Shigella dysenteriae Serotype 1, Kolkata, India

Since July 2002, bacteriologically confirmed shigellosis cases have increased, and multidrug-resistant Shigella dysenteriae serotype 1 strains have reemerged in patients hospitalized with diarrhea in Kolkata, India. The isolated strains of S. dysenteriae 1 showed resistance to chloramphenicol (80%), ampicillin (100%), tetracycline (100%), co-trimoxazole (100%), nalidixic acid (100%), norfloxacin (100%), and ciprofloxacin (100%). Emergence of fluoroquinolone resistance in S. dysenteriae 1 strains complicated treatment of shigellosis patients. Six strains belonging to provisional serovars of S. dysenteriae were also identified for the first time in patients hospitalized with diarrhea in Kolkata, India

Geometric phases for generalized squeezed coherent states

A simple technique is used to obtain a general formula for the Berry phase (and the corresponding Hannay angle) for an arbitrary Hamiltonian with an equally-spaced spectrum and appropriate ladder operators connecting the eigenstates. The formalism is first applied to a general deformation of the oscillator involving both squeezing and displacement. Earlier results are shown to emerge as special cases. The analysis is then extended to multiphoton squeezed coherent states and the corresponding anholonomies deduced.Comment: 15 page

Antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in waters associated with a hospital in Ujjain, India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Concerns have been raised about the public health implications of the presence of antibiotic residues in the aquatic environment and their effect on the development of bacterial resistance. While there is information on antibiotic residue levels in hospital effluent from some other countries, information on antibiotic residue levels in effluent from Indian hospitals is not available. Also, concurrent studies on antibiotic prescription quantity in a hospital and antibiotic residue levels and resistant bacteria in the effluent of the same hospital are few. Therefore, we quantified antibiotic residues in waters associated with a hospital in India and assessed their association, if any, with quantities of antibiotic prescribed in the hospital and the susceptibility of <it>Escherichia coli </it>found in the hospital effluent.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This cross-sectional study was conducted in a teaching hospital outside the city of Ujjain in India. Seven antibiotics - amoxicillin, ceftriaxone, amikacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and levofloxacin - were selected. Prescribed quantities were obtained from hospital records. The samples of the hospital associated water were analysed for the above mentioned antibiotics using well developed and validated liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry technique after selectively isolating the analytes from the matrix using solid phase extraction. <it>Escherichia coli </it>isolates from these waters were tested for antibiotic susceptibility, by standard Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method using Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute breakpoints.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ciprofloxacin was the highest prescribed antibiotic in the hospital and its residue levels in the hospital wastewater were also the highest. In samples of the municipal water supply and the groundwater, no antibiotics were detected. There was a positive correlation between the quantity of antibiotics prescribed in the hospital and antibiotic residue levels in the hospital wastewater. Wastewater samples collected in the afternoon contained both a higher number and higher levels of antibiotics compared to samples collected in the morning hours. No amikacin was found in the wastewater, but <it>E.coli </it>isolates from all wastewater samples were resistant to amikacin. Although ciprofloxacin was the most prevalent antibiotic detected in the wastewater, <it>E.coli </it>was not resistant to it.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Antibiotics are entering the aquatic environment of countries like India through hospital effluent. In-depth studies are needed to establish the correlation, if any, between the quantities of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals and the levels of antibiotic residues found in hospital effluent. Further, the effect of this on the development of bacterial resistance in the environment and its subsequent public health impact need thorough assessment.</p

Sialic acid binding protein of human endometrium: Its regulation by steroids

In the present study, we have observed that sialic acid binding protein (SABP – a 54 kDa glycoprotein which was isolated from human endometrial scrapings taken at various stages of the menstrual cycle from normal cycling females and purified to apparent homogeneity and was earlier reported from this laboratory) was found in sufficiently detectable amount in the endometrium of normal cycling women whereas it was found in lesser amount in tissue from women who have recently entered the postmenopause stage. SABP was observed in both follicular and luteal phase of menstrual cycle which was found by western blot analysis. In the de-novo synthesis experiment, synthesis and secretion of SABP was found to be stimulated by estradiol (E2) whereas progesterone (P4) was found to have no significant stimulatory effect on it which was also confirmed by HEC cell culture. In the HEC cell culture, priming of cells with E2 was found to influence the effect of P4 on SABP when it was added 2 h after E2 administration. This was observed by doing immunoprecipitation followed by SDS-PAGE and autoradiography. Hence this report clearly indicates that E2 regulates the synthesis and secretion of 54 kDa SABP from human endometrium. How E2 priming of endometrium influences the effect of P4 on SABP has been discussed

Quantitative Determination of Ivermectin in Raw Milk Using Positive ESI LC-MS/MS

Ivermectin, a veterinary drug, is commonly used endectocide for animal husbandry. The drug is available in the form of subcutaneous or topical formulations. Its application may cause accumulation of its residues into the animal tissues, which ultimately find their way into the food products, such as milk and meat products. In order to determine the residues of ivermectin in milk, a comparatively simple, sensitive and rapid method was developed and validated using LC-MS/MS. The MRM transitions corresponding to m/z 892.71>569.6, 892.71>551.5 and 892.71>307.3 were used for the purpose of quantification and evaluation of other parameters of the method. The limit of detection of the method was found to be 0.1 μg/kg and the limit of quantitation was calculated as 0.2 μg/kg. The method was found to be linear in the range of 1.0 ng/mL to 100.0 ng/mL with correlation coefficient of 0.9992 for pure calibration curve and 0.9990 for the matrix- matched calibration curve. The recoveries of ivermectin from the spiked samples of raw milk were found between 85 to 105%

Linköping University Post Print Antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in waters associated with a hospital in Ujjain, India Antibiotics and antibiotic-resistant bacteria in waters associated with a hospital in Ujjain, India

Abstract Background: Concerns have been raised about the public health implications of the presence of antibiotic residues in the aquatic environment and their effect on the development of bacterial resistance. While there is information on antibiotic residue levels in hospital effluent from some other countries, information on antibiotic residue levels in effluent from Indian hospitals is not available. Also, concurrent studies on antibiotic prescription quantity in a hospital and antibiotic residue levels and resistant bacteria in the effluent of the same hospital are few. Therefore, we quantified antibiotic residues in waters associated with a hospital in India and assessed their association, if any, with quantities of antibiotic prescribed in the hospital and the susceptibility of Escherichia coli found in the hospital effluent. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in a teaching hospital outside the city of Ujjain in India. Seven antibiotics -amoxicillin, ceftriaxone, amikacin, ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, norfloxacin and levofloxacin -were selected. Prescribed quantities were obtained from hospital records. The samples of the hospital associated water were analysed for the above mentioned antibiotics using well developed and validated liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry technique after selectively isolating the analytes from the matrix using solid phase extraction. Escherichia coli isolates from these waters were tested for antibiotic susceptibility, by standard Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method using Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute breakpoints. Results: Ciprofloxacin was the highest prescribed antibiotic in the hospital and its residue levels in the hospital wastewater were also the highest. In samples of the municipal water supply and the groundwater, no antibiotics were detected. There was a positive correlation between the quantity of antibiotics prescribed in the hospital and antibiotic residue levels in the hospital wastewater. Wastewater samples collected in the afternoon contained both a higher number and higher levels of antibiotics compared to samples collected in the morning hours. No amikacin was found in the wastewater, but E.coli isolates from all wastewater samples were resistant to amikacin. Although ciprofloxacin was the most prevalent antibiotic detected in the wastewater, E.coli was not resistant to it. Conclusions: Antibiotics are entering the aquatic environment of countries like India through hospital effluent. Indepth studies are needed to establish the correlation, if any, between the quantities of antibiotics prescribed in hospitals and the levels of antibiotic residues found in hospital effluent. Further, the effect of this on the development of bacterial resistance in the environment and its subsequent public health impact need thorough assessment

Evaluation of new-generation serologic tests for the diagnosis of typhoid fever: data from a community-based surveillance in Calcutta, India

Although typhoid fever is confirmed by culture of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi, rapid and simple diagnostic serologic tests would be useful in developing countries. We examined the performance of Widal test in a community field site and compared it with Typhidot and Tubex tests for diagnosis of typhoid fever. Blood samples were collected from 6697 patients with fever for =3 days for microscopy, culture, and serologic testing and from randomly selected 172 consenting healthy individuals to assess the baseline Widal anti-Typhi O lipopolysaccharide antibody (anti-TO) and anti-Typhi H flagellar antibody (anti-TH) titers. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of the 3 serologic tests were calculated using culture-confirmed typhoid fever cases as “true positives” and paratyphoid fever and malaria cases as “true negatives”. Comparing cutoff values for the Widal test, an anti-TO titer of 1/80 was optimal with 58% sensitivity, 85% specificity, 69% PPV, and 77% NPV. Sensitivity was increased to 67% when the Widal test was done on the 5th day of illness and thereafter. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of Typhidot and Tubex were not better than Widal test. There is a need for more efficient rapid diagnostic test for typhoid fever especially during the acute stage of the disease. Until then, culture remains the method of choice

Deletion in chromosome 11 and Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 alterations are independently associated with the development of uterine cervical carcinoma

The aim of this study was to understand whether there is any association between specific deleted regions in chromosome 11 (chr.11) and alteration (amplification/rearrangement) of Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 locus, located at 11q13, in uterine cervical carcinoma (CA-CX). Methods: The deletion mapping of chr.11 was studied using 17 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers in 65 primary uterine cervical lesions. The Bcl- 1/Cyclin D1 alterations were analyzed by Southern blot and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method in respective cervical lesions. Results: Chr.11 deletion was found to be significantly associated with progression of CA-CX. High frequency (48–65%) of deletion was found in 11p15.5 (D1), 11q22.3–23.1(D2), and 11q23.3– 24.1(D3) regions and significant association was seen among deletions in D2 and D3 regions. Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 locus alteration was observed in overall 27% cervical lesions. Co-amplification of Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 locus was seen in 10% samples. However, no association was found between the deleted regions and Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 locus alterations. Conclusions: Our study suggests that there is no co-operativity between the deleted regions (D1- D3) in chr.11 and Bcl-1/Cyclin D1 alterations, but these alterations may provide cumulative effect in progression of the tumor. The D1–D3 regions may harbor candidate tumor suppressor gene(s) (TSGs) associated with the development of CA-CX