Needle Stick Injury among Health Care Workers and Its Aftermath in a Tertiary Care Hospital in East Delhi, India

Needle stick injuries (NSI) present serious occupational threat to healthcare workers (HCW).Due to lack of epidemiological data on NSI in this geographical region, the present study was conducted to estimate incidence rate of NSI, identify factors associated, assess awareness of HCWs and evaluate post-injury sero-reactivity rates. This cross-sectional observational study involved 524 HCWs (151 medical and 373 paramedical staff). A validated questionnaire was filled by investigator using interviewing technique. Blood sample was collected from study subjects who reported NSI within last 28 days, at the time of NSI and subsequently after 1, 3 and 6 months. Screening for HBsAg, anti-HCV and anti-HIV 1/2 antibodies was done using commercially available Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Kit. Sixty-three HCWs, comprising mainly of medical staff, gave history of NSI in preceding 28 days. The most frequent procedure leading to NSI included recapping needles and suturing in 28.57%, while commonest root cause was haste in 61.91%. Majority (61.91%, 39/63) suffered from NSI during latter part of their duty hours. None became HBsAg, anti-HCV or HIV seropositive. The proportion of NSI among HCWs who had received training on prevention and management of NSI was significantly lower than those who were untrained. Hence training programs emphasizing on safe techniques must be conducted regularly and HCWs putting in long working hours must be allowed to take breaks. Needle stick injury among health care workers and its aftermath in a tertiary care hospital in East Delhi, India

Watch the Moon, Learn the Moon: Lunar Geology Research at School Level with Telescope and Open Source Data

Science-AI Symbiotic Group at Seven Square Academy, Naigaon was formed in 2023 with the purpose of bringing school students to the forefronts of science research by involving them in hands on research. In October 2023 a new project was started with the goal of studying the lunar surface by real-time observations and open source data. Twelve students/members from grades 8, 9, 10 participated in this research attempt wherein each student filled an observation metric by observing the Moon on various days with a Bresser Messier 150mm/1200mm reflector Newtonian telescope. After the observations were done, the members were assigned various zones on the lunar near side for analysis of geological features. Then a data analysis metric was filled by each of students with the help of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera's/ LROC's quickmap open access data hosted by Arizona State University. In this short paper a brief overview of this project is given. One example each of observation metric and data analysis metric is presented. This kind of project has high impact for school science education with minimal costs. This project can also serve as an interesting science outreach program for organisations looking forward to popularise planetary sciences research at school level.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

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Not Available102 Indian soybean varieties were surveyed using 10 SSR markers that were selected based upon high polymorphic information content (PIC) observed in the initial screening of 40 randomly selected genotypes using 58 SSR markers. The 10 selected primer pairs amplified 3-8 alleles in the 102 varieties. In total, 50 alleles with amplicon size ranging from 100 to 330 bp were observed with PIC value ranging from 0.4760 (primer pair Satt229) to 0.8123 (Sct_199). Once the amplicon profile of all the varieties was obtained, alleles were assigned a numerical number in the order of increasing size of amplicon. The numerical numbers were placed from left to right in alphabetical order of linkage group of the 10 SSR markers to construct a 10-digit barcode, which would serve as unique identification code for each of 102 soybean varieties released for commercial cultivation in India and would be useful in testing their genetic purity.Not Availabl

Sporadic occurrence of cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-seronegative patients: Uncommon etiology?

Cryptococcosis in HIV-seronegative patients is rarely reported from India. This prospective study was conducted to look for cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-seronegative individuals and compare their laboratory features to cryptococcal meningitis in HIV-seropositive patients. Cerebrospinal fluid was collected from 153 suspected cases of meningitis and subjected to India ink preparation, antigen detection, and culture. Nineteen samples tested positive for Cryptococcus neoformans infection. Seventeen and two patients were HIV reactive and nonreactive, respectively. In vitro susceptibility of C. neoformans isolates to fluconazole and amphotericin B was performed using standard broth microdilution method and E-test. Eighteen strains were susceptible to amphotericin B, while fluconazole was reported susceptible in 15 strains. Hence, index of suspicion of C. neoformans infection as possible cause of meningitis must be maintained even in HIV-negative patients. Use of amphotericin B for treating C. neoformans meningitis should be restricted to prevent any increase in resistance

Application of a stool antigen test to evaluate the burden of Helicobacter pylori infection in dyspepsia patients

Helicobacter pylori (HP) is causally associated with peptic ulcer disease and gastric carcinoma. Determination of the prevalence of HP infection in dyspepsia patients′ in particular geographical area is imperative for the appropriate management of dyspepsia. HP antigen detection in stool is a noninvasive diagnostic test of HP infection. This prospective study was conducted to find out the prevalence of HP infection based on stool antigen testing in dyspeptic patients who had also undergone upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. This study highlights the high prevalence of HP infection in dyspeptic Indian patients, particularly males, and emphasizes the growing importance of the bacterium causing infection among children. We also found HP stool antigen testing to be superior to upper GI endoscopy for detecting HP infection. Hence, we recommend initial testing for HP stool antigen in dyspeptic patients before initiating treatment and before carrying out any invasive procedure such as endoscopy

Empirical model for estimating dengue incidence using temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity: a 19-year retrospective analysis in East Delhi

OBJECTIVES Aedes mosquitoes are responsible for transmitting the dengue virus. The mosquito lifecycle is known to be influenced by temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity. This retrospective study was planned to investigate whether climatic factors could be used to predict the occurrence of dengue in East Delhi. METHODS The number of monthly dengue cases reported over 19 years was obtained from the laboratory records of our institution. Monthly data of rainfall, temperature, and humidity collected from a local weather station were correlated with the number of monthly reported dengue cases. One-way analysis of variance was used to analyse whether the climatic parameters differed significantly among seasons. Four models were developed using negative binomial generalized linear model analysis. Monthly rainfall, temperature, humidity, were used as independent variables, and the number of dengue cases reported monthly was used as the dependent variable. The first model considered data from the same month, while the other three models involved incorporating data with a lag phase of 1, 2, and 3 months, respectively. RESULTS The greatest number of cases was reported during the post-monsoon period each year. Temperature, rainfall, and humidity varied significantly across the pre-monsoon, monsoon, and post-monsoon periods. The best correlation between these three climatic factors and dengue occurrence was at a time lag of 2 months. CONCLUSIONS This study found that temperature, rainfall, and relative humidity significantly affected dengue occurrence in East Delhi. This weather-based dengue empirical model can forecast potential outbreaks 2-month in advance, providing an early warning system for intensifying dengue control measures

Anti-cysticercus antibody detection in saliva as a potential diagnostic tool for neurocysticercosis

Objectives: This study was planned to determine the usefulness of anti-cysticercus IgG antibody detection in saliva for neurocysticercosis (NCC) diagnosis, along with serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level to serve as a surrogate marker. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study of 14 months duration, blood and saliva samples were collected from 40 patients suspected to be suffering from NCC and were subjected to anti-cysticercus IgG antibody detection by ELISA. Serum CRP levels were estimated as acute-phase reactant by high sensitivity CRP ELISA. Results: Anti-cysticercus IgG was detected in serum and saliva of 34 and 30 patients, respectively. Cases positive for salivary antibody were positive for serum antibody and their serum CRP level was higher than normal. Cases negative for salivary antibody had low serum CRP levels. Anti-cysticercus IgG detection in saliva was 88.24% sensitive, 100% specific, and had a positive predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 60%. Positive salivary anti-cysticercus IgG and high serum CRP level showed a significant association. Difference between CRP levels of patients positive for anti-cysticercus antibody in both serum and saliva, and patients positive for antibody in serum but not saliva was highly significant. Conclusions: Saliva, being painless and noninvasive, can be used as alternative to serum for NCC diagnosis