Background: Tuberculosis (TB) still remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Nigeria, there is little information on antioxidant status of TB patients. In this study, effects of oxidative stress markers and vitamins C and E were investigated in pulmonary TB patients attending a health care facility in Nigeria. Methods: Sputum specimens were processed for acid-fast bacilli ...

BACKGROUND Availability and access to the detection of resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs remains a significant challenge in Malawi due to limited diagnostic services. The Xpert® MTB/RIF can detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to rifampicin in a single, rapid assay. Rifampicin-resistant M. tuberculosis has not been well studied in Malawi. OBJECTIVES We aimed to determine mutat...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the rate of rifampicin resistance in Helicobacter pylori isolated from patients in Germany, to detect rifampicin resistance-associated mutations and to identify non-resistance-associated genetic variants in the rpoB gene. METHODS Susceptibility to rifampicin in a total of 1585 clinical isolates obtained between January 2003 and July 2006 was test...

BACKGROUND Rapid new diagnostic methods (including Xpert MTB/RIF assay) use rifampicin resistance as a surrogate marker for multidrug resistant tuberculosis. Patients infected with rifampicin susceptible strains are prescribed first line anti-tuberculosis therapy. The roll out of such methods raises a concern that strains with resistance to other first line anti-tuberculosis drugs including iso...

A simple, selective, precise, and stability-indicating high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been established and validated for analysis of isoniazid and rifampicin both as the bulk drugs and in formulations. The compounds were separated on aluminumbacked silica gel 60 F254 plates with n-hexane–2-propanol–acetone–ammonia–formic acid, 3:3.8:2.8:0.3:0.1 (v/v) as mobile ph...

Background: Recent studies have found that rifampicin has neuroprotective properties in neurodegenerative diseases. However, the exact mechanisms of action remain unclear. The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) has been considered a potential target for neuroprotection. In this study, we examined whether rifampicin exhibits beneficial effects mediated by the Nrf2 pathway after g...

Bile acids, steroids, and drugs activate steroid and xenobiotic receptor pregnane X receptor (PXR; NR1I2), which induces human cytochrome P4503A4 (CYP3A4) in drug metabolism and cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) in bile acid synthesis in the liver. Rifampicin, a human PXR agonist, inhibits bile acid synthesis and has been used to treat cholestatic diseases. The objective of this study is...

The reported number of registered leprosy patients worldwide declined with the introduction of multidrug therapy. However, the emergence of rifampicin resistance in leprosy patients engenders difficulties for an individual patient, and its dissemination could pose a threat to leprosy control. This study reports an elderly patient who was diagnosed with rifampicin-resistant lepromatous leprosy. ...