Serological and molecular approaches for leptospirosis at a tertiary care centre in northern India

Background: Aims and objectives of the study was to determine prevalence rate of leptospirosis and recognition of common epidemiological situation and clinical manifestations of leptospirosis in patients with pyrexia of unknown origin at a tertiary care centre.Methods: This was a hospital based prospective observational study. The duration of study was from August 2015 to July 2016. Patients with clinical symptoms of pyrexia of unknown origin attending Gandhi Memorial and Associated Hospital, King George’s Medical University Lucknow during the study period were enrolled in this study. We performed the IgM ELISA and PCR for the leptospirosis at our centre and for the Micro Agglutination Test (MAT), we sent the serum samples to regional medical research centre Department of Health Research Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India Port Blair.Results: A Total of 104 symptomatic patients were recruited. Of total, IgM ELISA for leptospirosis were positive in 25 patients, PCR in 20 patients and MAT shows significant titres in 3 samples. The ROC curve analysis revealed significant diagnostic accuracy of IgM ELISA with 100.00% sensitivity and 78.22% specificity however showed less positive predictive value (12.0%) but high negative predictive value (100.0%). Most common presentation were fever, jaundice and rashes (40.4%) followed by fever and jaundice (29.8%).Conclusions: Leptospirosis IgM ELISA and PCR showed good detection accuracy. Age, sex, occupation is not significantly associated to the leptospirosis

Anti-bacterial activity of inorganic nanomaterials and their antimicrobial peptide conjugates against resistant and non-resistant pathogens

This review details the antimicrobial applications of inorganic nanomaterials of mostly metallic form, and the augmentation of activity by surface conjugation of peptide ligands. The review is subdivided into three main sections, of which the first describes the antimicrobial activity of inorganic nanomaterials against gram-positive, gram-negative and multidrug-resistant bacterial strains. The second section highlights the range of antimicrobial peptides and the drug resistance strategies employed by bacterial species to counter lethality. The final part discusses the role of antimicrobial peptide-decorated inorganic nanomaterials in the fight against bacterial strains that show resistance. General strategies for the preparation of antimicrobial peptides and their conjugation to nanomaterials are discussed, emphasizing the use of elemental and metallic oxide nanomaterials. Importantly, the permeation of antimicrobial peptides through the bacterial membrane is shown to aid the delivery of nanomaterials into bacterial cells. By judicious use of targeting ligands, the nanomaterial becomes able to differentiate between bacterial and mammalian cells and, thus, reduce side effects. Moreover, peptide conjugation to the surface of a nanomaterial will alter surface chemistry in ways that lead to reduction in toxicity and improvements in biocompatibility

Design and development of amphotericin B bearing polycaprolactone microparticles for macrophage targeting

Antileishmanial efficacy of Amphotericin B bearing polycaprolactone (PCL) microparticles was investigated. The microparticles were prepared, optimized and subjected to in vitro characterization for shape (spherically structured), particle size (9.83±1.12 m), entrapment efficiency (43.54±3.98%) and in vitro drug release. The study revealed that PCL microparticles bearing Amphotericin B can be effectively used to target leishmanial parasites residing in macrophages