Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis among reproductive age group women in a tertiary care centre

Background: Vaginal discharge in reproductive age poses a serious problem in the developing countries. Bacterial vaginosis also known as non-specific vaginitis is the most common cause of vaginal infections, detecting the organism at an early stage and initiating a proper treatment is very difficult in our country due to lack of awareness and proper follow-up. The disease manifests in the form of vaginal discharge with or without itching. It has a strong association with preterm labor, preterm premature rupture of membranes and low birth weight in pregnancy. The objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis among the reproductive age group women, in a tertiary care centre.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 150 women of the reproductive age group in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences over a period of one month October 2018 the diagnosis was made with history and nugents scoring system.Results: Out of the total 150 women enrolled in the study 74 had positive results, 50% of them were of the age group 26-30.Conclusions: The study shows us the high prevalence of bacterial vaginosis

Studies on Natural Rubber/Clay Nanocomposites: Effect of Maleic Anhydride Grafting of Rubber

Department of Polymer Science and Rubber Technology, Cochin University of Science and Technolog

Antimicrobial Peptides with Potential for Biofilm Eradication: Synthesis and Structure Activity Relationship Studies of Battacin Peptides

We report on the first chemical syntheses and structureactivity analyses of the cyclic lipopeptide battacin which revealed that conjugation of a shorter fatty acid, 4-methyl-hexanoic acid, and linearization of the peptide sequence improves antibacterial activity and reduces hemolysis of mouse blood cells. This surprising finding of higher potency in linear lipopeptides than their cyclic counterparts is economically beneficial. This novel lipopeptide was membrane lytic and exhibited antibiofilm activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and, for the first time, Pseudomonas syringe pv. actinidiae. The peptide was unstructured in aqueous buffer and dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine-polymerized diacetylene vesicles, with 12% helicity induced in 50% v/v of trifluoroethanol. Our results indicate that a well-defined secondary structure is not essential for the observed antibacterial activity of this novel lipopeptide. A truncated pentapeptide conjugated to 4-methyl hexanoic acid, having similar potency against Gram negative and Gram positive pathogens was identified through alanine scanning

Lack of association of mirSNP rs11174811 in AVPR1A gene with arterial blood pressure and hypertension in South Indian population

Epigenetic regulation of arterial blood pressure mediated through mirSNPs in renin–angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) genes is a less explored hypothesis. Recently, the mirSNP rs11174811 in the 3’UTR of the AVPR1A gene was associated with higher arterial blood pressure in a large study population from the Study of Myocardial Infarctions Leiden (SMILE). The aim of the present study was to replicate the association of mirSNP rs11174811 with blood pressure outcomes and hypertension in a south Indian population. Four hundred and fifteen hypertensive cases and 416 normotensive controls were genotyped using a 5’ nuclease allelic discrimination assay. Logistic regression was used to test the association of mirSNP rs11174811 with the hypertension phenotype. Censored normal regression was used to test the association of the polymorphism with continuous blood pressure outcomes such as systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The mirSNP rs11174811 did not show any significant association with hypertension. The adjusted odds ratio was 1.02, with 95% CI of 0.72 to 1.45 (p = 0.909). The mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure values were not significantly different across the three genotypic groups, between hypertensives and normotensives, or when stratified by gender. Despite having a similar minor allele frequency (MAF) of 14.5% compared with the SMILE cohort, our results did not support an association of the mirSNP rs11174811 with the hypertension phenotype or with continuous blood pressure outcomes in the south Indian population