APPROPRIATE EMPIRICAL MANAGEMENT OF MICROBIAL INFECTIONS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL: A COST- EFFECTIVENESS APPROACH.

 Objective: Antibiotics are mostly prescribed empirically to decrease health-care costs. This has led to the misuse of antibiotics thereby making them inefficient in the treatment of infections. The aim of this study was to determine the appropriate, cost-effective drug for the empirical therapy in microbial infections.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted for a period of 6 months. Cost-effectiveness ratio (CER) of these antibiotics prescribed was calculated to determine the cost-effective drugs for the common microorganisms and common infections.Results: In a population of 205 patients, 54.6% were treated based on antibiotic sensitivity pattern whereas 45.3% were treated empirically. In known microbial infections, the prevailing microorganism was extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing Escherichia-coli (14.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (10.6%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (9.8%), Klebsiella pneumonia (9.8%), and K. pneumoniae ESBL (6.81%). Based on the CER, the most cost-effective drugs for these organisms were found to be ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, ofloxacin, levofloxacin, and amikacin, respectively. In unknown microbial infection (empirical treatment), Diabetic Foot Infection (DFT) (25.8%), respiratory tract infection (RTI) (23.6%), and urinary tract infection (UTI) (16.1%) were the most common infections. The most cost-effective drugs for these infections were clindamycin, levofloxacin, and azithromycin, respectively. The predominant microorganism in DFT was found to be S. aureus (71%), in UTI was found to be E. coli ESBL (52%), and in RTI were found to be P. aeruginosa (42.4%) and K. pneumonia (32.3%).Conclusion: Appropriate empirical antibiotic treatment is associated with a lower medical cost and a better success rate in patients with microbial infections

Longitudinal top polarisation measurement and anomalous

Kinematical distributions of decay products of the top quark carry information on the polarisation of the top as well as on any possible new physics in the decay of the top quark. We construct observables in the form of asymmetries in the kinematical distributions to probe their effects. Charged-lepton angular distributions in the decay are insensitive to anomalous couplings to leading order. Hence these can be a robust probe of top polarisation. However, these are difficult to measure in the case of highly boosted top quarks as compared to energy distributions of decay products. These are then sensitive, in general, to both top polarisation and top anomalous couplings. We compare various asymmetries for their sensitivities to the longitudinal polarisation of the top quark as well as to possible new physics in the Wtb vertex, paying special attention to the case of highly boosted top quarks. We perform a $$\chi ^2$$ analysis to determine the regions in the plane of longitudinal polarisation of the top quark and the couplings of the Wtb vertex constrained by different combinations of the asymmetries. Moreover, we find that the use of observables sensitive to the longitudinal top polarisation can add to the sensitivity to which the Wtb vertex can be probed

Influence of Smart Fertilizer on Yield and Economics of Cowpea

The extent of agricultural land under cultivation is diminishing continuously as a result of improper over use of fertilizer leads to environmental contamination and productivity of land is also become diminished. Nonetheless, in order to fulfill the rising population's nutritional needs as well as those of the developing industry, agricultural production must be enhanced. Smart fertilizers like Nano fertilizers are the new technologies to enhance the nutrient use efficiency them by improving crop yield in sustainable manner. Nano-fertilizers are the Nano-particles-based fertilizers, where supply of the nutrients is made precisely for maximum plant growth, have higher use efficiency, exploiting plant unavailable nutrients in the rhizosphere and can be delivered on real time basis into the rhizosphere or by foliar spray. Pulses are gaining more important position in Indian agriculture. But the average productivity of pulses is pulses in India (764 kg ha-1) is far below the average productivity of the world (848 kg ha-1). Basally applied nutrients are lost over time, thus applying important fertilizer to cowpeas during their critical growth is a effective strategy to enhance their yield. Especially smart fertilizers like Nano Di-Ammonium Phosphate (DAP) and Zinc - Ethylene Diamine Tetra Acetic Acid (Zn EDTA) are very helpful in that. Therefore, the field experiment was done in the School of Agriculture and Animal Science, Gandhi gram Rural Institute, Gandhi gram, Tamil Nadu during January 2024 to April 2024 to assess the impact of Nano DAP and Zn EDTA on growth and yield of cowpea. There were seven treatments with three replications that were laid out in RBD. Among the different treatments, RDF 50% P, 100% NK + Seed treatment and two foliar spray 0.2% of Nano DAP + Foliar spray of 3% Zn EDTA (T7) was achieved a supremely improved growth parameters and yield attributes and yield. Experimental results clearly revealed that RDF 50% P, 100% NK + Seed treatment and two foliar spray 0.2% of Nano DAP + Foliar spray of 3% Zn EDTA(T7) has recorded the highest grain yield of 1720 kg ha-1 and BCR of 3.25

SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among the general population and healthcare workers in India, December 2020–January 2021

Background: Earlier serosurveys in India revealed seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) of 0.73% in May–June 2020 and 7.1% in August–September 2020. A third serosurvey was conducted between December 2020 and January 2021 to estimate the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection among the general population and healthcare workers (HCWs) in India. Methods: The third serosurvey was conducted in the same 70 districts as the first and second serosurveys. For each district, at least 400 individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population and 100 HCWs from subdistrict-level health facilities were enrolled. Serum samples from the general population were tested for the presence of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against the nucleocapsid (N) and spike (S1-RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-2, whereas serum samples from HCWs were tested for anti-S1-RBD. Weighted seroprevalence adjusted for assay characteristics was estimated. Results: Of the 28,598 serum samples from the general population, 4585 (16%) had IgG antibodies against the N protein, 6647 (23.2%) had IgG antibodies against the S1-RBD protein, and 7436 (26%) had IgG antibodies against either the N protein or the S1-RBD protein. Weighted and assay-characteristic-adjusted seroprevalence against either of the antibodies was 24.1% [95% confidence interval (CI) 23.0–25.3%]. Among 7385 HCWs, the seroprevalence of anti-S1-RBD IgG antibodies was 25.6% (95% CI 23.5–27.8%). Conclusions: Nearly one in four individuals aged ≥10 years from the general population as well as HCWs in India had been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by December 2020