Advancing in the Direction of Right Solutions: Treating Multidrug-Resistant Pneumonia

Worldwide, antibiotic resistance is a major contemporary public health threat due to rapid emergence of resistant bacteria and endangering the efficacy of antibiotics. There are significant number of reports on clinical failure of β-lactam and β-lactamase inhibitor combination and even carbapenems due to various carbapenem resistance mechanisms. The increasing rate of the antibiotic resistance and its impact on treatment failure encouraged us to study newly reported concept of antibiotic adjuvant entities (AAEs) by which the increasing failure rate of antibiotics can be controlled. These AAEs have been developed for both Gram-positive and Gram-negative multidrug-resistant (MDR) infections. Elores (ceftriaxone + sulbactam with adjuvant ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)) and Potentox (cefepime + amikacin with adjuvant potassium chloride) are the AAEs for Gram-negative MDR pathogens each catering to a different type of resistance and Vancoplus (ceftriaxone + vancomycin with adjuvant L-arginine), another AAE, can help us to last longer in the war against antibiotic-resistant Gram-positive bugs particularly which cause complicated lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) leading to pneumonia. These new antibiotic additions (Elores, Potentox, and Vancoplus) to the current armamentarium to treat MDR infections, including pneumonia, can help us combat against antimicrobial resistance more efficiently

Shape controlled synthesis of gold nanoparticles and their efficacy in yield of fluorescence in Fluorescein dye molecule

A BSTRACT Conformational variation in the intrinsic chemical structure of the polymer poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) when dissolved in different solvents changes its reducing/capping ability to a large extent. This altered reducing/capping facilitates the synthesis of diverse anisotropic size/shaped gold nanoparticles with unique physico-chemical properties. Sincere efforts were undertaken in correlating the nanogold optical plasmonic signatures with the corresponding TEM measurements. XRD measurements quantify not only the phase purity of the as-synthesized Au nanoparticles but also explain the shape evolution of gold nanoparticles. On interaction with the conventional dye molecules in solution, our gold nanostructures effortlessly tailor the emission behavior of dye through the well-known fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), thereby corroborating the fluorescence quenching/enhancement of the dye molecules with reference to the size/shape of the host gold nanoparticles, yielding ultra sensitive optical sensing/imaging. Herein, we systematically illustrate the FRET phenomena of the fluorescein dye molecules adsorbed on different gold nanoparticle morphologies, the results which could be extended similarly to various other relevant dye molecules as well with ease

COMPARATIVE IN VITRO ACTIVITY OF SUPIME AGAINST GRAM NEGATIVE CLINICAL ISOLATES

Objective: Present investigation was undertaken to know the prevalence of extended spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) among the collected isolates and to analyse the antibiotic susceptibility patterns of cefepime/sulbactam, cefepime/tazobactam, imipenem/cilastatin and cefepime against these isolates.Methods: A total of 1259 clinical samples were collected from patients suspected of bacterial infection between July 2013 to July 2014. These samples were subjected for bacterial identification. The prevalence of ESBLs among these isolates and antibiotic susceptibility testing were carried out according to the recommendations of Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines (2013).Results: Out of the samples analyzed, 64.3% (810/1259) samples showed the growth of organisms in the culture medium. Of the 810 organisms, 72.7% (589/810) were ESBL positive. Majority of ESBL producing organisms were obtained from urine (32.2 %) followed by blood (28.5 %), swab (12.7%) and sputum (11.3 %). Pus, Bile and fluid samples samples contributed to 8.1 %, 4.0 %, and 3.0% respectively. The organisms that identified were E. coli (n=255), P. aeruginosa (208), Klebsiella spp. (81), A. baumannii (32), and H. Influenzae (13). Among all drugs tested, cefepime plus sulbactam (Supime) revealed the highest activity against ESBL producing Gram negative organisms. The susceptibility of cefepime plus sulbactam against E. coli, P. aeruginosa, K. pneumoniae, A. baumannii, and H. influenzae was 89.9%, 84.6%, 85%, 90.4% and 100%, respectively which was high compared to cefepime, cefepime plus tazobactam and imipenem plus cilastatin.Conclusion: Overall, the results of the present study strongly advocate the superiority of cefepime/sulbactam over cefepime/tazobactam, imipenem/cilastatin and cefepime and can be of very effective alternative to treat against the deadly multidrug resistant Gram negative bacteria.Â

Wayah Wengi Karya Violin Sonata Dalam Laras Pelog

ABSTRAK   Octabirawan, Dwi Payasi. 2015.Wayah Wengi Karya Violin Sonata Dalam Laras Pelog. Skripsi, Program Studi Pendidikan Seni Tari dan Musik, Jurusan Seni dan Desain, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Negeri Malang. Pembimbing: (I) Drs. Soerjo Wido Minarto, M.Pd. (II) Hartono S.Sn M.Sn   Kata Kunci: Wayah, Wêngi, Karya, Violin, Sonata, Laras, Pelog Keanekaragaman seni musik di Indonesia berpotensi untuk munculnya karya-karya musik baru yang unik dan berkualitas. Penciptaan karya musik ini adalah memberikan warna baru di dunia musik Indonesia karena masyarakatnya yang kurang menghargai dan mencintai budaya lokal. Laras pélog pada karawitan Jawa yang di komposisikan dengan struktur musik barat yang terkenal dengan musik klasik serta dimainkan dengan instrumen musik barat akan menimbulkan akulturasi di dunia musik Indonesia. Skripsi karya ini dilakasanakan dengan tujuan (1) Mencipta dan mendiskripsikan  karya musik yang diberi judul˝ Wayah Wêngi  ˝ yang bersumber pada skala pentatonis pelog yang dijadikan bentuk violin sonata dengan teori Ilmu Bentuk  Musik. (2) Mempresentasikan bentuk penciptaan karya musik ˝ Wayah Wengi  ˝, Struktur  sonata berdasarkan buku IBM (Ilmu Bentuk Musik) yang ditulis oleh Romo Preir terdiri dari tiga bagian yaitu eksposisi (pemeran tema/bahan), development (perkembangan dari tema), rekapitulasi (kesimpulan). Metode yang digunakan dalam penciptaan karya ini adalah menggunakan ilmu harmoni untuk lagu skala pentatonis atau tradisional yang di susun oleh Romo Preir dalam bukunya yang berjudul  Ilmu Harmoni. Langkah pertama yaitu menentukan nada dasar, menentukan nada pengantar, membuat , melodi, membuat motif. Langkah selanjutnya membuat kompoisi pengiring sebagai kontrapunk melodi yaitu menentukan dulu nada-nada untuk iringan, dengan menggunakan motif dari melodi diharapkan dapat membentuk sekwensi dan pembalikan, menentukan dengan gaya heterofoni/polifoni. Hasil dari penciptaan karya violin sonata ini adalah: (1) Konsep karya : penggalian ide awal karya ini adalah berdasarkan fenomena masyarkat yang kurang mencintai kesenian musik tradisional, tema yang diambil adalah tema sosial, judul karya Wayah Wêngi, dan bentuk  sonata yang terdiri dari tiga bagian yaitu largo, allegro moderato, dan presto. (2) Bentuk Penyajian : menggunakan bentuk panggung prosenium, menggunakan lampu general tetapi agak redup karena dibantu dengan cahaya lilin, pertunjukan ini bedurasi sekitar 20 menit, menggunakan busana Jawa Tengah batik lurik-lurik, jarik,blangkon dan kebaya. Penciptaan karya ini diharapkan menjadi acuan dan motivasi bagi mahasiswa Progam Studi Pendidikan Seni Tari dan Musik konsentrasi musik dalam mengambil matakuliah skripsi atau tugas akhir untuk menciptakan karya musik yang berkualitas, orisinil dan dapat dipertanggung jawabkan

Evaluation of Genotoxicity of CSE1034 by Ames and In vitro Chromosomal Aberration Tests

Purpose: To evaluate the genotoxicity of CSE1034, a novel antibiotic  adjuvant entity, using bacterial reverse mutation assay (Ames test) and in vitro chromosomal aberration test.Methods: Reverse mutation test was carried out using four strains of  Salmonella typhimurium (TA 98, TA100, TA1535 and TA1537) and one strain of E. coli [WP2 (uvrA)], while chromosomal aberration test was done with cultured Chinese hamster lung (CHL) cells. Reverse mutation test was carried out in a dose range of 0.0015 to 0.16 ìg/plate in triplicate with and without S9 activation.Results: No significant increases in the number of revertants were observed at the dose levels where antibacterial effects were not noted. CSE1034 caused no increase in the number of chromosomal aberrants at dose levels of 0.34, 0.69, 1.37, 2.75 and 5.50 mg/ml in the absence and presence ofmetabolic activation.Conclusion: Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that CSE1034 has no mutagenic activity.Keywords: CSE1034, reverse mutation, antibiotic adjuvant entity, Chromosomal aberration, Mutageni