Insightful Advancement and Opportunities for Microbial Bioplastic Production

Impetuous urbanization and population growth are driving increased demand for plastics to formulate impeccable industrial and biomedical commodities. The everlasting nature and excruciating waste management of petroleum-based plastics have catered to numerous challenges for the environment. However, just implementing various end-of-life management techniques for assimilation and recycling plastics is not a comprehensive remedy; instead, the extensive reliance on finite resources needs to be reduced for sustainable production and plastic product utilization. Microorganisms, such as bacteria and algae, are explored substantially for their bioplastic production repertoire, thus replacing fossil-based plastics sooner or later. Nevertheless, the utilization of pure microbial cultures has led to various operational and economical complications, opening the ventures for the usage of mixed microbial cultures (MMCs) consisting of bacteria and algae for sustainable production of bioplastic. The current review is primarily focuses on elaborating the bioplastic production capabilities of different bacterial and algal strains, followed by discussing the quintessence of MMCs. The present state-of-the-art of bioplastic, different types of bacterial bioplastic, microalgal biocomposites, operational factors influencing the quality and quantity of bioplastic precursors, embracing the potential of bacteria-algae consortia, and the current global status quo of bioplastic production has been summarized extensively. Copyright © 2022 Samadhiya, Sangtani, Nogueira and Bala

Healthcare-Associated Meningitis Caused by <em>M. tuberculosis</em> and Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria

Meningitis can be acquired in the community setting or secondary to invasive procedures or head trauma. The latter group has been classified as health-care-associated meningitis because the etiologic agents belong to a different spectrum of microorganisms, including Staphylococcus aureus, Coagulase negative staphylococcus Gram negative bacilli, Aspergillus, Candida albicans, Cryptococcus neoformans. IDSA Clinical Practice guidelines for Healthcare-associated ventriculitis and meningitis does not include M. tuberculosis and NTM, but in the last decade infections caused by these organisms are on a rise. These infections are mostly associated with cerebrospinal fluid shunts, cerebrospinal fluid drains, intra-thecal drug therapy, deep brain stimulation hardware, neurosurgery and head trauma. Most commonly these are introduced during surgical procedures. Another important pathogenic factor is biofilm formation that increases the persistence and resistance to antibiotic therapy, hence the survival. A high index of suspicion aids early diagnosis but preventive measures such as care of the devices introduced into sterile spaces is essential. Sterilization of the critical items is recommended by treating with different chemical sterilizing agents but most importantly meticulous cleaning must precede any high-level disinfection or sterilization process. A course of multidrug therapy is required for prolonged period of time depending on mycobacterial species

Clinico-microbiological analysis of bactibilia isolates in patients of cholecystectomy

Background: The current study determined microbial flora in bile aspirates from patients undergoing cholecystectomy along with antibiotic susceptibility pattern and resistance mechanism viz. extended spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL).Methods: The study included 110 such patients which were divided in three groups as: Group A that included acute cholecystitis with or without cholelithiasis, Group B included chronic cholecystitis with or without cholelithiasis and Group C included other hepatobiliary ailments requiring cholecystectomy viz. gallbladder carcinoma, acute emphysematous gall bladder and mucocele gall bladder. The bile was subjected to complete microbiological and histopathological examination. Antimicrobial susceptibility of the isolates was performed as per CLSI guidelines.Results: Bacteria were recovered from 07 samples (20%) in Group A, 17 (48.57%) in Group B and 11 (31.43%) in Group C. The polymicrobial infection was seen in 04 (11.43%) patients. The most common organisms isolated were Escherichia coli 15 (38.46%), Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 8 (20.51% each). The majority of Enterobacteriaceae isolates were susceptible to piperacillin-tazobactam and carbapenems. The ESBL production was observed in 17 (43.58%) isolates.Conclusions: Therefore, antimicrobial susceptibility of potential causative organisms, presence of resistant strains in bile, the severity of the cholecystitis, and the local susceptibility pattern must be taken into consideration while prescribing antibiotics. A protocol regarding the management of such cases should be formulated based on observations of similar studies.

Seroprevalence of antistreptolysin O antibodies in a tertiary health care centre in Haryana, India: a three year retrospective study

Background: Presence of antistreptolysin O antibodies in a patient’s sera may be an isolated evidence of recent infection by group A or less commonly, group C or G Streptococcus, especially in patients suspected of having a non suppurative sequel to this infection.Methods: A retrospective study was done on the sera samples received in the Department of Microbiology, PGIMS Rohtak, India for the detection of ASO, over a period of three years. The test was carried out by latex agglutination rapid test kit by Aspen.Results: A total of 4632 samples were received in the laboratory during the study period. Of these, 1058 (22.8%) were found to be positive for the presence of ASO having titre of >200 IU/mL.Conclusions: The prevalence of ASO was found to be highest in the age group 0-20. The presence of elevated streptococcal antibody titres in such a population reflects a high background prevalence of streptococcal infections. Thus, determination of ASO antibodies should be taken into consideration when evaluating the role of group A streptococcus in non-purulent complications of infections

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION ON VALIDATION: AN OVERVIEW

ABSTRACT Validation is the mean of catering enormous benefits to even more than the acceptable quality level which in the global standard scale. Lending importance to validation is increasingly profound in recent years. Validation is the art of designing and practicing the designed steps alongside with the documentation. Validation and quality assurance will go hand in hand, ensuring the through quality for the products. Hence, an emphasis made on to review that gives a detailed, overview of validation, Validation Documents, and reports. Additionally a view of validation against the elements of process validation and need of validation also describes in this review

Limited Power Control of a Grid Connected Photovoltaic System

The objective of this thesis is to improve the performance of limited power point tracking (LPPT)of photovoltaic plants. Limited power point tracking refers to the control of power output from a photovoltaic array at a level below the maximum power point. The limited power point tracking exhibits advantages over maximum power point tracking(MPPT) both in terms of economy and system security. The previously reported LPPT methods, however, exhibit more oscillations at low power levels or require additional mode changing action under power scarcity and may malfunction under the rapidly varying environmental conditions. To avoid these difficulties, two novel LPPT control schemes are proposed. Both the schemes are carefully designed with minimum deviation from the traditional MPPT control so as to ensure easy implementation. Each of the controllers proposed has its own merit. The LPPT control under the proposed schemes can be implemented without the support of any local energy storage. Detailed case studies are performed to verify the effectiveness of proposed LPPT controllers. Additionally, in this thesis, performance of LPPT control of a single-stage, three-phase, grid connected photovoltaic system is studied

Clinical profile and epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19 patients admitted in the district hospital of North India- a retrospective study

Background: During COVID-19 all the tertiary institutes were overburdened so all the peripheral institutes, mostly district hospitals were made functional to provide management to COVID-19 patients in moderate and severe cases. The study attempts to find out the clinical profile of admitted patients in one of the district hospital. Methods: Retrospective data was studied from records of district hospital Samba when it was chosen as COVID-19 dedicated hospital. Results: Record of 77 patients was studied and data was analyzed with the help of descriptive statistics. Chi square test was done to find out the association. Mean age was 56.8±16.19 years with male female ratio of 1.33:1. 50% males and 42.4% of females did not have any associated co-morbidities. Half of the studied participants were anemic. Conclusions: Study showed that patients admitted in hospital presented with variable presentation and associated co morbidities were significantly associated with mortality. Peripheral institutions should be equipped with all the facilities to cope with such public health emergencies

Prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric patients attending tertiary eye care centre

Background: Uncorrected refractive errors are one of the major culprits of visual impairment among children in our country. Children included in school going age groups i.e., 6-16 years, represent 25% of population in developing countries. They fall in the category of preventable age group for correction of refractive errors. This paper describes the salient features and results of the cross-sectional study conducted to determine the prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric population objective were to study the prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric patients attending tertiary eye care centre.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of one year among children in 0-16 years age group and a total of 444 patients were included. All children were examined by ophthalmologists and refraction was done by optometrists. Data was analysed using web-based software open epi version 3.01.Results: Prevalence of refractive errors was found to be 29.5%. Amongst the socio demographic factors, there was a significant association of age and literacy with refractive errors whereas gender and residence were not found to be significant.Conclusions: Refractive errors are an important preventable cause of childhood ocular morbidity. Schools are an excellent platform to educate children and their parents regarding eye care and signs of ocular morbidity due to refractive errors. Health education activities in schools need to be intensified

Menopausal symptoms in rural middle aged women: a community based cross sectional study

Background: Menopause poses a big challenge to the healthy aging of a woman. With growing emphasis on universal health coverage and improving quality of life, it is the need of hour to address the issues population of postmenopausal women to enhance our understanding of women’s experiences during menopause.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted using non-probability purposive sampling and house-to-house visit in randomly selected villages falling under rural Health Block Kot-Bhalwal. 245 postmenopausal women were interviewed in accordance with pretested questionnaire consisting of Sociodemographic data and Greene Climacteric Scale.Results: Muscle and joint pains was the most common complaint (89.0%), followed by feeling tired or lacking in energy (87.4%), difficulty in sleeping (82.5%) and difficulty in concentrating (80.4%). Nearly three-fourth of the study participants reported to be suffering from Irritability (77.6%), feeling tense/nervous (77.5%), Headaches (76.7%), loss of interest in most things (75.9%), feeling unhappy or depressed (74.29%), sweating at night (73.47%), attacks of anxiety, panic (73.5%), pressure or tightness in head (72.6%), and feeling dizzy or faint (71.8%).Conclusions: A higher prevalence of menopausal symptoms was found. However, more research studies are needed to determine rural urban differences in prevalence and severity of the symptoms using a standardized tool on a larger sample in the community setting