Bacteriological profile and antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of wound infections among adult patients attending Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital, Nepal

Introduction: Wound infections are significant group of infections in the hospitals worldwide. The wide spread uses of antimicrobial agents lead to emergence of resistant pathogens contributing to increased morbidity and mortality. Accurate and prompt antimicrobial therapy is required to reduce the complications. This study was aimed to investigate pyogenic bacterial pathogens and their susceptibility patterns. Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out at Gandaki Medical College Teaching Hospital from July to December 2018. Wound specimens obtained from adult patients were inoculated onto appropriate media and pathogens were identified using standard microbiological methods. Antimicrobial susceptibility patterns were determined by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method following the guidelines of Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). Results: A total of 264 specimens were included in the study of which 167 (63.3%) were positive for bacterial growth. Of these, polymicrobial growth was observed in two specimens. Gram positive bacteria (119, 70.4%) were the leading cause of infections, Staphylococcus aureus (102, 85.7%) being the most dominant. Among the Gram negative pathogens (50, 29.6%), Escherichia coli (31,62%) was found to be the predominant followed by Pseudomonas aeurogenosa (10, 20%). Overall, the isolates were resistance to Ampicillin (90.7%), Amoxycillin (64.9%), Cloxacillin (68%), Ofloxacin (61.5%) and Cotrimoxazole (55.6%). Lesser rates of resistance were observed to Doxycycline, Erythromycin, Amikacin, Gentamicin and Imipenem. Conclusion: This study revealed the most common pathogens causing pyogenic wound infections in our setting. Again, these pathogens are resistance to commonly used antibiotics. Therefore, this study could be helpful to develop proper guidelines of antibiotics to be used for prophylactic and empiric treatment

Unusual magnetic and transport properties in HoMn6_6Sn6_6 kagome magnet

With intricate lattice structures, kagome materials are an excellent platform to study various fascinating topological quantum states. In particular, kagome materials, revealing large responses to external stimuli such as pressure or magnetic field, are subject to special investigation. Here, we study the kagome-net HoMn$_6$Sn$_6$ magnet that undergoes paramagnetic to ferrimagnetic transition (below 376 K) and reveals spin-reorientation transition below 200 K. In this compound, we observe the topological Hall effect and substantial contribution of anomalous Hall effect above 100 K. We unveil the pressure effects on magnetic ordering at a low magnetic field from the pressure tunable magnetization measurement. By utilizing high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, Dirac-like dispersion at the high-symmetry point K is revealed in the vicinity of the Fermi level, which is well supported by the first-principles calculations, suggesting a possible Chern-gapped Dirac cone in this compound. Our investigation will pave the way to understand the magneto-transport and electronic properties of various rare-earth-based kagome magnets

Observation of anisotropic Dirac cones in the topological material Ti2Te2P

Anisotropic bulk Dirac (or Weyl) cones in three dimensional systems have recently gained intense research interest as they are examples of materials with tilted Dirac (or Weyl) cones indicatig the violation of Lorentz invariance. In contrast, the studies on anisotropic surface Dirac cones in topological materials which contribute to anisotropic carrier mobility have been limited. By employing angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and first-principles calculations, we reveal the anisotropic surface Dirac dispersion in a tetradymite material Ti2Te2P on the (001) plane of the Brillioun zone. We observe the quasi-elliptical Fermi pockets at the M -point of the Brillouin zone forming the anisotropic surface Dirac cones. Our calculations of the Z2 indices confirm that the system is topologically non-trivial with multiple topological phases in the same material. In addition, the observed nodal-line like feature formed by bulk bands makes this system topologically rich.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures, Supplementary Information include