Phenotypic characterization and susceptibility of gram negative bacteria from surgical site infections in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Gram negative bacteria are the common isolates among the cases of Surgical Site Infections (SSI). Resistant and specially Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) Gram negative isolates are a serious challenge for the treatment to clinicians. Present study was undertaken for phenotypic characterization and susceptibility pattern of Gram negative bacterial isolates from cases of surgical site infections in a tertiary care institute.Methods: This descriptive cross sectional hospital based study was conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital over a period of one and half year from January 2012 to June 2013. Centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) SSI case definitions were used to label a case as SSI. Only culture proven cases, out of clinically suspected was included in the study for evaluation.Results: During the study period a total of 5949 patients were operated and screened for SSI in the wards under surveillance. Out of which 556 were clinically suspected as a case of SSI. With 408 culture proven cases of SSI the rate of SSI in present study was (6.86%). Rates of SSI were more in dirty (22.54%) and contaminated (13.78%) type of wounds. Among Gram negative bacterial isolates (n=343) from SSI, E. coli (45.18%) was the commonest followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16.03%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.42%). Unpleasant trend in antimicrobial resistance observed during study is a serious concern.Conclusions: The data presented in this study clearly indicate the continuous need of surveillance of SSI. This will clearly help health care personnel in curtailing down the incidences of SSI

Formulation and characterization of chewable tablets of paracetamol and metoclopramide hydrochloride

The present study was aimed to formulate and characterized chewable tablets of Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride. Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride is an oral fixed dose combination for the preparation of chewable tablets used to treat the symptoms of migraine as it comply with physicochemical properties require to improve the effectiveness of therapeutic agent, better bioavailability, improved patient acceptance (especially pediatrics) through pleasant taste, patient convenience; need no water for swallowing, fasten the absorption of drug and for rapid onset of action. The investigation was carried out to study the effect of different proportion of Avicel 101, Avicel 102 and moringa gum, which are superdisintegrating agents. The chewable tablets of Paracetamol and Metoclopramide hydrochloride were prepared by wet granulation method. Several physicochemical parameters like thickness, diameter, hardness, %weight variation, %loss in weight, drug content, disintegration time, in vitro dissolution studies, kinetics of drug release and stability studies for all the formulations were studied and were found within the acceptance limits. Formulation F7 (containing moringa gum 1%) showed the best cumulative drug release and disintegration time of 56 secs

CAUSES OF DISPOSAL OF MURRAH BUFFALO FROM AN ORGANISED HERD

The present study comprised of 602 disposal records of adult Murrah buffaloes , spread over a period of 16 years from 1985 to 2000 at NDRI, Karnal, Haryana. Analysed data showed that the reproductive problems (38.62), low milk production (24.01) and udder problems (22.76) were the three major reasons of culling in adult Murrah buffaloes . The culling of cows due to involuntary reason (reproductive problems, udder problems and locomotive disorders) accounted for nearly 63.68 percent of total culling in Murrah buffaloes in the NDRI herd. The data revealed that maximum mortality occurred due to digestive problems accounting for 30.89 percent followed by cardio-vascular problems (26.02 percent), respiratory problems (21.14 percent), parasitic problems (8.13 percent) and uro-genital problems (5.69 percent). The results showed that there is a scope for further improvement in production and reproductive efficiency through better monitoring of reproduction and udder health status of the buffaloes. The high involuntary culling rate not only makes the dairy enterprises economically less profitable but also reduces the genetic improvement by lowering the selection differential for milk production

A Posteriori Error Estimates for Nonconforming Approximations of Evolutionary Convection-Diffusion Problems

We derive computable upper bounds for the difference between an exact solution of the evolutionary convection-diffusion problem and an approximation of this solution. The estimates are obtained by certain transformations of the integral identity that defines the generalized solution. These estimates depend on neither special properties of the exact solution nor its approximation, and involve only global constants coming from embedding inequalities. The estimates are first derived for functions in the corresponding energy space, and then possible extensions to classes of piecewise continuous approximations are discussed.Comment: 10 page

Development of artificial diets for rearing of adult lady bird beetle Coccinella septumpunctata in laboratory

Adult lady bird beetle, Coccinella septumpunctata was reared on semi-solid and liquid artificial diets in the laboratory at 25±1°C temperature and 70±5% relative humidity during 2011-12 and 2012-13. In first effort ten combinations of artificial diet in semi-solid form comprising 3 basic ingredients, i.e. protinex, home food plus and nutripet in different combinations along with other ingredients like agar powder, yeast powder, honey, vitamin B-complex and vitamin E were evaluated against adult of C. septumpunctata. Methyl paraben and formaldehyde were used as diet preservatives. The adult of C. septumpunctata survived maximum period of 41.3 days on home food plus (100%) based diet while minimum period (15.7 days) on nutripet (100%) based diet. The survival pattern in other diets was recorded from 24.0 days to 39.7 days. Further efforts were made to improve the quality of diets and again 10 combination of artificial diets in liquid form based on five basic ingredients i.e. protinex, cerelac (baby feed), honey, home food plus and sucrose alone and with other food supplements like vitamin B-complex, vitamin E, ascorbic acid and yeast powder were prepared using methyl paraben and formaldehyde as diet preservatives. The diets devoid of other food supplements proved very excellent by adult longevity and per cent adult survival at different time interval. Longest adult survival (302 days) was recorded in cerelac based diet. However adult longevity on protinex, honey, home food plus and sucrose based diets was recorded as 296, 207, 258 and 296 days respectively

Microenvironment-induced downregulation of miR-193b drives ovarian cancer metastasis

The cross-talk between ovarian cancer (OvCa) cells and the metastatic microenvironment is an essential determinant of successful colonization. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have several critical roles during metastasis; however, the role of microenvironmental cues in the regulation of miRNAs in metastasizing cancer cells has not been studied. Using a three-dimensional culture model that mimics the human omentum, one of the principal sites of OvCa metastasis, we identified and characterized the microenvironment-induced downregulation of a tumor suppressor miRNA, miR-193b, in metastasizing OvCa cells. The direct interaction of the OvCa cells with mesothelial cells, which cover the surface of the omentum, caused a DNA methyltransferase 1-mediated decrease in the expression of miR-193b in the cancer cells. The reduction in miR-193b enabled the metastasizing cancer cells to invade and proliferate into human omental pieces ex vivo and into the omentum of a mouse xenograft model of OvCa metastasis. The functional effects of miR-193b were mediated, in large part, by the concomitant increased expression of its target, urokinase-type plasminogen activator, a known tumor-associated protease. These findings link paracrine signals from the microenvironment to the regulation of a key miRNA in cancer cells. Targeting miR-193b, which is essential for metastatic colonization of cancer cells could prove effective in the treatment of OvCa metastasis

In vivo assessment of brainstem depigmentation in Parkinson’s: potential as severity marker for multi-centre studies

Purpose: To investigate the pattern of neuromelanin signal intensity loss within the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), locus coeruleus, and ventral tegmental area in Parkinson disease (PD); the specific aims were (a) to study regional magnetic resonance (MR) quantifiable depigmentation in association with PD severity and (b) to investigate whether imaging- and platform-dependent signal intensity variations can be normalized. Materials and Methods: This prospective case-control study was approved by the local ethics committee and the research department of Nottingham University Hospitals. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants before enrollment in the study. Sixty-nine participants (39 patients with PD and 30 control subjects) were investigated with neuromelanin-sensitive MR imaging by using two different 3-T platforms and three differing protocols. Neuromelanin-related volumes of the anterior and posterior SNpc, locus coeruleus, and ventral tegmental area were determined, and normalized neuromelanin volumes were assessed for protocol-dependent effects. Diagnostic test performance of normalized neuromelanin volume was investigated by using receiver operating characteristic analyses, and correlations with the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale scores were tested. Results: Reduction of normalized neuromelanin volume in PD was most pronounced in the posterior SNpc (median, −83%; P < .001), followed by the anterior SNpc (−49%; P < .001) and the locus coeruleus (−37%; P < .05). Normalized neuromelanin volume loss of the posterior and whole SNpc allowed the best differentiation of patients with PD and control subjects (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, 0.92 and 0.88, respectively). Normalized neuromelanin volume of the anterior, posterior, and whole SNpc correlated with Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale scores (r2 = 0.25, 0.22, and 0.28, respectively; all P < .05). Conclusion: PD-induced neuromelanin loss can be quantified across imaging protocols and platforms by using appropriate adjustment. Depigmentation in PD follows a distinct spatial pattern, affords high diagnostic accuracy, and is associated with disease severity

Yield stability in coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.)

The yield stability of eight elite accessions of coriander (Coriandrum sativum) was estimated under Chattisgarh plains condition at Raigarh (Chattisgarh). The accession JCO-387 yielded the highest, exhibiting above average response but unstable reaction (high S'di) while UD-744, DH-246 and UD-743 were promising and suitable for favourable environment. &nbsp