Hand hygiene compliance among healthcare workers in a tertiary care academic health care organization

Background: Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) are a major cause of high morbidity, disability, mortality and rising costs for health systems. Preventing the HAI risk by planning and implementing effective preventive strategies is important to safeguard patient health. Handwashing is one of the fundamental measures for preventing transmission of hospital-acquired infections.Methods: This cross-sectional observational study was conducted in the surgical ICU from January to February 2018 to evaluate the presence of adhesion to the different aspects of HH. Inclusion criteria included all nurses and allied healthcare workers of surgical ICU while all other HCWs were excluded. Two observers collected all HH data. During this analysis, 3000 HH opportunities were observed. HH compliance was tested for all 5 moments as per WHO guidelines. Data thus collected were entered into a computer-based spreadsheet for analysis using SPSS statistical software (version 20) (IBM Corp., NY, USA).Results: Overall hand hygiene compliance observed as per WHO Guidelines was 79.8%. Nurses had an adherence rate of 77.8%; allied staff adherence was 81.8%. Nurses’ compliance after touching patient surroundings was lowest at 60.7%. 96% staff was aware of the facts like diseases prevented by hand washing, ideal duration of HH, reduction of health care associated infections.Conclusions: Overall, the involved ICUs showed low levels of adherence to best hygiene practices with overall compliance of 79.2%. This suggests the need to implement immediate strategies for infection control in the ICUs. A multidisciplinary intervention could be effective in preventing and control the HAI risk

Exhaustive Study of Median filter

Image filtering plays an important role to remove impulse (Salt and Pepper) noise from the images. The median filter which is a non - linear filter is very effective at removing noise while preserving image features and edges. In comparison to linear filter, they provide excellent noise reduction capabilities, with less blurring. The work ing of median filter is by removing the corrupted pixel value with the median value of neighboring pixel which is calculated by sorting all the pixel values from the window into ascending order. This paper presents a median filtering algorithm by using 3* 3 windows

Estimation of genetic diversity among sugarcane (Saccharum species complex) clones

he experimental materials consisted of 36 sugarcane clones including two checks (Co Pant 97222 and Co Pant 3220). Analysis of variance revealed significant differences among all the clones for all the traits under study namely no. of millable canes, cane height, single cane weight, juice sucrose percent , purity percent , cane yield and CCS yield except cane thickness, juice brix and juice extraction percent. The divergence studies through Mahalanobis D2 statistics grouped the 36 genotypes into eleven clusters. The maximum numbers of genotypes (21) were grouped in clusterI and the lowest (1) in cluster VI,VII,VIII,IX,X and XI. Members of cluster VII and XI (46.48) were found to be genetically most diverse on the basis of their inter cluster difference as opposite to clusters I and II (10.77) which are closely related. Cane height contributed maximum (15.397%) towards genetic divergence followed by Single cane weight (14.762%) and no. of millable cane (13.016%). These characters were considered to be most important for the genetic diversity. Lowest contribution was made by juice purity percent (4.286%) followed by Cane thickness(7.301%),Juice extraction percent (7.619%). Genetic diversity is important for sustainable production since greater losses of characteristics in any population limits its chances of survival. Little to no genetic diversity makes crops extremely susceptible to widespread biotic and abiotic stresses. Genetic diversity can be assessed by Mahalanobis D2 statistic, which is a morphometric method and a powerful tool in quantifying the degree of divergence at genotypic level

Prevalencija i analiza molekulske heterogenosti vrsta Campylobacter jejuni i Campylobacter coli izdvojenih iz ljudi, peradi i goveda u Pantnagaru u Indiji.

Thermophilic campylobacters are the leading cause of food -borne bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. Reports regarding the prevalence of campylobacters in India are very few and no report on the use of molecular typing tools is available for this important pathogen. In the present study, a total of 612 stool/fecal samples collected from humans (n = 260), poultry (n = 239) and cattle (n = 113) were examined for the presence of thermophilic campylobacters by direct plating on modified charcoal cefoperazone deoxycholate agar plates, and employing conventional morphological and biochemical tests. Of these, only 43 samples showed positive Campylobacter colonies. Further, genus and species level identification and confirmation by multiplex PCR revealed the isolates from human (4) and cattle (1) to be Campylobacter jejuni, whereas, out of 38 isolates from poultry, 29 (76.32%) and 9 (23.68%) were C. coli and C. jejuni, respectively. The genetic diversity of the isolates studied by flaA-RFLP typing, using DdeI restriction enzyme, revealed the presence of 11 and 7 flatypes among the 14 C. jejuni and 29 C. coli isolates, respectively. Dendrogram analysis showed that one of the C. jejuni isolates from poultry shared 100% genetic similarity with the human isolate. The prevalence rate in human, poultry and cattle was estimated to be 1.54, 15.89 and 0.88%, respectively, with a comparatively high prevalence of C. coli in poultry. This study appears to be the first of its kind from India, on the application of multiplex PCR and flaA-RFLP typing of Campylobacter isolates obtained from a variety of sources.Termofilni kampilobakteri vodeći su uzrok bakterijskog gastroenteritisa diljem svijeta koji se prenose hranom. Izvješća o njihovoj prevalenciji u Indiji su rijetka, a potpuno nedostaju izvješća o upotrebi molekularnih metoda za njihovu tipizaciju. U ovom je istraživanju bilo pretraženo ukupno 612 uzoraka i to 260 uzoraka stolice ljudi, 239 uzoraka izmeta peradi te 113 uzoraka izmeta goveda na prisutnost termofilnih kampilobaktera izravnim nasađivanjem na preinačen cefoperazon deoksikolatni agar s drvenim ugljenom. Uzročnik je bio identificiran uobičajenim testovima za određivanje morfologije i biokemijskih osobina. Kolonije kampilobaktera dokazane su samo u 43 pretražena uzorka. Daljnjim postupkom identifikacije na razini roda i vrste te potvrde višestrukom lančanom reakcijom polimerazom dokazano je da su četiri izolata iz ljudi i jedan iz goveda pripadali vrsti Campylobacter jejuni, dok je od 38 izolata iz peradi njih 29 (76,32 %) pripadalo vrsti C. coli, a 9 (23,68 %) vrsti C. jejuni. Istraživanjem genetske raznolikosti izolata na osnovi polimorfizma dužine restrikcijskog fragmenta gena flaA uporabom restrikcijskog enzima DdeI dokazano je 11 fla tipova među 14 izolata vrste C. jejuni i sedam fla tipova među 29 izolata C. coli. Analiza dendrograma je pokazala da je jedan izolat C. jejuni iz peradi bio identičan izolatu iz ljudi. Procijenjena prevalencija u ljudi iznosila je 1,54, u peradi 15,89, a u goveda 0,88 %, s relativno velikom prevalencijom vrste C. coli u peradi. Ovo je prvo istraživanje takve vrste u Indiji

Agroecological Approach to Farming for Sustainable Development: The Indian Scenario

Agroecology is the application of ecological principles to agricultural systems and practices and the application of social justice principles to whole food systems. Agroecological farming, an unfamiliar concept to those who treat agriculture and ecology as separate subjects, refers to farming for producing food, employment and economic benefits in addition to cultural, social and environmental services and benefits. Additionally, agroecology empowers farming communities, as the key agents of change, and addresses the root cause of problems of unsustainable agricultural systems in an integrated way and provides holistic and long-term solutions to transform the food and agricultural systems. As agroecology is at the forefront of transforming farming and food system sustainability, the present chapter specifically explores the state of Indian traditional farming agroecosystems, evidence collected under the ongoing Indian UNEP-GEF project “Mainstreaming agricultural biodiversity conservation and utilization in agricultural sector to ensure ecosystem services and reduce vulnerability”. We discuss traditional Indian farming in view of FAO’s 10 principles of Agroecology which is key to help policymakers, practitioners and stakeholders, in planning, managing and evaluating agroecological transitions

Trend Analysis of Streamflow and Rainfall in the Kosi River Basin of Mid-Himalaya of Kumaon Region, Uttarakhand

Due to climate change phenomenon and substantial decrease in water resources, analyzing the streamflow trend is of significant importance. In the present study, investigation was carried out to find rainfall and streamflow trends in the Kosi river watershed at different timescales from 1986 to 2016. Kosi river is one of the principal rivers in the Kumaon region. The different methods employed for trend detection of streamflow and rainfall were the Mann–Kendall (MK) test and the Sen’s slope (SS) estimator. Results showed a statistically significant decreasing trend in pre-monsoonal and annual rainfall with a Sen’s slope of -2.27 and -1.49 mm/year, respectively. The decreasing trends in pre-monsoon, post-monsoon, and winter streamflow were found during 1986–2016, which were not statistically significant. The results of the study help in understanding the variation and availability of rainfall and streamflow in different seasons of the year and motivate to adopt effective water management and agricultural practices for rainfed hills

Effect of stem structural characteristics and cell wall components related to stem lodging resistance in a newly identified mutant of hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

In wheat, lodging is affected by anatomical and chemical characteristics of the stem cell wall. Plant characteristics determining the stem strength were measured in lodging tolerant mutant (PMW-2016-1) developed through mutation breeding utilizing hexaploid wheat cultivar, DPW-621-50. Various anatomical features, chemical composition, and mechanical strength of the culms of newly developed lodging-tolerant mutant (PMW-2016-1) and parent (DPW-621-50), were examined by light microscopy, the Klason method, prostate tester coupled with a Universal Tensile Machine, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. Significant changes in the anatomical features, including the outer radius of the stem, stem wall thickness, and the proportions of various tissues, and vascular bundles were noticed. Chemical analysis revealed that the lignin level in the PMW-2016-1 mutant was higher and exhibited superiority in stem strength compared to the DPW-621-50 parent line. The force (N) required to break the internodes of mutant PMW 2016-1 was higher than that of DPW-621-50. The results suggested that the outer stem radius, stem wall thickness, the proportion of sclerenchyma tissues, the number of large vascular bundles, and lignin content are important factors that affect the mechanical strength of wheat stems, which can be the key parameters for the selection of varieties having higher lodging tolerance. Preliminary studies on the newly identified mutant PMW-2016-1 suggested that this mutant may possess higher lodging tolerance because it has a higher stem strength than DPW-621-50 and can be used as a donor parent for the development of lodging-tolerant wheat varieties

HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION OF REAL TIME WINDOW BASED SWITCHING MEDIAN FILTER

Processing of a digital image by the use of computer algorithm is usually referred as digital image processing. However, some unwanted signals capture the image which is termed as noise. Thus the digital image filtering technique is frequently used to eliminate noise. Generally image filters are following up software approach in systems. But hardware implementation prefers in comparison with software implementation for better processing speed. With a boost in the VLSI technology hardware implementation has given a better choice. In the present paper, a hardware implementation method of a Switching non linear Image Filter is proposed with 3X3 window size. Virtex-7 VC707 was used for design, simulation and synthesis process. The performance analysis of the switching median filter was evaluated for different image set (Lena, Cameraman, and Barbara). The max operating frequency attained was 397 MHz. The minimum delay achieved was approximately 2.41ns. The Verilog language was utilized to aim two-dimension switching image filter using ISE (Xilinx) tool. The proposed algorithm for the Switching Image Filter is working on sorting and finding the median values. The comparison has been done with peak signal to noise ration, processing time and the visual inspection observed on each filter

Regioselective Synthesis of Bicyclic and Polycyclic Systems by Cycloaddition Reactions of Alkenyl <i>p-</i>Benzoquinones

An efficient [3 + 2]/[4 + 2] or double [4 + 2] cycloaddition strategy has been established for the synthesis of heterocyclic systems under mild conditions. The reaction pathway is governed by the nature of reaction partner. Several dihydrofurocoumarin, furopyranocoumarin, dihydrofuran, dihydrobenzopyran, and dihydrobenzofuran derivatives were obtained as single diastereomers from cyclic or acyclic enol ethers and styrenes. This one-pot transformation constructed C–C and C–O bonds and generated molecular complexity by domino/tandem process to produce the heterocyclic systems in good yields. The ring closure of domino protocol was highly stereoselective and resulted in the formation of <i>cis</i>-fused systems