Resistance pattern of methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus among nasal isolates of HIV infected patients in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Patients infected with HIV have an increased risk of nasal Staphylococcus aureus carriage as well as consecutive staphylococcal infections and is a major reservoir for MRSA which is potential risk factors for community acquired MRSA. Knowing the Nasal carriage status of Staphylococcus aureus and their Antibiogram will be beneficial for effective management of these patients.Methods: Nasal swab sample were collected from all the participants and processed for culture and identification of Staphylococcus aureus and their antimicrobial sensitivity. All the Staphylococcus aureus isolates were tested for Methicillin resistance by Oxacillin screen agar test, cefoxitin disc diffusion test and further confirmed by mecA gene PCR.Results: In this study out of 220 HIV seropositive patients, 43.64% isolates were confirmed to be S. aureus, 18.75% MRSA and 81.25% were MSSA. Cefoxitin disc diffusion showed 100% specificity (95% CI; 97.05%-100.00%), 100% sensitivity (95% CI; 83.89-100.00%) and 100% accuracy (95% CI; 97.47% to 100.00%) while comparing with gold standard mecA gene PCR. Among the nasal carriers; males (60%) ware dominant on females (40%). 31-50 years age group was strongly associated with MRSA nasal carriage. None of the isolates were resistant against lenozolid, teicoplanin and vancomycin while ampicillin (75%), ciprofloxacin (62.5%), clindamycin (59.38%) and cotrimoxazole (53.13%) showed increased resistance against S. aureus nasal carriage.Conclusions: Resistance among HIV positive persons for all antibiotics showed statistically significant while compared to control group. Cefoxitin disc diffusion can be used as surrogate agent for mecA gene detection

Non-Parametric Tests for Testing of Scale Parameters

One of the fundamental problems in testing of equality of populations is of testing the equality of scale parameters. The subsequent usages for scale are dispersion, spread and variability. In this paper, we proposed non-parametric tests based on U-Statistics for the testing of equality of scale parameters. The null distribution of proposed tests is developed and its Pitman efficiency is worked out to compare proposed tests with respect to some existing tests. Simulation study is carried out to compute the asymptotic power of proposed tests. An illustrative example is also provided

Behavioral validation in Cyber-physical systems: Safety violations and beyond

The advances in software and hardware technologies in the last two decades have paved the way for the development of complex systems we observe around us. Avionics, automotive, power grid, medical devices, and robotics are a few examples of such systems which are usually termed as Cyber-physical systems (CPS) as they often involve both physical and software components. Deployment of a CPS in a safety critical application mandates that the system operates reliably even in adverse scenarios. While effective in improving confidence in system functionality, testing can not ascertain the absence of failures; whereas, formal verification can be exhaustive but it may not scale well as the system complexity grows. Simulation driven analysis tends to bridge this gap by tapping key system properties from the simulations. Despite their differences, all these analyses can be pivotal in providing system behaviors as the evidence to the satisfaction or violation of a given performance specification. However, less attention has been paid to algorithmically validating and characterizing different behaviors of a CPS. The focus of this thesis is on behavioral validation of Cyber-physical systems, which can supplement an existing CPS analysis framework. This thesis develops algorithmic tools for validating verification artifacts by generating a variety of counterexamples for a safety violation in a linear hybrid system. These counterexamples can serve as performance metrics to evaluate different controllers during design and testing phases. This thesis introduces the notion of complete characterization of a safety violation in a linear system with bounded inputs, and it proposes a sound technique to compute and efficiently represent these characterizations. This thesis further presents neural network based frameworks to perform systematic state space exploration guided by sensitivity or its gradient approximation in learning-enabled control (LEC) systems. The presented technique is accompanied with convergence guarantees and yields considerable performance gain over a widely used falsification platform for a class of signal temporal logic (STL) specifications.Doctor of Philosoph

Analysis of GF (2m) Multiplication Algorithm: Classic Method v/s Karatsuba-Ofman Multiplication Method

In recent years, finite field multiplication in GF(2m) has been widely used in various applications such as error correcting codes and cryptography. One of the motivations for fast and area efficient hardware solution for implementing the arithmetic operation of binary multiplication , in finite field GF (2m), comes from the fact, that they are the most time-consuming and frequently called operations in cryptography and other applications. So, the optimization of their hardware design is critical for overall performance of a system. Since a finite field multiplier is a crucial unit for overall performance of cryptographic systems, novel multiplier architectures, whose performances can be chosen freely, is necessary. In this paper, two Galois field multiplication algorithms (used in cryptography applications) are considered to analyze their performance with respect to parameters viz. area, power, delay, and the consequent Area×Time (AT) and Power×Delay characteristics. The objective of the analysis is to find out the most efficient GF(2m) multiplier algorithm among those considered

Investigation of cutting time and tool wear rate on EN-24 steel alloy by the drilling process

Modeling and optimization of cutting parameters are one of the most important factors in manufacturing process. The aim of present work is to establish the relation among input factors i.e. spindle speed, feed rate and depth of cut and response parameters i.e. cutting time and tool wear rate. The operation is performed on EN-24 alloy steel material. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) has been performed to find the significant and non-significant parameters. Mathematical model is developed for CT and TWR and optimized using composite desirability (CD) function technique. It was found that the best machining factor is depth of cut whereas spindle speed is the less significant machining parameter. The confirmation experiments have been also performed to validate the results. The given model could be utilized to select the level of drilling parameters

Disaster Relief Workers: Health Issues

Introduction: Disaster is defined as any occurrence that causes damage, ecological disruption, loss of human life or deterioration of health and health services on a scale sufficient to warrant an extraordinary response from outside the affected community or area. Internationally, major disasters occur frequently, but for one country, they are unusual events. It causes severe health damage to that country. In this scenario, our rescue teams/ relief workers risk their own lives to save the life of others. Methods: The concerned topic was searched on internet in different databases with abstract or full free text available in English in previous five years. Results: This group is more vulnerable than general population to various accidents even death in relief process and also health problems such as post traumatic stress disorder, mental health risks, heat disorder, radiation exposure, respiratory problems, skin and mucous membrane problems, digestive problems, eye irritation and fatigue etc. In developed countries, their problems are dealt with great zeal, but unfortunately, in our country, we fail to address the health issue of these workers in spite of having the most important role in disaster management by providing physical and rehabilitative services to survivors. It has been proven that work output of these workers is enhanced if their health issues are taken care of properly. Discussion: We want to acknowledge the health concerns of rescue teams with possible solutions

Effect of L- Arginine On Electrocardiographic Changes Induced By Hypercholesterolemia And Isoproterenol In Rabbits

Hypercholesterolemia, a well-known cardiovascular risk factor, is associated with prolonged action potential duration, longer QTc intervals (rate controlled QT interval), suggested that Hypercholesterolemia may have a direct effect on ventricular repolarization. Hypercholesterolemia was induced in rabbits and L-arginine was given orally to animals for sixteen weeks. The isoproterenol was injected in all the animals to produce electrocardiographic changes. ECG was recorded in lead II at start of study, after hypercholesterolemic diet and/ or L-arginine supplementation

Unruptured unilateral twin ectopic pregnancy: a rare case report

Unilateral twin ectopic pregnancy is a rare entity with an incidence of 1 in 125,000 pregnancies. This is a case of a 26-year-old primigravida with a spontaneous unilateral twin ectopic gestation, diagnosed on transvaginal ultrasound, treated laparoscopically by doing unilateral salpingectomy and confirmed with histopathology. The doubt for ectopic pregnancy was raised when the serum β-HCG level was constantly >1500 mIU/ml and serum progesterone level was <5 pg/ml and no intrauterine pregnancy was seen. On a follow-up scan, twin gestational sac was noted in right adnexa along with a large haemorrhagic cyst in the right ovary. On post-surgery follow-up, patient was found to have had complete recovery. This case report discusses the incidence and rarity, yet possibility of twin ectopic gestations, the need for early diagnosis and its management