Hand washing Compliance - Is It A Reality?

Background: Transmission of microorganisms from the hands of health care workers is the main source of cross-infection in hospitals and can be prevented by hand washing. The aim of this study was to identify predictors of noncompliance with hand washing during routine patient care. Materials And Methods: This is an observational study. The participants in the study were Health Care Workers (HCWs). Doctors, nurses and ward aides working in different wards of the hospital who were observed for compliance with hand washing. Results: In 270 observed opportunities for hand washing, average compliance was 63.3%. Noncompliance was highest among doctors followed by nurses. Ward aides were most compliant. Conclusions: Compliance with hand washing was moderate. Variation across the hospital ward and type of HCW suggests that targeted educational programs may be useful. Noncompliance suggests that understaffing may decrease quality of patient care

Inhibition of poly (ADP-Ribose) polymerase-1 in telomerase deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts increases arsenite-induced genome instability

10.1186/2041-9414-1-5Genome Integrity1

Fungal diversity notes 1512-1610: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions on genera and species of fungal taxa

This article is the 14th in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, wherein we report 98 taxa distributed in two phyla, seven classes, 26 orders and 50 families which are described and illustrated. Taxa in this study were collected from Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, Cyprus, Egypt, France, French Guiana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Laos, Mexico, Russia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are 59 new taxa, 39 new hosts and new geographical distributions with one new combination. The 59 new species comprise Angustimassarina kunmingense, Asterina lopi, Asterina brigadeirensis, Bartalinia bidenticola, Bartalinia caryotae, Buellia pruinocalcarea, Coltricia insularis, Colletotrichum flexuosum, Colletotrichum thasutense, Coniochaeta caraganae, Coniothyrium yuccicola, Dematipyriforma aquatic, Dematipyriforma globispora, Dematipyriforma nilotica, Distoseptispora bambusicola, Fulvifomes jawadhuvensis, Fulvifomes malaiyanurensis, Fulvifomes thiruvannamalaiensis, Fusarium purpurea, Gerronema atrovirens, Gerronema flavum, Gerronema keralense, Gerronema kuruvense, Grammothele taiwanensis, Hongkongmyces changchunensis, Hypoxylon inaequale, Kirschsteiniothelia acutisporum, Kirschsteiniothelia crustaceum, Kirschsteiniothelia extensum, Kirschsteiniothelia septemseptatum, Kirschsteiniothelia spatiosum, Lecanora immersocalcarea, Lepiota subthailandica, Lindgomyces guizhouensis, Marthe asmius pallidoaurantiacus, Marasmius tangerinus, Neovaginatispora mangiferae, Pararamichloridium aquisubtropicum, Pestalotiopsis piraubensis, Phacidium chinaum, Phaeoisaria goiasensis, Phaeoseptum thailandicum, Pleurothecium aquisubtropicum, Pseudocercospora vernoniae, Pyrenophora verruculosa, Rhachomyces cruralis, Rhachomyces hyperommae, Rhachomyces magrinii, Rhachomyces platyprosophi, Rhizomarasmius cunninghamietorum, Skeletocutis cangshanensis, Skeletocutis subchrysella, Sporisorium anadelphiae-leptocomae, Tetraploa dashaoensis, Tomentella exiguelata, Tomentella fuscoaraneosa, Tricholomopsis lechatii, Vaginatispora flavispora and Wetmoreana blastidiocalcarea. The new combination is Torula sundara. The 39 new records on hosts and geographical distribution comprise Apiospora guiyangensis, Aplosporella artocarpi, Ascochyta medicaginicola, Astrocystis bambusicola, Athelia rolfsii, Bambusicola bambusae, Bipolaris luttrellii, Botryosphaeria dothidea, Chlorophyllum squamulosum, Colletotrichum aeschynomenes, Colletotrichum pandanicola, Coprinopsis cinerea, Corylicola italica, Curvularia alcornii, Curvularia senegalensis, Diaporthe foeniculina, Diaporthe longicolla, Diaporthe phaseolorum, Diatrypella quercina, Fusarium brachygibbosum, Helicoma aquaticum, Lepiota metulispora, Lepiota pongduadensis, Lepiota subvenenata, Melanconiella meridionalis, Monotosporella erecta, Nodulosphaeria digitalis, Palmiascoma gregariascomum, Periconia byssoides, Periconia cortaderiae, Pleopunctum ellipsoideum, Psilocybe keralensis, Scedosporium apiospermum, Scedosporium dehoogii, Scedosporium marina, Spegazzinia deightonii, Torula fici, Wiesneriomyces laurinus and Xylaria venosula. All these taxa are supported by morphological and multigene phylogenetic analyses. This article allows the researchers to publish fungal collections which are important for future studies. An updated, accurate and timely report of fungus-host and fungus-geography is important. We also provide an updated list of fungal taxa published in the previous fungal diversity notes. In this list, erroneous taxa and synonyms are marked and corrected accordingly

Identification and in vitro evaluation of probiotic attributes of lactic acid bacteria isolated from fermented food sources

Consumer's vigilance towards health-promoting foods beyond only taste and nutrition has increased the recognition for probiotic products. In the present study, various parameters have been studied to define the probiotic properties of cultures isolated from different fermented products. Around 118 samples were selectively screened for antimicrobial compound (AMC) producing isolates by overlay-plate assay usingMicrococcus luteusATCC9341. Among 134 zone producing isolates, 48 cultures showing Gram-positive, catalase negative, non-spore forming and non-motile rods and cocci were selected. Subsequently, 18 strains were chosen based on non-hemolytic, absence of biogenic amine production, gelatinase and lecithinase negative trait for safer isolates. These were identified by biochemical assays and then subjected to RAPD-PCR. The selected cultures DB-1aa, DB-b2-15b, Cu2-PM7, Cu3-PM8 and IB-pM15 were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing asEnterococcus durans, Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus plantarum, and twoLactobacillus fermentum, respectively. Several in vitro experiments were carried out including acid and bile tolerance, survival under simulated gastrointestinal condition, adhesion assay to evaluate the probiotic potential of the isolates. In addition, the isolates were studied for competent properties such as antibacterial, antioxidant activity, and enzyme production for their functional application. The results of the study prove the efficiency of selected isolates as potential probiotic cultures and hence can be recommended for application in any functional food formulations

Antibacterial activity of 3,3′,4′-Trihydroxyflavone from Justicia wynaadensis against diabetic wound and urinary tract infection

The present investigation was designed to study the effect of an active compound isolated from Justicia wynaadensis against multi drug resistant organisms (MDRO's) associated with diabetic patients. The drug resistant pathogens implicated in wound and urinary tract infection of diabetic patients were isolated and identified by molecular sequencing. Solvent–solvent fractionation of crude methanol extract produced hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and methanol–water fraction, among which chloroform fraction was found to be potent when compared with other three fractions. Further, chloroform fraction was subjected to preparatory HPLC (High-Performance Liquid Chromatography), that produced four sub-fractions; chloroform HPLC fraction 1 (CHF1) through CHF4. Among the sub-fractions, CHF1 inhibited the pathogens effectively in comparison to other three sub-fractions. The purity of CHF1 was found to be >95. Therefore, CHF1 was further characterized by NMR and FTIR analysis and based on the structure elucidated, the compound was found to be 3,3′,4′-Trihydroxyflavone. The effective dose of this bioactive compound ranged from 32μg/mL to 1.2mg/mL. Thus, the present study shows that 3,3′,4′-Trihydroxyflavone isolated from J. wynaadensis is an interesting biopharmaceutical agent and could be considered as a source of antimicrobial agent for the treatment of various infections and used as a template molecule for future drug development

Antibiotic susceptibility pattern of urinary tract infection causing pathogens isolated from diabetic patients

Urinary tract infection is one of the most commonly occurring infections among the patients with diabetes mellitus. The present study was focused on the antibiotic susceptibility of the UTI pathogens isolated from the diabetic patients. About 936 UTI organisms were isolated from 900 culture positive urine samples collected from the diabetic patients attending the government hospital. The incidence of UTI was recorded to 82% among the diabetic patients for the study period of two years from March, 2011 to February, 2013. Escherichia coli was found to be the major cause of UTI. About 10 different types of organisms isolated from the UTI samples were randomly chosen to test against the UTI antibiotics of dodecadisc rings of Hi-media with codes DE004 and DEO30 .The antibiotic susceptibility pattern revealed that Serratia marcescens was sensitive to 91% of antibiotics tested against and was resistant to 9% of antibiotics followed by Proteus mirabilis (87% and 13%), Staphylococcus aureus (70% and 17%), Citrobacter sp. (70% and 30%), Klebsiella sp. (70% and 30%), Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (61% and 17%), Enterobacter sp. (52% and 39%) and E. coli (48% and 39%). Among the antibiotics tested against the isolates; Netillin, Gatifloxacin and Levofloxacin revealed a 100% sensitivity followed by other antibiotics. About 50-60% of the isolates were multi drug resistant in which E. coli, Enterobacter sp., Klebsiella sp. and Citrobacter sp. revealed resistance to 30-39% of antibiotics such as, Cefacdroxil, Cefuroxime, Cotrimoxazole, Cefaclor and Nalidixic acid. E. coli was found to be the most resistant organism

Antidiabetic and antioxidant potency evaluation of different fractions obtained from Cucumis prophetarum fruit

Context: Cucumis prophetarum Linn. (Cucurbitaceae) fruit is used for inflammatory-related problems and is proved to be possessing anticancer and hepatoprotective effects. Objective: The present investigation was to study the effect of different fractions of Cucumis prophetarum on antidiabetic and antioxidant activity. Materials and methods: Aqueous crude extract (CE) of Cucumis prophetarum fruits was fractionated into water soluble fraction 1 (F1), chloroform fraction 2 (F2), basic fraction 3 (F3), and neutral fraction 4 (F4) by acid-base extraction. CE and its fractions at different doses (0.02-0.1 mg/mL) were subjected to antidiabetic (alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase inhibition assays) and antioxidant (DPPH, superoxide radical scavenging (SO) and metal chelation) evaluation. Results: F1 exhibited effective antidiabetic activity (p F4 > F3 > F2, according to alpha-amylase assay, which were the same, with the exception of the rank order of F4 and CE, as the alpha-glucosidase assay. Furthermore, F1 (IC50 = 73 mu g/mL) showed better reducing ability than CE > F4 > F2 > F3 (IC50 = 78-272 mu g/mL), according to the DPPH assay. In SO and metal chelation assays, F1 showed the highest activity (IC50 = 101 and 147 mg/mL), respectively; the activity decreased in the order of CE > F4 > F3 > F2 (IC50 = 126-469 mu g/mL) for SO and 194-944 mu g/mL for metal chelation assay. Conclusion: The results indicate that F1 possesses potent in vitro antidiabetic and antioxidant activities