Characterization of Bacterial Etiologic Agents of Biofilm Formation in Medical Devices in Critical Care Setup

Background. Biofilms contaminate catheters, ventilators, and medical implants; they act as a source of disease for humans, animals, and plants. Aim. Critical care units of any healthcare institute follow various interventional strategies with use of medical devices for the management of critical cases. Bacteria contaminate medical devices and form biofilms. Material and Methods. The study was carried out on 100 positive bacteriological cultures of medical devices which were inserted in hospitalized patients. The bacterial isolates were processed as per microtitre plate. All the isolates were subjected to antibiotic susceptibility testing by VITEK 2 compact automated systems. Results. Out of the total 100 bacterial isolates tested, 88 of them were biofilm formers. A 16–20-hour incubation period was found to be optimum for biofilm development. 85% isolates were multidrug resistants and different mechanisms of bacterial drug resistance like ESBL, carbapenemase, and MRSA were found among isolates. Conclusion. Availability of nutrition in the form of glucose enhances the biofilm formation by bacteria. Time and availability of glucose are important factors for assessment of biofilm progress. It is an alarm for those who are associated with invasive procedures and indwelling medical devices especially in patients with low immunity

Surveillance of Gonococcal Infections with Assessment of Their Antibiotic Susceptibility Pattern

Abstract Context: Gonococcal infections are prevalent throughout the world and remain a serious public health problem, with an estimated 106.1 million new infections per year. Over recent years, the gonococcus has rapidly acquired resistance to commonly used antibiotics and very few treatment options remain; hence, regular monitoring of antimicrobial resistance is very important. Methods and Material: The study was conducted from January 2012 to March 2013 after approved by IRB & HREC in patients attending O&G and Skin & VD with the complaints of vaginal discharge, cervical discharge, urethral discharge, dyspareunia, burning micturition, lower abdominal pain & infertility. Endocervical swabs and urethral swabs were collected and cultured on chocolate agar and modified Thayer martin medium identification of organism was done by biochemical tests and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done by Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method as per CLSI guidelines. Results: Five Neisseria were isolated in male (2.3%) patients of reproductive age group (20 -30 years) with one found reactive for HIV. All patients had history of heterosexual contact of 10 -12 days before onset of urethral discharge and burning micturition. All isolates were resistant to Penicillin, Tetracycline and Ciprofloxacin. Only one isolate was resistance to Azithromycin. Conclusions: There is a development of resistance in gonococcal isolates to third generation cephalosporin and azithromycin and these are the drugs that are given for syndromic management of cases as per NACO guidelines. So surveillance for antimicrobial resistance is crucial for monitoring the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance in gonococcal isolates

Patterns of suicide and self-harm in Pakistan: a retrospective descriptive study protocol

Introduction Suicide is a major global public health problem. Low-income and middle-income countries contribute 78% of all suicidal deaths. Pakistan, a South Asian country, lacks official statistics on suicides at national level. Statistics on suicide are neither collected nationally nor published in the annual national morbidity and mortality surveys. Medicolegal reports on suicides and self-harm are extremely rich and important source of information but greatly underused in Pakistan. We aim to examine the patterns of suicides and self-harm retrospectively in patients who were registered with medicolegal centres (MLCs) in Karachi, during the period January 2017 to December 2021. Methods and analysis Using retrospective descriptive design, the data will be collected from the medical records maintained at the main office of the Karachi police surgeon. Data from all nine MLCs of Karachi are collated and stored at the main office of Police surgeon. Information on suicide and self-harm cases will be extracted from records of all MLCs. The data will be collected using structured proforma and it will be analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis. Ethics and dissemination The study was approved for exemption from Aga Khan University, Ethical Review Committee. The findings of the study will be disseminated by conducting seminars for healthcare professionals and stakeholders including psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, medicolegal officers, police surgeons, mental health nurses, general and public health physicians and policy makers. Findings will be published in local and international peer-reviewed scientific journals

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of Malaysian wild ginger Zingiber puberulum inflorescence

Study on bioactive compounds in essential oil of Malaysian wild ginger species, Zingiber puberulum was carried out. The essential oil was extracted from the inflorescence of Z. puberulum using SFE at 48 Mpa and 40°C of extracting pressure and temperature respectively. The oil was then analysed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) instrument. Twenty-one compounds were found in the SFE extract of Z. puberulum with fatty acids; i.e. palmitic acid (65.7%) and oleic acid (15.9%) were the major constituents and small percentages of various terpenic compounds. The sesquiterpene compounds identified in the SFE extract of Z. puberulum were α-bisabolol, β-elemene and caryophyllene. It was found that SFE could be used successfully to extract a wide variety of important bioactive compounds in Z. puberulum but that the conditions may need to be optimized to ensure the optimum yield of the volatile compounds

Patterns of suicide and self-harm in Pakistan: A retrospective descriptive study protocol

Introduction: Suicide is a major global public health problem. Low-income and middle-income countries contribute 78% of all suicidal deaths. Pakistan, a South Asian country, lacks official statistics on suicides at national level. Statistics on suicide are neither collected nationally nor published in the annual national morbidity and mortality surveys. Medicolegal reports on suicides and self-harm are extremely rich and important source of information but greatly underused in Pakistan. We aim to examine the patterns of suicides and self-harm retrospectively in patients who were registered with medicolegal centres (MLCs) in Karachi, during the period January 2017 to December 2021.Methods and analysis: Using retrospective descriptive design, the data will be collected from the medical records maintained at the main office of the Karachi police surgeon. Data from all nine MLCs of Karachi are collated and stored at the main office of Police surgeon. Information on suicide and self-harm cases will be extracted from records of all MLCs. The data will be collected using structured proforma and it will be analysed using descriptive and inferential analysis.Ethics and dissemination: The study was approved for exemption from Aga Khan University, Ethical Review Committee. The findings of the study will be disseminated by conducting seminars for healthcare professionals and stakeholders including psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, medicolegal officers, police surgeons, mental health nurses, general and public health physicians and policy makers. Findings will be published in local and international peer-reviewed scientific journals