Bacteriological Quality of Fresh Vegetables and Peeled Sugar-Cane Obtained from Selected Markets in Zaria, Nigeria

Fresh vegetables and peeled sugar-cane serves as an essential component of a healthy diet, but despite their benefit they are prompt to bacterial contamination. The bacteriological quality of four types of fresh vegetables and peeled sugar-cane obtained from selected markets in Zaria, Nigeria was determined using standard microbiological method. The fresh vegetables, peeled sugar-cane, water and hand-swab samples were collected from four different locations namely; Samaru, Sabon-gari, Tudun-wada and Zaria-city. The total bacteria plate counts ranged from 3.3 x 106 cfu/g to 1.6 x 107 cfu/g with Tudu-wada having the highest bacteria load in lettuce. The coliform count of fresh vegetables and peeled sugar-cane varies from 1.3 x 104 to 8.6 x 105 cfu/g in the entire markets with Tudu-wada having the highest value in cucumber, the counts were obviously above specified Standard of 105 cfu/g and  103 cfu/g (ICMSF, 1978). Pathogenic bacteria isolated include; Citrobacter fruendii, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter spp., Klebsiella. spp., Shigella spp., Serratia spp., Cronobacter sakazaki, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas spp., and others Staphylococci spp.. This study showed that, fresh vegetables and peeled sugar-cane are contaminated with pathogenic bacteria making them unsafe for human consumption; hence fresh produce should be pre- treated thoroughly, so as to reduce the risk of food- borne outbreaks. Keywords: Pathogenic bacteria · Bacteriological quality, Microbiological method, Coliform counts and food- borne outbreaks. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-8-02 Publication date: April 30th 202

The development and validation of a scoring tool to predict the operative duration of elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy

Background: The ability to accurately predict operative duration has the potential to optimise theatre efficiency and utilisation, thus reducing costs and increasing staff and patient satisfaction. With laparoscopic cholecystectomy being one of the most commonly performed procedures worldwide, a tool to predict operative duration could be extremely beneficial to healthcare organisations. Methods: Data collected from the CholeS study on patients undergoing cholecystectomy in UK and Irish hospitals between 04/2014 and 05/2014 were used to study operative duration. A multivariable binary logistic regression model was produced in order to identify significant independent predictors of long (> 90 min) operations. The resulting model was converted to a risk score, which was subsequently validated on second cohort of patients using ROC curves. Results: After exclusions, data were available for 7227 patients in the derivation (CholeS) cohort. The median operative duration was 60 min (interquartile range 45–85), with 17.7% of operations lasting longer than 90 min. Ten factors were found to be significant independent predictors of operative durations > 90 min, including ASA, age, previous surgical admissions, BMI, gallbladder wall thickness and CBD diameter. A risk score was then produced from these factors, and applied to a cohort of 2405 patients from a tertiary centre for external validation. This returned an area under the ROC curve of 0.708 (SE = 0.013, p  90 min increasing more than eightfold from 5.1 to 41.8% in the extremes of the score. Conclusion: The scoring tool produced in this study was found to be significantly predictive of long operative durations on validation in an external cohort. As such, the tool may have the potential to enable organisations to better organise theatre lists and deliver greater efficiencies in care

International Journal of Pharma and Bio Sciences RESEARCH ARTICLE ALGAE BIOTECHNOLOGY ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF FRESH JUICES OF ALLIUM CEPA AND ZINGIBER OFFICINALE AGAINST MULTIDRUG RESISTANT BACTERIA

Antibiotic resistant bacteria are one of the major problems challenging the health care system in general. The antibacterial activity of fresh red and white Allium cepa (Onion) and Zingiber officinale (Ginger) juices against multidrug resistant bacteria viz: Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhi isolated from salad was investigated using agar well diffusion and agar dilution methods. All the bacteria except Staphylococcus aureus were susceptible to the fresh red and white onion juices with the diameter of zones of inhibition ranging from 15mm – 35mm while the test bacteria isolates were not sensitive to the fresh ginger juice. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (M. I. C.) and the Minimum Bactericidal Concentration (M. B. C) values of the fresh onion juices against the test bacteria were low ranging from 3.125 % v /v – 25.0 % v /v. This study indicates that the fresh juices of Allium cepa possess significant antibacterial potency against multidrug resistant bacteria. This article can be downloaded from www.ijpbs.ne

Concealed Enterovesical Fistula Associated with Forgotten Intra-Abdominal Haemostat and Intravesical Towel

Introduction. Enterovesical fistula is rare and is often caused by bowel inflammatory diseases and tumours in the urinary bladder or the intestine with local infiltration of bowel or bladder, respectively. The fistula usually presents with lower urinary tract symptoms, pneumaturia, and faecaluria or with food particles in the urine. Intra-abdominal retained surgical foreign bodies have also been reported as causes. Case Presentation. A case of atypical presentation in a woman with enterovesical fistula following abdominal hysterectomy. Investigations confirmed the presence of surgical towel in the urinary bladder and a pair of artery forceps in the abdomen. The towel was removed at cystoscopy after which she presented with food particles in the urine. She later had laparatomy to remove the haemostat and to repair the fistula. Discussion. A typical presentation of enterovesical fistula delayed the diagnosis and treatment in this patient. Conclusion. Managing patients with recurrent urinary tract infection after abdominal operation should include appropriate imaging of the abdomen with emphasis on pelvic organs. Also, surgical operation should always be given the best shot the first time and strict operation room standards and guidelines should always be followed