Bacteriological profile, antibiotic sensitivity pattern, and detection of extended‑spectrum β-lactamase in the isolates of urinary tract infection from children

Background: Appropriate use of antibiotic in children with urinary tract infection (UTI) is essential so as to curb the spread of drug-resistantorganisms. Objectives: To study the bacteriological profile and antibiotic sensitivity pattern in children with UTI and to determine theprevalence of extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) producers of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella species. Methods: This prospectivestudy was conducted from October 2010 to September 2011. The children between age group of 3 and 14 years who attended PediatricDepartment at a tertiary care hospital were included in the study. Single midstream urine specimen was collected from each patient withsuspected UTI. Result: Out of 184 urine samples with suspected UTI, 122 children had culture-proven UTI. Of 122 cases, 81 (66.39%)cases were seen in females. The most common organism isolated was E. coli (50%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (23.77%) andEnterococcus species (8.19%). E. coli, Klebsiella spp., Citrobacter freundii, and Proteus mirabilis responded better to nitrofurantoin (NIT)(76.8%). Ceftriaxone (79.12%), cefotaxime (74.8%), and cefixime (71.7%) showed higher sensitivity as compared to ceftazidime (63.4%)and cefoperazone (CPZ) (59.4%). Among aminoglycosides, amikacin (82.4%) had a better response as compared to gentamicin (64.6%). Outof 61 E. coli and 31 Klebsiella species, 35 (38.04%) were ESBL producers. The sensitivity of these organisms to imipenem was 100% with agood response to meropenem, CPZ-sulbactam, and piperacillin-tazobactam. Conclusion: E. coli and Klebsiella spp. were the most commonisolates and many of them were ESBL producers. NIT seemed to be a reasonable alternative to cephalosporins for the treatment of UTIs inchildren. Carbapenems were found to be effective in ESBLs and non-ESBL producing uropathogens and can be considered as reserve drugs

Stability Properties of Underdominance in Finite Subdivided Populations

In isolated populations underdominance leads to bistable evolutionary dynamics: below a certain mutant allele frequency the wildtype succeeds. Above this point, the potentially underdominant mutant allele fixes. In subdivided populations with gene flow there can be stable states with coexistence of wildtypes and mutants: polymorphism can be maintained because of a migration-selection equilibrium, i.e., selection against rare recent immigrant alleles that tend to be heterozygous. We focus on the stochastic evolutionary dynamics of systems where demographic fluctuations in the coupled populations are the main source of internal noise. We discuss the influence of fitness, migration rate, and the relative sizes of two interacting populations on the mean extinction times of a group of potentially underdominant mutant alleles. We classify realistic initial conditions according to their impact on the stochastic extinction process. Even in small populations, where demographic fluctuations are large, stability properties predicted from deterministic dynamics show remarkable robustness. Fixation of the mutant allele becomes unlikely but the time to its extinction can be long

The use of mesenchymal stem cells for cartilage repair and regeneration: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: The management of articular cartilage defects presents many clinical challenges due to its avascular, aneural and alymphatic nature. Bone marrow stimulation techniques, such as microfracture, are the most frequently used method in clinical practice however the resulting mixed fibrocartilage tissue which is inferior to native hyaline cartilage. Other methods have shown promise but are far from perfect. There is an unmet need and growing interest in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering to improve the outcome for patients requiring cartilage repair. Many published reviews on cartilage repair only list human clinical trials, underestimating the wealth of basic sciences and animal studies that are precursors to future research. We therefore set out to perform a systematic review of the literature to assess the translation of stem cell therapy to explore what research had been carried out at each of the stages of translation from bench-top (in vitro), animal (pre-clinical) and human studies (clinical) and assemble an evidence-based cascade for the responsible introduction of stem cell therapy for cartilage defects. This review was conducted in accordance to PRISMA guidelines using CINHAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus and Web of Knowledge databases from 1st January 1900 to 30th June 2015. In total, there were 2880 studies identified of which 252 studies were included for analysis (100 articles for in vitro studies, 111 studies for animal studies; and 31 studies for human studies). There was a huge variance in cell source in pre-clinical studies both of terms of animal used, location of harvest (fat, marrow, blood or synovium) and allogeneicity. The use of scaffolds, growth factors, number of cell passages and number of cells used was hugely heterogeneous. SHORT CONCLUSIONS: This review offers a comprehensive assessment of the evidence behind the translation of basic science to the clinical practice of cartilage repair. It has revealed a lack of connectivity between the in vitro, pre-clinical and human data and a patchwork quilt of synergistic evidence. Drivers for progress in this space are largely driven by patient demand, surgeon inquisition and a regulatory framework that is learning at the same pace as new developments take place

Shining a light on extracellular matrix dynamics in vivo.

The extracellular matrix is involved in facilitating morphogenesis during development in many contexts. Its role as a stable structure that supports, constrains and acts a substrate for migrating cells in developing tissues is well known and explored. However, recent studies that image fluorescently tagged matrix proteins in developing embryos and tissues, show more dynamic characteristics of matrices in diverse developmental contexts. In this review, we discuss new insights revealed by live-imaging of matrix proteins that help with the understanding of the dynamics of matrix deposition, degradation, turnover and rearrangement. Further, we discuss the mechanisms by which matrix dynamics can influence morphogenesis during development. We present our view on how the field can move in the future and what live-imaging approaches in diverse model organisms can contribute to this exciting area of developmental biology

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Not AvailableAnalysis started by using forty eight markers(Twenty four each of ISSR and RAPD) that allowed us to distinguish 10 bamboo species. Out of forty eight, twelve primers were used for identification and for establishing a profiling system to estimate genetic diversity. A total of six hundred and fourteen alleles were amplified out of this hundred and thirty seven distinct polymorphic DNA fragments, ranging from 1.15-0.20 kb were amplified by 12 selected primers.Not Availabl

Knowledge, attitude and practice on exposure to Bisphenol A among dental surgeons in Southern India

Background. Bisphenol A (BPA) is a product in the manufacture of Bis-GMA, which is commonly used in dentistry, and is known to have a number of adverse effects. Objectives. The aim of this study is to evaluate to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice based on exposure and handling of BPA containing materials among dental surgeons for better understanding about the level of care rendered to the patients. Material and methods. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 400 dental surgeons in Southern India. The questionnaire consisted of 20 objective type questions out of which ten questions assessed knowledge and five questions assessed the attitude and five questions to understand the practice related measures taken by the dentist. The data collected were analysed using SPSS version 23. Results. A total of 402 responses were collected for this online questionnaire survey over a period of 2 months. It was found that females showed higher knowledge and attitude towards exposure to BPA which was statistically significant when compared to males. It showed that dentists with more than 20 years of practice had a higher level of knowledge. Though most of the groups agreed fairly on safety practice to be undertaken related to BPA exposure in their clinics, the ones with experience more than 20 years displayed the least positive attitude and dentists with 6-10 years of practice had the least positive behaviour among all. Conclusions. In spite of having a good knowledge regarding the harmful effects of BPA, dental surgeons are not very cautious while using materials containing them on a regular basis. Therefore, there is a need to enhance the awareness with the help of Continuing Dental Education programs or proper instructions on the packaging

Particle-based Segmentation of Extended Objects on Curved Biological Membranes.

We present a novel method for model-based segmentation of extended, blob-like objects on curved surfaces. Our method addresses several challenges arising when imaging curved biological membrane, such as out-of-membrane signal and geometry-induced background variations. We use a particle-based reconstruction of the membrane geometry, moment-conserving intensity interpolation from pixels to surface particles, and model-based in-surface segmentation. Our method denoises and deconvolves images, corrects for background variations, and quantifies the number, size, and intensity of segmented objects. We benchmark the accuracy of the method and present two applications to (1) neuroepithelial focal adhesion sites during optic cup morphogenesis in zebrafish and (2) reconstituted membrane domains bearing the small GTPase Rab5 on spherical beads