Single dose antibiotic prophylaxis in elective obstetric and gynaecological surgeries-a descriptive study

Background: Wound infection is a common complication of obstetric and gynaecological surgeries. It is not clear whether single dose perioperative prophylaxis with antibiotics is sufficient to prevent wound infections. This study was conducted to assess whether perioperative single dose antibiotic is effective in preventing post-operative infections in women undergoing elective obstetric and gynaecological surgeries.Methods: Participants were administered a single dose of 1gm Cefotaxime intravenously before obstetric and gynecological surgery and followed up for the incidence of post-operative complications such as wound infections, wound resuturing etc.Results: Study included 154 electives obstetric and gynecologic cases. 86 were obstetric cases and 68 were gynecologic surgeries. For gynecologic surgeries Cefotaxime injection 1g IV was given 30 minutes before surgery and for obstetric surgeries the same was given after cord clamping. Incidence of febrile morbidity was 5.8% in obstetric cases and 10.3% in gynecologic cases. Incidence of wound infection was 2.32% in obstetric cases and 1.47% in gynecologic cases. Three cases had wound infection, the organisms isolated in wound infection were E. coli, Pseudomonas, Methicillin resistant staphylococcus which were sensitive to cefoperazone-sulbactum and linezolid. The mean duration of hospital stay was 8.2 days in obstetric and 8.03 days for gynecologic patients.Conclusions: Single dose Cefotaxime prophylaxis is equally effective compared to conventional multi-dose antibiotic therapy. It is cost effective and safe for both obstetric and gynecological surgeries

Correlation of raised serum uric acid in first trimester of pregnancy and the risk of gestational diabetes: a prospective study

Background: Prevalence of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM) is fast increasing in India. The association between serum uric acid levels and GDM is not well known. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between first trimester serum uric acid levels and the incidence of gestational diabetes.Methods: This prospective observational study included 85 antenatal women. Serum uric acid level and oral glucose challenge test (OGCT) were done in all three trimesters. Women with first trimester serum uric acid levels of 3.6 mg as group B. Both the groups were followed throughout the pregnancy to assess the development of gestational diabetes. Also, the mode of delivery, pregnancy outcome, and other maternal and neonatal complications were observed.Results: In the patients recruited into this study, 33.33% of group A (serum uric acid3.6 mg/dl) developed GDM.Conclusions: First trimester Serum Uric acid was not significantly related to development of GDM in the sampled women. Neither was it related to any adverse maternal or fetal outcomes

Correlation of serum biomarkers in prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus

Background: Adiponectin and Leptin are adipokines produced by adipocytes. TNF-alpha and IL-6 are inflammatory cytokines which increases insulin resistance. Decreased adiponectin, increased leptin, TNF-alpha and IL-6 is associated with risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, characterised by glucose intolerance that begins or first recognised in pregnancy leading to maternal and foetal complications. India has a high prevalence of GDM upto 16.55% by (2hr plasma glucose of more than 140mg/dl). We aimed to evaluate whether ‘First trimester serum biomarkers predict gestational diabetes mellitus’. The objective of the study was to study the serum biomarkers levels in early pregnancy and predict the risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. To study the correlation of serum biomarkers levels in gestational diabetes mellitus.Methods: The study was conducted between October 2014 to March 2016 in healthy pregnant women aged 20-35 yrs attending the antenatal OPD in ESIC Hospital. Study design: Prospective observational study with three study groups 1. NGT, 2. GDM1, 3. GDM2 with two-time points one at first trimester and other second trimester. Sample size: 125 pregnant women. Work plan: Demographics, baseline characteristics and other clinical risk factors of pregnant women in 1st trimester who consented for the study, meeting the inclusion criteria are noted. 75 gm OGCT (oral glucose challenge test) done at two-time points first and second trimester in the study groups will be analysed using the DIPSI criteria with a cut-off value ≥140mg/dl and divided into 3 groups. Serum biomarkers were measured by DRG ELISA method at one-time point in first trimester in all the 3 groups.Results: The serum levels of adiponectin are comparatively reduced in first trimester GDM1 group. As the difference was not significant with p-value of 0.33 there was no correlation between adiponectin and GDM in our study. Serum leptin is increased in second trimester GDM group but the difference is insignificant with a p value of 0.11 showing no correlation.Conclusions: Among the cytokines IL-6 also shows an increasing tendency in both GDM1 (5.9±0.57) and GDM2 (6.04±1.04) groups compared to the NGT (5.82±0.38) group. Serum TNFα is increased in GDM1 (17.29±17.14) and NGT (17.03±24.03) compared to GDM2 (13.54±17.29) group.

Structural and Electronic Properties of a Carbon Nanotorus: Effects of Delocalized Vs Localized Deformations

The bending of a carbon nanotube is studied by considering the structural evolution of a carbon nanotorus from elastic deformation to the onset of the kinks and eventually to the collapse of the walls of the nanotorus. The changes in the electronic properties due to {\it non-local} deformation are contrasted with those due to {\it local} deformation to bring out the subtle issue underlying the reason why there is only a relatively small reduction in the electrical conductance in the former case even at large bending angles while there is a dramatic reduction in the conductance in the latter case at relatively small bending angles.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Tight-binding parameters from the full-potential linear muffin-tin orbital method: A feasibility study on NiAl

We have examined a method of direct extraction of accurate tight-binding parameters from an ab-initio band-structure calculation. The linear muffin-tin potential method, in its full-potential implementation, has been used to provide the hamiltonian and overlap matrix elements in the momentum space. These matrix elements are Fourier transformed to real space to produce the tight-binding parameters. The feasibility of this method has been tested on the intermetallic alloy NiAl, using spd orbitals for each atom. The parameters generated for this alloy have been used as input to a real-space calculation of the local density of states using the recursion method.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 5 figure

Design of an embedded inverse-feedforward biomolecular trackingcontroller for enzymatic reaction processes

Feedback control is widely used in chemical engineering to improve the performance and robustness of chemical processes. Feedback controllers require a ‘subtractor’ that is able to compute the error between the process output and the reference signal. In the case of embedded biomolecular control circuits, subtractors designed using standard chemical reaction network theory can only realise one-sided subtraction, rendering standard controller design approaches inadequate. Here, we show how a biomolecular controller that allows tracking of required changes in the outputs of enzymatic reaction processes can be designed and implemented within the framework of chemical reaction network theory. The controller architecture employs an inversion-based feedforward controller that compensates for the limitations of the one-sided subtractor that generates the error signals for a feedback controller. The proposed approach requires significantly fewer chemical reactions to implement than alternative designs, and should have wide applicability throughout the fields of synthetic biology and biological engineering

Transgene Excision Has No Impact on In Vivo Integration of Human iPS Derived Neural Precursors

The derivation of induced human pluripotent stem cells (hiPS) has generated significant enthusiasm particularly for the prospects of cell-based therapy. But there are concerns about the suitability of iPS cells for in vivo applications due in part to the introduction of potentially oncogenic transcription factors via viral vectors. Recently developed lentiviral vectors allow the excision of viral reprogramming factors and the development of transgene-free iPS lines. However it is unclear if reprogramming strategy has an impact on the differentiation potential and the in vivo behavior of hiPS progeny. Here we subject viral factor-free, c-myc-free and conventionally reprogrammed four-factor human iPS lines to a further challenge, by analyzing their differentiation potential along the 3 neural lineages and over extended periods of time in vitro, as well as by interrogating their ability to respond to local environmental cues by grafting into the striatum. We demonstrate similar and efficient differentiation into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes among all hiPS and human ES line controls. Upon intracranial grafting in the normal rat (Sprague Dawley), precursors derived from all hiPS lines exhibited good survival and response to environmental cues by integrating into the subventricular zone, acquiring phenotypes typical of type A, B or C cells and migrating along the rostral migratory stream into the olfactory bulb. There was no teratoma or other tumor formation 12 weeks after grafting in any of the 26 animals used in the study. Thus neither factor excision nor persistence of c-myc impact the behavior of hiPS lines in vivo.United States. National Institutes of HealthNew York State Stem Cell ScienceNational Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U.S.)Starr Foundation (Tri-Institutional Starr Stem Cell Scholars Fellowship