Efficacy and safety of intravenous and/or oral levonadifloxacin in the management of secondary bacterial pulmonary infections in COVID-19 patients: findings of a retrospective, real-world, multi-center study

Background: Owing to dysregulated immune response, secondary bacterial pulmonary infections involving both gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens are common in COVID-19 patients and are often associated with higher mortality. This is a first ever report on the safety and efficacy of levonadifloxacin in the treatment of secondary bacterial pulmonary infections in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia.Methods: This multi-center, retrospective, post-marketing and real-world study assessed the safety and efficacy of IV and/or oral levonadifloxacin in the treatment of bacterial infections encountered in COVID-19 patients. Data for 154 male/female patients above 18 years of age who received levonadifloxacin (injectable and/or oral) was collected from 44 participating sites. Study outcomes were the clinical and microbial success at the end of therapy. Safety was assessed based on clinical and laboratory adverse events.Results: Among the 154 patients assessed, 121 (78.6%) were males and 142 (92.2%) were hospitalized. Majority of the patients (119) received all-IV therapy while 11 patients were prescribed with IV followed by oral regimen. All-oral therapy was received by 24 patients. The most common co-morbid conditions were diabetes (19.6%) and hypertension (19.2%). Post-treatment with levonadifloxacin, clinical and microbial success rates were 96.8% and 97.0% respectively.Conclusions: Levonadifloxacin showed promising safety and efficacy when used as IV and/or oral therapy for the treatment of secondary bacterial pulmonary infections in COVID-19 patients. Clinically relevant features of levonadifloxacin such as availability of both IV and oral options, broad spectrum coverage and reassuring safety in patients with significant co-morbidities could help simplify the management.Trial registration no. CTRI/2020/09/028152 [Registered on: 30/09/2020]

Biogeography-based Optimization of Artificial Neural Network (BBO-ANN) for Solar Radiation Forecasting

Renewable energy can help India’s economy and society. Solar energy is everywhere and can be used anywhere, making it popular. Solar energy’s drawbacks are weather and environmental dependencies and solar radiation variations. Solar Radiation Forecasting (SRF) reduces this drawback. SRF eliminates solar power generation variations, grid overvoltage, reverse current, and islanding. Short-term solar radiation forecasts improve photovoltaic (PV) power generation and grid connection. Previous promising SRF studies often fail to generalize to new data. A biogeography-based optimization artificial neural network (BBO-ANN) model for SRF is proposed in this work. 5-year and 6-year data are used to train and validate the model. The data was collected from India’s Jaipur Rajasthan weather station from 2014 to 2019. This work used biogeography-based optimization (BBO) to optimize and adjust the inertia weight of artificial neural networks (ANN) during training. The BBO-ANN model developed in this study had a Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 3.55%, which is promising compared to previous SRF studies. The BBO-ANN SRF model introduced in this work can generalize well to new data because it was able to produce equally accurate autumn and winter forecasts despite the great climatic variation that occurs during the summer and spring

Available online at www.jibresearch.com Original Research Journal of Innovative Biology

In vitro evaluation of anti-microbial spectrum of Acacia nilotica leaves and bark extracts against pathogens causing otitis infectio

Relation of Axial Length with Corneal Curvature of the eye in adult subjects with refractive error

BACKGROUND: The second most common reason for blindness worldwide is refractive error. Not only is the global burden of refractive error very high, but also increasing day by day. A number of associated serious complications and the various modes of treatment aspect of the refractive errors warrant the necessity to explore the various factors that have impact on them. The present study was done with the purpose of establishing the relation of axial length with corneal curvature of the eye in adult subjects with refractive error. MATERIAL & METHOD: This study was done on one thousand eyes, of five hundred adult cases, over a total period of 2 years. The cases included were of both sex’s, male & female, taken from Patiala and around Patiala. The subjects were recruited on the basis of inclusion criteria: refractive error- myopia and hyperopia & age between 20-40 years. The subjects in our study included students of M.B.B.S. (Bachelor of Medicine & Bachelor of Surgery) & B.D.S. (Bachelor of Dental Sciences) and routine OPD (Out Patient Door) patients falling in the range of concern of my study. The instruments used in this study were: Autorefractor, A-Scan Ultrasound Biometer and Autokeratometer for measuring refractive error, axial length and corneal curvature respectively. Each subject was explained thoroughly about the whole procedure. Their informed written consent was also taken. Detailed relevant information & general examination was done in each and every case. Thereafter local examination was done & the two concerned ocular parameters were recorded, all as per Performa. AIM: The aim was to find in the subjects the type & degree of refractive error and axial length & corneal curvature and then to find the relationship in between the two concerned ocular parameters. RESULTS: Statistical analysis was done of the data obtained. The results of our present study have showed that the right eye axial length has highly significant negative correlation with right eye corneal curvature (r = -0.418, p<0.01) and left eye axial length has highly significant negative correlation with left eye corneal curvature (r = -0.405, p<0.01).            It means that as we progress from myopic to hyperopic refractive error, accordingly the axial length decreases & corneal curvature increases. CONCLUSION: In myopia or shortsightedness, image is formed in front of retina. Increase in myopic refractive error is found to be in close association with elongation of eyeball or increase in axial length and decreased corneal curvature. In hyperopia or longsightedness, image is formed behind the retina. Shortened axial length & increased corneal curvature of the eyeball is found to be closely associated with hyperopia

Clinical relevance of double-arm blood pressure measurement and prevalence of clinically important inter-arm blood pressure differences in Indian primary care

Hypertension guidelines recommend measuring blood pressure (BP) in both arms at least once. However, this is seldom done due to uncertainties regarding measurement procedure and the implications of finding a clinically important inter-arm BP difference (IAD). This study aimed to provide insight into the prevalence of clinically important IADs in a large Indian primary care cohort. A number of 134 678 (37% female) unselected Indian primary care participants, mean age 45.2 (SD 11.9) years, had BP measured in both arms using a standardized, triplicate, automated simultaneous measurement method (Microlife WatchBP Office Afib). On average, there were clinically minor differences in right and left arm BP values: systolic BP 134.4 vs 134.2 mmHg (p < .01) and diastolic BP 82.7 vs 82.6 mmHg (p < .01), respectively. Prevalence of significant mean systolic IAD between 10 and 15 mmHg was 7,813 (5.8%). Systolic IAD ≥ 15 mmHg 2,980 (2.2%) and diastolic IAD ≥ 10 mmHg 7,151 (5.3%). In total, there were 7,595 (5.6%) and 8,548 (6.3%) participants with BP above the 140/90 mmHg threshold in only the left or right arm, respectively. Prevalence of participants with elevated BP on one arm only was highest in patients with a systolic IAD ≥ 15 mmHg; 19.1% and 13.7%, for left and right arm, respectively. This study shows that a substantial prevalence of IAD exists in Indian primary care patients. BP is above the diagnostic threshold for hypertension in one arm only for 6% of participants. These findings emphasize the importance of undertaking bilateral BP measurement in routine clinical practice