The prevalence of ocular manifestations in road traffic accidents treated at a rural tertiary care hospital in south india: a cross sectional study

Background: Ocular injuries following road traffic accidents (RTA) is one of the common causes of ophthalmological morbidity and unilateral blindness. The aim of this study was to document the epidemiological pattern of ocular injures caused by RTA in a cross-sectional population brought to a tertiary care centre in rural southern India.Methods: After receiving institutional ethics committee approval, all patients over the age of 10 years, who came to the emergency department (ED) of this rural tertiary care centre with alleged history of RTA, during the period, July-December 2015 were serially enrolled to participate in the study after obtaining written informed consent. The sample size for 95% confidence level and precision of 5% was calculated to be 191.Results: Out of the 832 cases of RTA presenting to the ED, 191 (23%) had ocular injuries. There were 186 (97.38%) closed globe injuries and 5 (2.6%) open globe injuries. Eight (4.1%) patients with ocular injuries had no perception of light in the affected eye after the accident. The commonest injury was periorbital edema and ecchymosis (68.6%) followed closely by eyebrow laceration (63.9%) and lid laceration (48.2 %). The commonest anterior and posterior segment injuries were traumatic optic neuritis (6.3%) and vitreous or retinal haemorrhage 4 (2.09%) respectively.Conclusions: In this study, the prevalence of ocular involvement in RTA was is 23%. Most of the injuries were closed globe injuries and periorbital edema and ecchymosis were the commonest type of injury occurring followed by eyebrow and lid laceration.

Cloning and sequence analysis of a partial CDS of leptospiral ligA gene in pET-32a - Escherichia coli DH5α system

[Aim]: This study aims at cloning, sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis of a partial CDS of ligA gene in pET-32a - Escherichia coli DH5α system, with the objective of identifying the conserved nature of the ligA gene in the genus Leptospira. [Materials and Methods]: A partial CDS (nucleotide 1873 to nucleotide 3363) of the ligA gene was amplified from genomic DNA of Leptospira interrogans serovar Canicola by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR-amplified DNA was cloned into pET-32a vector and transformed into competent E. coli DH5α bacterial cells. The partial ligA gene insert was sequenced and the nucleotide sequences obtained were aligned with the published ligA gene sequences of other Leptospira serovars, using nucleotide BLAST, NCBI. Phylogenetic analysis of the gene sequence was done by maximum likelihood method using Mega 6.06 software. [Results]: The PCR could amplify the 1491 nucleotide sequence spanning from nucleotide 1873 to nucleotide 3363 of the ligA gene and the partial ligA gene could be successfully cloned in E. coli DH5α cells. The nucleotide sequence when analyzed for homology with the reported gene sequences of other Leptospira serovars was found to have 100% homology to the 1910 bp to 3320 bp sequence of ligA gene of L. interrogans strain Kito serogroup Canicola. The predicted protein consisted of 470 aminoacids. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the ligA gene was conserved in L. interrogans species. [Conclusion]: The partial ligA gene could be successfully cloned and sequenced from E. coli DH5α cells. The sequence showed 100% homology to the published ligA gene sequences. The phylogenetic analysis revealed the conserved nature of the ligA gene. Further studies on the expression and immunogenicity of the partial LigA protein need to be carried out to determine its competence as a subunit vaccine candidate.The authors are highly thankful to the Dean, College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Mannuthy, for providing facilities and fund for this study.Peer Reviewe

Sampling Design Influences the Observed Dominance of Culex tritaeniorhynchus: Considerations for Future Studies of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Transmission

Mosquito sampling during Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV)-associated studies, particularly in India, has usually been conducted via aspirators or light traps to catch mosquitoes around cattle, which are dead-end hosts for JEV. High numbers of Culex tritaeniorhynchus, relative to other species, have often been caught during these studies. Less frequently, studies have involved sampling outdoor resting mosquitoes. We aimed to compare the relative abundance of mosquito species between these two previously used mosquito sampling methods. From September to December 2013 entomological surveys were undertaken in eight villages in a Japanese encephalitis (JE) endemic area of Bangladesh. Light traps were used to collect active mosquitoes in households, and resting boxes and a Bina Pani Das hop cage were used near oviposition sites to collect resting mosquitoes. Numbers of humans and domestic animals present in households where light traps were set were recorded. In five villages Cx. tritaeniorhynchus was more likely to be selected from light trap samples near hosts than resting collection samples near oviposition sites, according to log odds ratio tests. The opposite was true for Cx. pseudovishnui and Armigeres subalbatus, which can also transmit JEV. Culex tritaeniorhynchus constituted 59% of the mosquitoes sampled from households with cattle, 28% from households without cattle and 17% in resting collections. In contrast Cx. pseudovishnui constituted 5.4% of the sample from households with cattle, 16% from households with no cattle and 27% from resting collections, while Ar. subalbatus constituted 0.15%, 0.38%, and 8.4% of these samples respectively. These observations may be due to differences in timing of biting activity, host preference and host-seeking strategy rather than differences in population density. We suggest that future studies aiming to implicate vector species in transmission of JEV should consider focusing catches around hosts able to transmit JEV