Breast cancer has historically been one of the leading causes of death for women worldwide. As of 2020, breast cancer was reported to have overtaken lung cancer as the most common type of cancer globally, representing an estimated 11.3% of all cancer diagnoses. A multidisciplinary approach is taken for the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer that includes conventional and targeted treatments. However, current therapeutic approaches to treating breast cancer have limitations, necessitating the search for new treatment options. Cancer cells require adequate iron for their continuous and rapid proliferation. Excess iron saturates the iron-binding capacity of transferrin, resulting in non-transferrin-bound iron (NTBI) that can catalyze free-radical reactions and may lead to oxidant-mediated breast carcinogenesis. Moreover, excess iron and the disruption of iron metabolism by local estrogen in the breast leads to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Therefore, iron concentration reduction using an iron chelator can be a novel therapeutic strategy for countering breast cancer development and progression. This review focuses on the use of iron chelators to deplete iron levels in tumor cells, specifically in the breast, thereby preventing the generation of free radicals. The inhibition of DNA synthesis and promotion of cancer cell apoptosis are the targets of breast cancer treatment, which can be achieved by restricting the iron environment in the body. We hypothesize that the usage of iron chelators has the therapeutic potential to control intracellular iron levels and inhibit the breast tumor growth. In clinical settings, iron chelators can be used to reduce cancer cell growth and thus reduce the morbidity and mortality in breast cancer patients.

Novel drug compound hunting was carried out for SARS-CoV-2 proteins with low mutation susceptibility. The probability of escape mutation and drug resistance is lower if conserved microbial proteins are targeted by therapeutic drugs. Mutation rate of all SARS-CoV-2 proteins were analyzed via multiple sequence alignment Non-Structural Protein 13 and Non-Structural Protein 16 were selected for the current study due to low mutation rate among viral strains and significant functionality. Cross-species mutation rate analysis for NSP13 and NSP16 showed these are well-conserved proteins among four coronaviral species. Viral helicase inhibitors, identified using literature-mining, were docked against NSP13. Pharmacophore-based screening of 11,375 natural compounds was conducted for NSP16. Stabilities of top compounds inside human body were confirmed via molecular dynamic simulation. ADME properties and LD₅₀ values of the helicase inhibitors and Ambinter natural compounds were analyzed. Compounds against NSP13 showed binding affinities between −10 and −5.9 kcal/mol whereby ivermectin and scutellarein showed highest binding energies of −10 and −9.9 kcal/mol. Docking of 18 hit compounds against NSP16 yielded binding affinities between −8.9 and −4.1 kcal/mol. Hamamelitannin and deacyltunicamycin were the top compounds with binding affinities of −8.9 kcal/mol and −8.4 kcal/mol. The top compounds showed stable ligand–protein interactions in molecular dynamics simulation. The analyses revealed two hit compounds against each targeted protein displaying stable behavior, high binding affinity and molecular interactions. Conversion of these compounds into drugs after in vitro experimentation can become better treatment options to elevate COVID management. Graphical abstract

Children carrying Staphylococcus aureus in their nasopharynx are at a higher risk of contracting systemic infection. Due to lack of sufficient information regarding such carriage, this study was conducted to explore the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility, and genomic profiles of S. aureus isolated from nasopharyngeal samples of 163 randomly selected asymptomatic Bangladeshi children aged from 5–<15 years. Antibiotic susceptibility pattern and genomic analysis of the samples were conducted using standard microbiological methods and genomic tools. The carriage was confirmed in 44 (27%) children who were mostly well nourished without respiratory symptoms in the last 3 months. Higher carriage was observed among the younger age group (5–<10 years) who completed vaccines for pneumonia (p = 0.002) and influenza (p = 0.004). Among the isolates, 84.1% were multidrug-resistant and 47.5% (n = 40) were methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). All the isolates (100%) were resistant to cefixime with higher resistance to ampicillin (95.5%) and penicillin (90.9%). Among the three investigated isolates, two were ST80 (ID-1 and ID-52) and one was a novel strain (ID-19) with the presence of aph-Stph, blaI, blaZ, dha1, fosB, lmrS, mepA, norA, and tet38 genes. The current research demonstrates a high incidence of multidrug-resistant S. aureus and reports the first instance of ST80 in asymptomatic children in Bangladesh.

Awareness of common eye diseases and their early detection can play a vital role in encouraging people to seek timely eye care and therefore help in reducing the burden of visual impairment. This study was designed to reveal the assessment of awareness of eye diseases among the population of Bangladesh in different locations. For this, a total of 750 respondents were selected by convenient sampling and were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. From this study, we found that only 50% of the respondents were aware of glaucoma and only 35% had knowledge about glaucoma. About 52% of the study population was aware of cataract and 19% of them had knowledge that the risk of cataract increases by getting older. About 38% of the participants had an understanding of night blindness. Diabetes can lead to eye diseases and this was known to 40% of the study population. Only 23% of the respondents were concern about their family’s present eye health condition. Frequency of taking nutritional food for optimum health was very poor. Daily nutritional foods were taken by 17% of the participants. About 36% of study subjects maintained their blood pressure and obesity. From our survey results, it can be implied that the level of awareness and knowledge about common eye diseases among the population of Bangladesh was not satisfactory. Highlighting importance to the tertiary eye care, imposing health education and raising awareness will assist to understand the importance of routine eye examination for early detection and treatment of such conditions. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. June 2019, 5(4): 292-296

Blood borne infections are one of the major health problems in Bangladesh, which requires frequent use of antimicrobials. In most of the cases, diagnosis and treatment with such antimicrobials are done empirically. Therefore, updated information on etiological data for major pathogens and their pattern of antibiotic resistance is required for formulating strategy and guideline for the prescribers. This study was carried out to assess the pattern of antibiotic resistance and to determine the prevalence of resistance phenotypes of different bacterial pathogens, including Acinetobacter sp. previously collected from patients from a hospital in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Retrospective analysis of 573 clinical records was performed, and the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of those records was used to determine the prevalence of the isolates that were multi-drug resistant. Our finding indicates that Acinetobacter sp. (12%), followed by Salmonella typhi (58%) were the second most often found pathogen in the blood samples. In addition, we identified that these organisms exhibited a multi-drug resistance (MDR) pattern toward the most frequently used antibiotic classes, including cephalosporin, fluoroquinolones, aminoglycosides and carbapenems. We found moderate to high levels of resistance against aminoglycosides (45-53%), cephalosporins (28-45%), fluoroquinolones (28-39%) and carbapenem (17- 19%) in Acinetobacter sp. (11.7%, n = 67), as well as multi-drug resistant (66.7%, n = 38), and extensively drug-resistant or XDR (13.64%, n = 9), isolates. We also found pan-drug resistant (PDR) isolates (2.3%) of Acinetobacter sp. showing resistance against all antibiotics that are used clinically. In order to launch effective treatment strategies and prevent the further emergence of MDR, it can be suggested that extensive national antimicrobial surveillance be conducted against these pathogens. There is also a need for further characterization of such superbugs to address the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 27(1): 67-72, 2024 (January)

Poor sensitivity of pathogenic bacteria to bacteria is a serious health issue worldwide specially in the developing and underdeveloped countries making greater concern to the scientists. This study followed the CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute) guidelines 30, Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method to test sensitivity. We analyzed the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi isolated from clinical samples, collected from two hospitals of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The sensitivity of twelve different single antibiotics (cefepime, cefotaxime, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, nitrofurantoin, meropenem, imipenem, amikacin, gentamicin, azithromycin, tetracycline, fosfomycin), and two combinations (piperacillin-tazobactam and amoxicillin-clavulanate) were evaluated against E. coli and S. typhi isolates. E. coli isolates showed significantly less susceptibility than S. typhi isolates to the antibiotics tested. Three antibiotics showed significant effectiveness against E. coli isolates, (chloramphenicol, nitrofurantoin, and fosfomycin). Ciprofloxacin was the least effective antibiotic to S. typhi isolates (only 20% isolates showed sensitivity). 85% E. coli isolates were MDR (Multi Drug Resistant), whereas only 5% S. typhi isolates were MDR. The highest MAR (Multiple Antibiotic Resistance) index value among E. coli isolates was 0.86, whereas highest value among S. typhi isolates was 0.21. The lowest MAR value among E. coli isolates was 0.21, whereas two S. typhi isolates had MAR value of zero (0). Almost all the single and combination antibiotics demonstrated poor sensitivity to the E. coli and S. typhi isolates. Thus, it makes infections much harder to treat and makes other medical procedures and treatment, such as surgery, caesarean sections and cancer therapy, much riskier. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 28(1): 94-104, 2025 (January)