Detection of Beta-Lactamase Variants in Municipal Wastewater and Fresh Water

The occurrence and spread of antibiotic-resistant genes (ARGs) are pressing public health problems worldwide. A key factor contributing to the spread of ARGs is lateral gene transfer. Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are measured hot spots of microbial diversity and resistance because they receive polluted wastewater from diverse sources and contain a variety of different environments with dense bacterial loads. Due to the overuse of antibiotics the genetic capacities of microbes have profited. This helps every source of resistance gene and every means of horizontal gene transmission to develop the multiple mechanism of resistance to each antibiotic used clinically, agriculturally, or by any other medium. In wastewater treatment plants, where gastrointestinal wastes from city residents co-mingle, the probability for lateral gene transfer events is greatly increased. In this study, we use PCR technique to detect four beta-lactamase loci to assess the prevalence of ARGs. Wastewater samples from municipal plant at different stages of treatment as well as water samples from the river upstream and downstream from the release site were collected, followed by total DNA extraction and purification. These were then used as templates in PCR-based detection of beta-lactamase (bla) resistance loci. Our results showed the presence of four loci (blaKPC, blaTEM, blaSHV, blaAMPC) in influx, secondary treatment wastewater but not in the efflux, nor in the river water samples. Up to now we can say there is no detectable levels of ARGs in WWTP effluent samples, upstream and the downstream rivers. These data are vital in understanding the role of WWTPs in contributing to the spread of antibiotic resistance in the environment

The Existential Quest of Tennessee Williams’ Camino Real: A Study of his Symbolization

Tennessee Williams is one of the most popular dramatists of the modern American Literature and his plays, explicitly, have the ten basic components of existentialism. He has drawn upon all ten element of a unique existential –familiar form to project his concern for those “beautiful people who give up with such grace”.  He has an affirmation of life, freedom and the creation of one’s own being, angst, dasein, the call of care, human relationships and spiritual growth, authentic values, and concrete experience into a distinctive dramatic form. That is why he presents a unified amalgamation of these views in his treatment of the dramatic constituents: subject, theme, dramatic action, characterization, dialogue, symbol, set and lighting design, and a vision of reality. This research paper is mainly concerned with Williams’ application of symbols, in his play Camino Real1 presented in 1953

Thermal SZ effect in a magnetized IGM dominated by interacting DM decay/annihilation during dark ages

During cosmic dawn, the thermal history of the universe is well studied, and a study of this era can give us some of the most useful insight into the universe before the recombination epoch. Its precise modeling and future high-precision measurements will be a valuable tool for determining the thermal history of the universe. In the present work, we study the thermal and ionization history of IGM in the presence of decaying magnetic fields via ambipolar and turbulent decay, Baryon-Dark matter (BDM) interaction, including the DM decay/annihilation. The BDM interaction cross-sections considered are of the form $\sigma=\sigma_0 v^{n}$, where $n=-2$ and $n=-4$. In this work, we show that in the current scenario, the decay/annihilation of the DM particles have a considerable impact on the temperature and ionization histories at low redshift. With the addition of the concept of fractional interaction, which states that if a fraction of the DM particles interacts with the baryons, the temperature and ionization fraction of the baryons show a strong dependence on the percentage of DM particles interacting with the baryons. We have also studied the interesting consequences of the present scenario on the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) effect. We show that the highest value of the absolute value of the mean $y-$parameter in the current DM decay/annihilation scenario is well within the values derived from experimental data such as PLANCK, FIRAS, and PIXIE. Later we calculate the bound on the ordinary magnetic fields originating from the Dark photons.Comment: 16 page, 23 Figures (Comments and suggestions are welcome

Evaluation of clinicopathological profile of subjects with intrauterine fetal death

Background: Intrauterine foetal death is an immense emotional burden for everyone concerned specially in the last trimester. Therefore, it is very important to find out, what has happened. Evaluation of clinical and pathological profile of women presenting with intrauterine foetal death has evoked great interest among the obstetricians.Methods: The prospective observational study was conducted in the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology N.S.C.B. Medical College Jabalpur during 1st June 2012 to 31st October 2013. A total of 155 intrauterine foetal death subjects admitted during this period were evaluated. Clinically and laboratory profile of subjects done.  Histomorphology of placenta was performed in each case. Full HPR finding were then correlated with clinical and laboratory findings of subjects.  Results: Poor vascularity of villi and fever were significantly associated (p<0.01). Hypertension and Convulsion and fibrinoid necrosis, syncytial knot and placental infarcts were significantly associated (p<0.001) Premature placenta is associated with cytotrophoblastic layer (p<0.01). Conversely post mature placenta is associated with calcification and infarction.  (p<0.01).  Conclusions: All placentae associated with foetal death have either gross or microscopic abnormalities. Present study is a step towards understanding and extrapolating the already known causes of intrauterine foetal death in the perspective of Jabalpur and its adjoining districts

An assessment of available treatment facilities at different treatment centers of Sikkim: a cross sectional baseline study from dependents’ perspective

Background: Substance dependence is a major challenge for the economic wellbeing of an individual, society or a country. There is a huge gap between treatment demand and supply. Treatment facilities provided by the centers are different and are many a times lesser and inferior than required. This study was aimed to explore the status of basic facilities in the treatment centers of Sikkim from dependents’ perspectives.Methods: This study was conducted with n=241 participants who were undergoing treatment in seven different treatment centers of Sikkim. Reliable and pre-validated sociodemographic and treatment facility questionnaires were administered by the investigator on personal interview. Answers were recorded on the questionnaire and the same was entered in SPSS following which frequency and chi square analysis was done.Results: There were more male participants than females. Also, more number of participants were from Nepali, Hindu and urban origin. 31% participants were found to be unemployed. Knowledge about other treatment centers was fair (66%) and maximum had the knowledge of present treatment facilities. More than 90% participants were not satisfied with the contact facilities and nutritional supplements (98%). At around 41% participants reported that the education sessions were either boring or useless or both.Conclusions: In order to increase the entry in the treatment, there is a need to improve the quality of different facilities at the treatment centers. Also, there is a need of intermittent audit of the minimum required facilities

Microbial Diversity in Freshwater and Marine Environment

Water covers seven tenths of the Earth's surface and occupies an estimated total volume of 1,386,000,000 cubic kilometers (km3). Of all the water found on Earth, 97% is marine. Maximum of this water is at a temperature of 2 to 3°C and devoid of light; 62% is under high pressure (&gt;100 atm). Microscopic phytoplankton and associated bacteria generate a complex food web that can extend over long distances and extreme depths. The marine environment looks so vast that it will not be able to be exaggerated by pollution; however, in coastal areas human activities are increasingly disrupting microbial processes and damaging water quality.Nepal Journal of Biotechnology. Dec. 2015 Vol. 3, No. 1: 68-7