test organisms, thus proving to be a promising antimicrobial agent. Combinations of CuO, ZnO, and WO₃ nanoparticles demonstrated synergistic action as a significant increase in their antimicrobial property (>90%) was observed compared to the action of single elemental nanoparticles. The mechanism of the antimicrobial action of metal nanoparticles both in combination and in isolation was assessed with respect to lipid peroxidation due to ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation by measuring malondialdehyde (MDA) production, and the damage to cell integrity using live/dead staining and quantitating with the use of flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy.

For antiretroviral therapy (ART) naive human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected adults suffering from tuberculosis (TB), there is uncertainty about the optimal time to initiate highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) after starting antituberculosis treatment (ATT), in order to minimize mortality, HIV disease progression, and adverse events.

This study describes the primary and secondary infertility in patients attending fertility clinics and reports factors associated with primary infertility. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in two fertility clinics in Abu Dhabi Emirate, United Arab Emirates (UAE) between December 2020 and May 2021. The collected information covered sociodemographic, lifestyle, medical, and fertility-related characteristics. The mean age and age at marriage (±SD) of the 928 patients were 35.7 (±6.7) and 25.2 (±6.3) years, respectively. Of the total, 72.0% were obese and overweight, 26.6% reported a consanguineous marriage, and 12.5% were smokers. Secondary infertility (62.5%) was more frequent than primary infertility (37.5%). Primary infertility was inversely associated with age (aOR, 0.94, 95% CI: 0.91–0.98) and not being overweight (aOR, 0.6, 95% CI: 0.4–0.9) while positively associated with a nationality other than Middle Eastern nationality (aOR, 1.9, 95% CI: 1.1–3.3), married for ≤5 years (aOR, 6.0, 95% CI: 3.9–9.3), in a nonconsanguineous marriage (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.5–3.9), having a respiratory disease (aOR, 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1–4.6), an increased age at puberty (aOR, 1.2, 95% CI: 1.0–1.3), and self-reported 6–<12 months (aOR, 2.4, 95% CI: 1.2–5.1) and ≥12 months (aOR, 3.4, 95% CI: 1.8–6.4) infertility. Patients with primary infertility were more likely to be diagnosed with infertility of an ovulation, tubal, or uterine origin (aOR, 3.9, 95% CI: 1.9–7.9). Secondary infertility was more common than primary infertility. Several preventable fertility-related risk factors including overweight, smoking, and diabetes were found to be common among the fertility clinic attendees.

Administration of rifampicin along with nevirapine reduces the plasma concentration of nevirapine in human immunodeficiency virus positive individuals with concomitant tuberculosis (HIV-TB patients). Nevirapine is a much cheaper drug than its alternative efavirenz, and might be beneficial in resource constrained settings.

Background: Cedecea neteriis a gram-negative, oxidase-negative bacillus, a rare pathogen. Few reports are emerging globally about its antimicrobial resistance pattern especially in immunocompromised individuals with comorbidities.Case presentation: In this paper, we report the first case ofC. netericausing urinary tract infection in a pregnant woman at a specialty care hospital in the Northern Emirates of Ras al Khaimah, UAE.Discussion and conclusion: C. neteriis a rare and unusual pathogen, unlike routine gram-negative urinary tract pathogens from the family ofEnterobacteriaceaeand therefore may be missed or misidentified by routine laboratories using conventional microbiology identification techniques. Hence,Cedeceainfections may be under-reported. Physicians and microbiology technicians must be aware of such a rare pathogen, as most of the isolates are multi-drug-resistant and require combined antibiotic treatment with beta-lactamase inhibitors and hence pose a treatment challenge especially in immunocompromised patients with comorbidities. In recent years, it has been reported as an emerging opportunistic pathogen.