Prevalence, risk factors, causative organism and antibiotic susceptibility of catheter associated urinary tract infections

Background: The most common nosocomial infection is catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), with a 3-7% daily risk of developing CAUTI in acute care settings. This study's goal was to identify the prevalence, risk factors, causative organism of CAUTI and understanding the organism's current antimicrobial agent sensitivity profile. Methods: Total 120 patients participated in a prospective and observational study conducted at Adichunchanagiri Hospital, Karnataka. Reviewing and evaluating patient case sheets, laboratory results, and treatment charts of participants who were hospital inpatients provided data needed for the study. Microsoft Excel was used to enter the data and version 28 of SPSS to analyze the data. Statistical significance was determined by using a P-value of less than 0.05. Results: It was discovered that 12.5% of HAI cases were linked to catheter use. The most prevalent microbial agent in the current investigation was E. coli (41.7%). According to the current study, women are more likely than men to get UTIs. An underlying medical condition was found to have a strong correlation with UTIs in the current investigation. For CAUTI, drug resistance to cefotaxime and tigecycline was noted. Conclusions: The study suggested that gender, age extremes, use of antibiotics, length of stay in intensive care unit, diabetes mellitus, immunosuppressive medication, and indwelling urinary devices are the major risk factors for CAUTI. E. coli was the most common microbiological agent in the current study. Therefore, to assist doctors in the treatment and management of CAUTIs, ongoing surveillance of antimicrobial resistance patterns is required

Socio-economic assessment of major livelihood adaptations in Coral ecosystem

This paper outlines the importance of community based initiatives in managing the waste generated in the rural as well as urban areas of India. The study was carried out in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala to analyze how the lifestyle of people residing in a small village changed because of farming using the compost prepared from biodegradable waste generated in Kovalam rural tourism area. Fifty beneficiary farmers of the initiative were selected as respondents of the study. Results showed motivation and support of a non-government organization working in the locality as the major factor behind the waste management move. They created awareness about the need of composting to keep their surroundings clean and localization of chemical free food to stay healthy. It was observed that farmers adopted bio-pesticides and biodynamic preparations along with compost in their small home garden. The low cost farming not only provided chemical free food for the family and society but also improved the net income of the farmers' families. The effort taken by the promoting agency to popularize composting along with farming among the members of the society in the right time to a group of appropriate beneficiaries made the difference here

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Not AvailableIntegrated farming system (IFS) approach is a powerful tool for ensuring the livelihood security of small and mar-ginal farmers. The precision of IFS experiments can be enhanced using statistical and computational tools. Two-part designs are helpful in selecting the best possible components in IFS. They involve two groups of treatment arranged in incomplete blocks with respect to both groups, and the concurrence of treatment pairs within and between groups is constant. The fusion of two in-complete block designs in a systematic manner can yield two-part designs. Further, for situations where certain experimental units are not available, two-part structurally incomplete designs are proposed.Not Availabl

Pyrroloquinoline quinone supplemented diet enhances metabolism, feed intake and growth in common carp (Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758) reared at low temperature

A pilot study was conducted to delineate the potential of dietary pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) on Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, 1758, at water temperature of 12-14oC using a recirculatory system with water flow rate of 1.8 l min-1. Six isonitrogenous (32% CP) and iso-caloric (16.7 MJ kg-1) diets were prepared with varying levels of PQQ viz. control (0 mg kg-1), T1 (0.2 mg kg-1), T2 (0.4 mg kg-1), T3 (0.6 mg kg-1), T4 (0.8 mg kg-1) and T5 (1.0 mg kg-1). Two hundred and sixteen common carp juveniles were distributed randomly into control and five treatment groups in triplicates with 12 fish per tub and fed twice daily at satiation level for 30 days. Results indicated that dietary quinone at 0.8 mg kg-1 significantly increased the feed intake and weight gain, specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) as well as protein efficiency ratio (PER) were significantly higher (p<0.05) than non-quinone fed group. The thyroid hormone levels as well as digestive and metabolic enzyme activities were significantly higher (p<0.05) in treatments than in control. The superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity in liver was significantly higher (p<0.05) in T1, T2 and T5. Catalase activity in gill was significantly higher (p<0.05) in control and lowest in T3 and T4. Therefore, quinone can be used as a feed additive for enhancing feed intake, enzymatic activities and growth during winter

Structure and Dynamics of Cholesterol-Containing Polyunsaturated Lipid Membranes Studied by Neutron Diffraction and NMR

A direct and quantitative analysis of the internal structure and dynamics of a polyunsaturated lipid bilayer composed of 1-stearoyl-2-docosahexaenoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (18:0-22:6n3-PC) containing 29 mol% cholesterol was carried out by neutron diffraction, 2H-NMR and 13C-MAS NMR. Scattering length distribution functions of cholesterol segments as well as of the sn-1 and sn-2 hydrocarbon chains of 18:0-22:6n3-PC were obtained by conducting experiments with specifically deuterated cholesterol and lipids. Cholesterol orients parallel to the phospholipids, with the A-ring near the lipid glycerol and the terminal methyl groups 3 Å away from the bilayer center. Previously, we reported that the density of polyunsaturated docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n3) chains was higher near the lipid–water interface. Addition of cholesterol partially redistributes DHA density from near the lipid–water interface to the center of the hydrocarbon region. Cholesterol raises chain-order parameters of both stearic acid and DHA chains. The fractional order increase for stearic acid methylene carbons C8–C18 is larger, reflecting the redistribution of DHA chain density toward the bilayer center. The correlation times of DHA chain isomerization are short and mostly unperturbed by the presence of cholesterol. The uneven distribution of saturated and polyunsaturated chain densities and the cholesterol-induced balancing of chain distributions may have important implications for the function and integrity of membrane receptors, such as rhodopsin

Biomass production of site selective 13C/15N nucleotides using wild type and a transketolase E. coli mutant for labeling RNA for high resolution NMR

Characterization of the structure and dynamics of nucleic acids by NMR benefits significantly from position specifically labeled nucleotides. Here an E. coli strain deficient in the transketolase gene (tktA) and grown on glucose that is labeled at different carbon sites is shown to facilitate cost-effective and large scale production of useful nucleotides. These nucleotides are site specifically labeled in C1′ and C5′ with minimal scrambling within the ribose ring. To demonstrate the utility of this labeling approach, the new site-specific labeled and the uniformly labeled nucleotides were used to synthesize a 36-nt RNA containing the catalytically essential domain 5 (D5) of the brown algae group II intron self-splicing ribozyme. The D5 RNA was used in binding and relaxation studies probed by NMR spectroscopy. Key nucleotides in the D5 RNA that are implicated in binding Mg2+ ions are well resolved. As a result, spectra obtained using selectively labeled nucleotides have higher signal-to-noise ratio compared to those obtained using uniformly labeled nucleotides. Thus, compared to the uniformly 13C/15N-labeled nucleotides, these specifically labeled nucleotides eliminate the extensive 13C–13C coupling within the nitrogenous base and ribose ring, give rise to less crowded and more resolved NMR spectra, and accurate relaxation rates without the need for constant-time or band-selective decoupled NMR experiments. These position selective labeled nucleotides should, therefore, find wide use in NMR analysis of biologically interesting RNA molecules

Selective 13C labeling of nucleotides for large RNA NMR spectroscopy using an E. coli strain disabled in the TCA cycle

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is an ideal organism to tailor-make labeled nucleotides for biophysical studies of RNA. Recently, we showed that adding labeled formate enhanced the isotopic enrichment at protonated carbon sites in nucleotides. In this paper, we show that growth of a mutant E. coli strain DL323 (lacking succinate and malate dehydrogenases) on 13C-2-glycerol and 13C-1,3-glycerol enables selective labeling at many useful sites for RNA NMR spectroscopy. For DL323 E. coli grown in 13C-2-glycerol without labeled formate, all the ribose carbon atoms are labeled except the C3′ and C5′ carbon positions. Consequently the C1′, C2′ and C4′ positions remain singlet. In addition, only the pyrimidine base C6 atoms are substantially labeled to ~96% whereas the C2 and C8 atoms of purine are labeled to ~5%. Supplementing the growth media with 13C-formate increases the labeling at C8 to ~88%, but not C2. Not unexpectedly, addition of exogenous formate is unnecessary for attaining the high enrichment levels of ~88% for the C2 and C8 purine positions in a 13C-1,3-glycerol based growth. Furthermore, the ribose ring is labeled in all but the C4′ carbon position, such that the C2′ and C3′ positions suffer from multiplet splitting but the C5′ position remains singlet and the C1′ position shows a small amount of residual C1′–C2′ coupling. As expected, all the protonated base atoms, except C6, are labeled to ~90%. In addition, labeling with 13C-1,3-glycerol affords an isolated methylene ribose with high enrichment at the C5′ position (~90%) that makes it particularly attractive for NMR applications involving CH2-TROSY modules without the need for decoupling the C4′ carbon. To simulate the tumbling of large RNA molecules, perdeuterated glycerol was added to a mixture of the four nucleotides, and the methylene TROSY experiment recorded at various temperatures. Even under conditions of slow tumbling, all the expected carbon correlations were observed, which indicates this approach of using nucleotides obtained from DL323 E. coli will be applicable to high molecular weight RNA systems

Sediment management of run-of-river hydroelectric power project in the Himalayan region using hydraulic model studies

Storage capacity of hydropower reservoirs is lost due to sediment deposition. The problem is severe in projects located on rivers with high sediment concentration during the flood season. Removing the sediment deposition hydraulically by drawdown flushing is one of the most effective methods for restoring the storage capacity. Effectiveness of the flushing depends on various factors, as most of them are site specific. Physical/mathematical models can be effectively used to simulate the flushing operation, and based on the results of the simulation, the layout design and operation schedule of such projects can be modified for better sediment management. This paper presents the drawdown flushing studies of the reservoir of a Himalayan River Hydroelectric Project called Kotlibhel in Uttarakhand, India. For the hydraulic model studies, a 1:100 scale geometrically similar model was constructed. Simulation studies in the model indicated that drawdown flushing for duration of 12 h with a discharge of 500 m(3)/s or more is effective in removing the annual sediment deposition in the reservoir. The model studies show that the sedimentation problem of the reservoir can be effectively managed through hydraulic flushing

Internationalization and India’s New Education Policy

Internationalization of higher education in India seems to be motivated more by efforts to extend its soft power and increase its global role than by market mediation for revenue generation. The New Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) encourages foreign education institutions to establish a presence in India and recommends setting up Indian institutions abroad.&nbsp