The need for new antibiotics has become a major worldwide challenge as bacterial strains keep developing resistance to the existing drugs at an alarming rate. Enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductases (FabI) play a crucial role in lipids and fatty acid biosynthesis, which are essential for the integrity of the bacterial cell membrane. Our study aimed to discover small FabI inhibitors in continuation to our previously found hit MN02. The process was initially started by conducting a similarity search to the NCI ligand database using MN02 as a query. Accordingly, ten compounds were chosen for the computational assessment and antimicrobial testing. Most of the compounds showed an antibacterial activity against Gram-positive strains, while RK10 exhibited broad-spectrum activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. All tested compounds were then docked into the saFabI active site followed by 100 ns MD simulations (Molecular Dynamics) and MM-GBSA (Molecular Mechanics with Generalised Born and Surface Area Solvation) calculations in order to understand their fitting and estimate their binding energies. Interestingly, and in line with the experimental data, RK10 was able to exhibit the best fitting with the target catalytic pocket. To sum up, RK10 is a small compound with leadlike characteristics that can indeed act as a promising candidate for the future development of broad-spectrum antibacterial agents.

Background: Mobile phones are excessively used even though microbes’ ability to survive on phone surfaces was confirmed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy hygiene practices have been applied to mobile surfaces. Therefore, it is interesting to evaluate the emergence of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria on mobile phone surfaces. Methods: A random sampling technique was utilized on residents in Abu Dhabi, UAE between May and June 2021. A swab sample from each participant’s mobile phone was collected and transported to the microbiology laboratory for bacterial culture and antimicrobial susceptibility tests. Furthermore, a cross-sectional study was conducted via a self-administered questionnaire filled by participants. The questionnaire was used to collect sociodemographic data, phone frequency usage and cleaning methods. Results: One hundred two-sample swabs and data have been included in the study. The majority of participants (91.1%) reported cleaning their mobile phones with wipes and alcohol. However, 100% of participants had a mobile phone contaminated by bacteria such as S. aureus, E. coli, Coagulase-negative staphylococci, Micrococcus, Bacillus, Streptococcus, Citrobacter, Proteus, Enterococcus, klebsiella, Pseudomonas and Actinobacteria. Interestingly, most of these potentially pathogenic bacteria were found to be resistant to ampicillin, ceftazidime and cefotaxime. Conclusion: The continuous hand and mobile disinfectant have contributed to the emergence of resistant bacteria.

Through a comparative legal study among United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, and Syria, in addition to a review of certain international agreements, this article addresses exclusions in inventions. These exclusions are divided into two parts: the traditional exclusions, which cover all types of inventions regardless of their topic, such as discoveries, scientific theories, and mathematical methods; and the special exclusions, in particular plants and animals because they belong to everyone and no one may monopolize them exclusively and prevent others from benefiting from them. Moreover, biological methods for producing plants and animals are also excluded. In addition, human-related inventions—mainly organs, tissues, cells, natural biological materials, DNA, and genomes—are excluded from patentability. The reason for this exclusion is because these inventions make the human body a mere resource through which various biotechnology applications are used to obtain patents that are commercially exploited to serve the interests of biotechnology companies and developed countries.

This article deals with exploitation of a pharmaceutical patent to treat the novel coronavirus. The laws of several Arab nations, which regulate industrial property rights in regard to the use of compulsory licensing for exploiting patented COVID-19 pharmaceutical treatments, are examined, compared, and contrasted. The cases in which such laws permit use of compulsory licensing are clarified, such as in the interest of national security and in emergencies. This article concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed a serious threat to the public health of various countries which has justified the use of compulsory licensing to exploit new patents. A patent owner has the right to be granted appropriate compensation during exploitation, and the new compulsory license terminates once the purpose for which it has been given terminates.