Seasonal changes in microbial community structure and nutrients content in rhizospheric soil of Aegle marmelos tree

A preliminary investigation was carried out on dominance of different types of microbial communities at different monsoon seasons in rhizospheric soils of Aegle marmelos tree. Nutrients content of soil were also determined simultaneously to correlate with the microbial population. Results show that the rhizosphere of Aegle marmelos contains gram-negative bacteria, Rhizobium, Azotobacter,Actinomycetes and Yeast and major plant nutrients and their count as well as dominance changes with moisture content in rhizosphere.Except actinomycetes all the microorganisms were found highest duringmonsoon season whereas in post-monsoon season Actinomycetes were dominant. Amount of water in rhizosphere soil also affects soil chemical properties. Soil pH, organic carbon, C:N ratio, available nitrogen and available phosphorus were recorded maximum in monsoon, whereas electrical conductivity and total nitrogen content were found maximum in post-monsoon

Clinical profile of different type of tuberculosis in hospitalized children in tertiary care center

Background: Since the implementation of directly observed treatment short (DOTS) program, the prevalence, clinical profile, and risk factors of pulmonary and non-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) necessitating hospitalization in pediatric patients are not evaluated extensively. Materials and Methods: We designed a prospective observational study to evaluate the clinical profile of different types of TB in hospitalized children <12 years old. Different types of TB in children hospitalized from 1st January 2013 to 30th June 2014 were recorded. Detailed clinical history, clinical examination findings, diagnostic methods, and treatment of these cases were analyzed by age groups and types of TB. Results: During the study period, 150 (2.8% of total admission) patientswith TB were admitted in our institute. 87 (58%) patients were <5 years old, and 92 (61.33%) children were male. 140 (93.33%) children were malnourished. The clinical profile of TB included neuro TB in 78 (37.32%), pulmonary in 67 (32.05), abdominal in 27 (12.91%), and disseminated in 27 (12.91%) patients. Less than half of children with neuro TB and disseminated TB were immunized with Bacillus calmette-guerin (BCG). Conclusion: Despite aggressive DOTS implementation, the prevalence of TB, particularly, non-pulmonary TB in children is quite alarming. All the variants of TB are prevalent in the children. The neuro TB and the pulmonary TB dominate in the hospitalized cases. Younger age, lack of protection of BCG vaccination, and malnutrition are the main risk factors in childhood TB

Measurement of cervical length using transvaginal sonography for prediction of preterm labour

Background: Preterm labour and delivery cause major health burden to the society due to high perinatal morbidities and mortality and long-term health implications and also affects maternal. An effective and objective way for predicting preterm delivery is measurement of cervical length by transvaginal sonography as it allows better quality and accurate visualization of uterine cervix. Cervical length (<25 mm) is good and accurate cervical biometry for prediction of preterm birth. The objective of this study was to measure cervical length by transvaginal sonography for predicting preterm labour and fetal outcome.Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in department of obstetrics and gynaecology, at SVPIMSR hospital, Ahmedabad from July 2018 to December 2019 in 150 antenatal women to assess cervical changes (cervical length, dilatation of internal OS, funnelling etc.) between 16 to 24 weeks of gestation and these cases followed till delivery and results were analysed.Results:150 antenatal women who fulfilled the selection criteria were studied using transvaginal ultrasound between 16-24 weeks of gestation, out of them 36 (24%) women delivered preterm babies. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) recorded in this study were 80.5%, 94.73%, 82.85% and 93.91% respectively.Conclusion: Transvaginal sonography is the most useful and better, safe, accurate, most effective, less expensive, objective and acceptable technique for assessing cervical length in all antenatal women and predicting the preterm labour when assessed between 16 -24 weeks of gestational age

A hospital based retrospective study of thyroid disorders on obstetric and perinatal outcomes

Background: The study was undertaken in pregnant women to understand and analyze the obstetric and foetal outcomes of thyroid disorders.Methods: TSH estimation was used as universal screening in their first visit to our hospital. Those patients with abnormal TSH values, i.e. above 2.5 mIU/ml in first trimester and above 3 mIU/ml in second and third trimesters were evaluated for free T3, free T4 and TPO Abs. They were treated accordingly and dosage adjustments made and the tests repeated once in 4-6 weeks. They were followed throughout pregnancy and delivery.Results: Total no of pregnant women screened were 904 over a period of 1 year from 15 March 2019 to 14 March 2020, of which 115 had abnormal thyroid functions, thereby the prevalence of thyroid disorders being 12.72%. Of the 115 patients with thyroid disorders, 112 were hypothyroid and 3 were hyperthyroid. Among the 112 hypothyroid cases, 48 were known cases and 64 were new cases. The total cases of subclinical hypothyroidism were 88, prevalence being 9.73% and overt cases were 24, prevalence being 2.65%; 3 cases were overt hyperthyroid, prevalence being 0.33%. 66% of subclinical hypothyroidism were TPO positive and 34% of overt hypothyroidism were TPO positive (p<0.05). Out of 115 abnormal thyroid function patients, 92 patients delivered in our hospital. There were 15 abortions, 13 spontaneous and 2 terminations of pregnancies; 7 patients have delivered outside and 1 patient lost follow up.Conclusions: The prevalence of thyroid disorders during pregnancy was significantly more in our study, hypothyroidism being the commonest. Significant numbers of cases were newly diagnosed on universal screening. The commonest disorder was subclinical hypothyroidism. Adverse maternal and foetal outcomes were almost similar in both subclinical and overt hypothyroidism. The common adverse outcomes noted were abortions, pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, preterm births and increased rates of caesarean sections. The adverse outcomes were significantly more in autoimmune antibody positive patients

Classification of Caesarean Section According to Robson Criteria: An Approach to Optimize Caesarean Section Rates at Tertiary Care Hospital in Western India

Introduction: Caesarean section (CS) rates have been increasing worldwide. For proper assessment of CS rate, the ten group Robson classification is recommended by WHO. We are analyzing the CS rates by classifying the caesarean sections using Robson‘s ten group classification. The aim of this study is to perform an analysis based on Robson‘s ten group classification system and to identify strategies to optimize CS rate in our institution. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology between July 2022 to December 2022 at SardarVallabhbhai Patel Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (SVPIMSR) in Ahmedabad, western India. Results: Total number of deliveries during the study period was 3121. The total numbers of CS were 1078 (34.55%) and total vaginal deliveries were 2043 (65.45%). The main contributors to overall caesarean section rate were group 5 (previous CS) (14.03%) and group 2 (nullipara, singleton cephalic,>=37 weeks) (11.40%). Women with one previous LSCS contributed majorly to the CS rate. Conclusions: Robson‘s classification is easily implementable and an effective tool for surveillance. The results can be compared between Institutions, states and countries. By using Robson classification, groups identified which contributed the most to the overall CS rate and approach to reduce the same has to be our prime objective. Any reduction in CS in nullipara group affect the CS rate in the total group of nulliparous women with a potential for vaginal birth and would also reduce number of women in group 5 (previous CS)

A framework for human microbiome research

A variety of microbial communities and their genes (the microbiome) exist throughout the human body, with fundamental roles in human health and disease. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Human Microbiome Project Consortium has established a population-scale framework to develop metagenomic protocols, resulting in a broad range of quality-controlled resources and data including standardized methods for creating, processing and interpreting distinct types of high-throughput metagenomic data available to the scientific community. Here we present resources from a population of 242 healthy adults sampled at 15 or 18 body sites up to three times, which have generated 5,177 microbial taxonomic profiles from 16S ribosomal RNA genes and over 3.5 terabases of metagenomic sequence so far. In parallel, approximately 800 reference strains isolated from the human body have been sequenced. Collectively, these data represent the largest resource describing the abundance and variety of the human microbiome, while providing a framework for current and future studies

Structure, function and diversity of the healthy human microbiome

Author Posting. © The Authors, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group. The definitive version was published in Nature 486 (2012): 207-214, doi:10.1038/nature11234.Studies of the human microbiome have revealed that even healthy individuals differ remarkably in the microbes that occupy habitats such as the gut, skin and vagina. Much of this diversity remains unexplained, although diet, environment, host genetics and early microbial exposure have all been implicated. Accordingly, to characterize the ecology of human-associated microbial communities, the Human Microbiome Project has analysed the largest cohort and set of distinct, clinically relevant body habitats so far. We found the diversity and abundance of each habitat’s signature microbes to vary widely even among healthy subjects, with strong niche specialization both within and among individuals. The project encountered an estimated 81–99% of the genera, enzyme families and community configurations occupied by the healthy Western microbiome. Metagenomic carriage of metabolic pathways was stable among individuals despite variation in community structure, and ethnic/racial background proved to be one of the strongest associations of both pathways and microbes with clinical metadata. These results thus delineate the range of structural and functional configurations normal in the microbial communities of a healthy population, enabling future characterization of the epidemiology, ecology and translational applications of the human microbiome.This research was supported in part by National Institutes of Health grants U54HG004969 to B.W.B.; U54HG003273 to R.A.G.; U54HG004973 to R.A.G., S.K.H. and J.F.P.; U54HG003067 to E.S.Lander; U54AI084844 to K.E.N.; N01AI30071 to R.L.Strausberg; U54HG004968 to G.M.W.; U01HG004866 to O.R.W.; U54HG003079 to R.K.W.; R01HG005969 to C.H.; R01HG004872 to R.K.; R01HG004885 to M.P.; R01HG005975 to P.D.S.; R01HG004908 to Y.Y.; R01HG004900 to M.K.Cho and P. Sankar; R01HG005171 to D.E.H.; R01HG004853 to A.L.M.; R01HG004856 to R.R.; R01HG004877 to R.R.S. and R.F.; R01HG005172 to P. Spicer.; R01HG004857 to M.P.; R01HG004906 to T.M.S.; R21HG005811 to E.A.V.; M.J.B. was supported by UH2AR057506; G.A.B. was supported by UH2AI083263 and UH3AI083263 (G.A.B., C. N. Cornelissen, L. K. Eaves and J. F. Strauss); S.M.H. was supported by UH3DK083993 (V. B. Young, E. B. Chang, F. Meyer, T. M. S., M. L. Sogin, J. M. Tiedje); K.P.R. was supported by UH2DK083990 (J. V.); J.A.S. and H.H.K. were supported by UH2AR057504 and UH3AR057504 (J.A.S.); DP2OD001500 to K.M.A.; N01HG62088 to the Coriell Institute for Medical Research; U01DE016937 to F.E.D.; S.K.H. was supported by RC1DE0202098 and R01DE021574 (S.K.H. and H. Li); J.I. was supported by R21CA139193 (J.I. and D. S. Michaud); K.P.L. was supported by P30DE020751 (D. J. Smith); Army Research Office grant W911NF-11-1-0473 to C.H.; National Science Foundation grants NSF DBI-1053486 to C.H. and NSF IIS-0812111 to M.P.; The Office of Science of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 for P.S. C.; LANL Laboratory-Directed Research and Development grant 20100034DR and the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency grants B104153I and B084531I to P.S.C.; Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) grant to K.F. and J.Raes; R.K. is an HHMI Early Career Scientist; Gordon&BettyMoore Foundation funding and institutional funding fromthe J. David Gladstone Institutes to K.S.P.; A.M.S. was supported by fellowships provided by the Rackham Graduate School and the NIH Molecular Mechanisms in Microbial Pathogenesis Training Grant T32AI007528; a Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of Canada Grant in Aid of Research to E.A.V.; 2010 IBM Faculty Award to K.C.W.; analysis of the HMPdata was performed using National Energy Research Scientific Computing resources, the BluBioU Computational Resource at Rice University

Učinak ketoprofena ili vrućice na farmakokinetiku cefepima u ovaca.

The pharmacokinetics of cefepime (20 mg/kg) were studied following intramuscular administration of cefepime alone, co-administered with ketoprofen (3 mg/kg) and in a febrile state (Escherichia coli LPS induced) in sheep. The concentration of cefepime in the serum was detected by High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Following single dose intravenous administration of cefepime, elimination half life (2.50 ± 0.05 h), the area under the curve (143.48± 7.36 μg.h/mL), body clearance (0.14 ± 0.01 L/h/kg) and volume of distribution (0.51 ± 0.03 L/kg) were determined. Following a single dose intramuscular administration of cefepime alone, peak serum concentration (28.76 ± 0.54 μg/mL) was obtained at 0.75 h. The absorption half life (t1/2Kα), volume of distribution (Vdarea), total body clearance (ClB) and elimination half life (t1/2β) of cefepime were 0.16 ± 0.01 h, 1.02 ± 0.08 L/kg, 0.13 ± 0.01 L/h/kg and 5.31 ± 0.23 h, respectively. Following co-administration of ketoprofen (30.74 ± 1.22 μg/mL) and in a febrile condition, a higher peak serum concentration of cefepime (39.68 ± 1.13 μg/mL) was observed at 0.75 h and 1 h, respectively. However, no significant changes were reported in other pharmacokinetic parameters following co administration of cefepime with ketoprofen. In a febrile state, absorption half life, area under the curve and bioavailability were significantly increased while the volume of distribution and clearance of cefepime were significantly decreased following intramuscular administration. Cefepime pharmacokinetic data (20 mg/kg) generated from the present study suggest that the drug may be administered with ketoprofen, and in febrile conditions in sheep, the drug may be given intramuscularly at 24 h intervals to combat susceptible bacterial infections.Istražena je farmakokinetika cefepima (20 mg/kg) nakon njegove intramuskularne primjene s ketoprofenom (3 mg/kg) u tijeku vrućice u ovaca izazvane lipopolisaharidima bakterije Escherichia coli. Koncentracija cefepima u serumu bila je određivana tekućinskom kromatografijom. Nakon jednokratne intravenske primjene poluživot njegova izlučivanja iznosio je 2,50 ± 0,05 h, površina ispod koncentracijske krivulje bila je 143,48 ± 7,36 μg.h/mL, ukupni tjelesni klirens iznosio je 0,14 ± 0,01 L/h/kg, a volumen raspodjele 0,51 ± 0,03 L/kg. Nakon jednokratne intramuskularne primjene samo cefepima vršna koncentracija u serumu iznosila je 28,76 ± 0,54 μg/mL nakon 0,75 h. Poluživot apsorpcije (t1/2Kα) iznosio je 0,16 ± 0,01 h, volumen raspodjele (Vdarea) 1,02 ± 0,08 L/kg, ukupni klirens iz organizma (ClB) 0,13 ± 0,01 L/h/kg te poluživot izlučivanja (t1/2β) 5,31 ± 0,23 h. Nakon istodobne primjene ketoprofena (30,74 ± 1,22 μg/mL) u uvjetima izazvane vrućice ustanovljena je veća vršna koncentracija cefepima (39,68 ± 1,13 mg/mL) u razdoblju od 0,75 h odnosno 1 sata. Vrijednosti ostalih farmakokinetičkih pokazatelja nisu se značajno promijenile poslije istodobne primjene cefepima s ketoprofenom. Poluživot apsorpcije, površina ispod koncentracijske krivulje i biološka raspoloživost bili su značajno povišeni, dok su volumen raspodjele i klirens cefepima bili značajno sniženi nakon intramuskularne primjene u febrilnih životinja. Farmakokinetičke značajke cefepima (20 mg/kg) proizašle iz ovog istraživanja upućuju na zaključak da se on u ovaca može primijeniti s ketoprofenom i u febrilnim stanjima. Može se primijeniti intramuskularno u razmaku od 24 sata za liječenje bolesti uzrokovanih bakterijama osjetljivima na cefepim