Bacteriological profile of pyogenic infections at a tertiary care centre of Nepal

Background: The pyogenic infections includes a wide range of abnormalities like superficial skin infections, eyes infections, wound infections, infection of burns, boils, furuncles,  peritonitis and abscesses .  Some of the infections are endogenous that occurs by the patient’s own normal flora.  Many infections are exogenous that occur by direct and indirect airborne routes. Boils and furuncles are caused by Staphylococcus aureus. Gramnegative infections rarely occur on healthy skin except moist area of skin and axilla. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the bacteria responsible for pyogenic infection and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility. Methods: The pyogenic bacteria were isolated from the samples collected from the Clinical Departments of Chitwan Medical College. The isolates were identified and antibiotic susceptibility test was performed by standard protocols. Results: Gram negative bacteria were frequently isolated pathogens than the gram positive bacteria. Escherichia .coli was the predominant isolate among the 138 positive samples, 49 (35.5%) of them was only the E.coli, followed by Staphylococcus aureus (15.21%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (13.04%), Acinetobacter species (11.59%), MRSA (11.59%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (5.79%), Klebsiella oxytoca (3.62%), Enterobacter (2.17%), and Proteus mirabilis (1.44%) Gram negative bacteria were highly susceptible to Amikacin whereas most of the Gram-positive isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid.  Conclusion: The knowledge of the most prevalent type of bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern is a must for the clinicians as it aids in the accurate selection of the therapeutic regimens

Asymptomatic UTI in pregnancy attending at tertiary care of Nepal

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTI) during pregnancy issued by improper laboratory investigations situate women at risk of several detrimental complications. Untreated asymptomatic UTI (AUTI) may lead to pyelonephritis preterm birth, low birth weight, etc. Urine culture is used to confirm the diagnosis of UTI. Aim of this research was to carry out to find the prevalence of asymptomatic UTI and to establish antimicrobial drug susceptibility of the pathogens resulting asymptomatic UTI in pregnant women attending at tertiary care, Nepal.Methods: The urine samples were collected by mid-stream clean catch method from 600 pregnant women of age 15-45 years (mean age – 28.84 years) visiting for antenatal check up in the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Chitwan Medical College (CMC), a tertiary care of Nepal. All the urine samples were subjected to bio-physical, biochemical, microscopic, and microbiological analysis. The prevalence of UTI in three trimesters and in different age groups was obtained together with antimicrobial drug susceptibility tests.Results: On overall l51.83% of urine samples revealed with significant bacteriuria considered as the AUTI. On One- way ANOVA test, there was significant (P< 0.045) prevalence of AUTI when compared among different trimesters, though higher prevalence being in the first (40%) and second (45.33%) trimesters. The prevalence of AUTI was significant (P<0.004) among different age groups of the pregnancy. However, the most affectecd age groups were between 21-29 years. Escherichia coli were the most implicated organism (67.8%) followed by Klebsiella pneumonia (21.6%). The gram-negative bacteria (E. coli, K. pneumonia, and K. oxytoca) were more sensitive against Amikacin, Gentamycin, Meropenem, and Nitrofurantointhan. Other drugs whereas; gram positive bacteria (E. feacalis) had high susceptibility with Vancomycin.Conclusions: There was high incidence of AUTI among the pregnant ladies in the study region; therefore, microbial screening of urine of all pregnant women are must and should be included in the routine antenatal checkups to detect the AUTI to cut down and prevent the maternal and obstetric detrimental complications in them

Ubiquitous adulterants in the microbiological investigations of tertiary care centre in mid-Nepal

Aim:The bacterial agents can be isolated even from the aerosol, hands, cloths,and floors of the laboratory .So, the microbiological agents isolated from these areas can act as contaminant in the microbiology laboratory and may be an obstacle in the routine processing and culture of the specimen. This leads to the false positive results and false negative results. As a consequence of which, inaccurate therapeutic regimens are prescribed to the patients, this causes unusual serious effects in the other unaffected parts of the body.The purpose of this study was to illustrate the bacterial agents that are responsible to act as a contaminant in the laboratory.Methods:The samples were collected from the floors,working surface and aerosol of the laboratory whereas the samples were also obtained from the hands and cloths of the laboratory staffs of Chitwan Medical College and Teaching Hospital. The isolates were identified bythe standard microbiological protocols applied routinely in the lab.Results:Out of 180 samples, growth was observed in 38 of them. Among 38 positive samples,&nbsp;Micrococcusspp. was isolated in 14(36.8%) followed by&nbsp;Bacillus subtilis&nbsp;in 7 (18.4%).&nbsp;Diphtheroids&nbsp;were observed in 4 samples (10.5%).&nbsp;Staphylococcus epidermidis&nbsp;was found in 6 (15.8%) samples whereas&nbsp;Staphylococus aureus&nbsp;were isolated in 5(13.1%)samples.Conclusion:Hence, the bacteriological agents can be isolated from various areas of laboratory and may act as a contaminant which might degrade the quality or the accuracy of the reporting of the results

Synthesis of green thermally resistant composite: A review

494-503Rising demand for the sustainable environment has been enthused interest in the synthesis of a green composite. In the modern era, thermal insulating materials prepared from agro-waste have been concerned globally as they represent a biodegradability and inexpensive alternative to the conventionally derived materials. Nearly 350 million tons of agro-waste is generated through agricultural activity in India which are either land filled or incinerated. The reuse of renewable waste fibers as filler for reinforcement of a polymer composite is a worthwhile option to the environment. This extensive review explores the utilization of agro-waste for synthesis biodegradable thermal resistant composite and methods used for thermal conductivity measurement. Proper utilization of agro-waste is the need of the modern world. In this review, Authors found that agro-waste such as corn cob, corn stalk, rice waste, date palm fiber, durian peel fiber, coconut coir, and straw bales etc. can be blended into the polymer to enhancing its thermal resistant property by lowering their thermal conductivity. This review also investigated an effect of different parameters such as particle size, moisture content, density, and concentration of agro-waste in composite preparation

SYNTHESIS AND ANTICONVULSANT ACTIVITY (CHEMO SHOCK) OF N-1(SUBSTITUTED-N-4[(4-OXO-3-PHENYL-3, 4-DIHYDRO-QUINAZOLINE-2-YLMETHYL) SEMICARBAZONES

Objective: This work is designed at finding new structure leads with potential anticonvulsant activities of 4(3H)-quinazolinone pharmacophore scaffold.Methods: A new series of 4(3H)-quinazolinone pharmacophore was designed with substituted moieties possesses different electronic environment in the hope of developing potent and safe new effective compounds. In such fashion, in this paper, we report the synthesis and anticonvulsant activity (Chemo shock) of N-1(substituted-N-4[(4-oxo-3-phenyl-3, 4-dihydro-quinazoline-2-ylmethyl) semicarbazones 3A-d (1-7), 3B-d (1-7), 3C-d (1-7), their chemical structure were characterized using IR,  H-H NMR, and elemental analysis techniques. Their anticonvulsant activity was evaluated using chemicals strychnine, thiosemicarbazide and 4-aminopyridine induced seizure models at a dose of 30, 100, 300 mg/kg unto 2 hrs tests in mice. The rotarod assay was performed in mice to evaluate the neurotoxicity of the compounds. 1Results: Compounds 3C (d-4), 3B (d-4), and 3A (d-4) were observed to be most feasible to act against glutamate receptor for anticonvulsant activity.Conclusions: The results obtained revealed that numbers of novel quinazolinone semicarbazone derivatives are effective in chemical to induce (chemo shock) model and showing good anticonvulsant activity.Keywords: Quinazolinone, Semicarbazones, Strychnine, Thiosemicarbazide, 4-aminopyridine, Anticonvulsant activity, Chemo shock

Therapeutic and medicinal uses of lycopene: a systematic review

Lycopene is a carotenoid present in fruits and vegetables. The richest sources of lycopene are tomatoes and tomato products. The beneficial effects of lycopene in human health and disease are mainly associated with its antioxidant properties. Lycopene is a carotenoid with strongest antioxidant property because of its capability of quenching the singlet oxygen. Eleven conjugated double bonds of lycopene give it a deep red color and are responsible for its antioxidant activity which is major functional feature of lycopene. Dietary intakes of tomatoes and tomato products containing lycopene have been shown to be associated with decreased risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases in numerous studies. Although there are evidences from many epidemiological and cell culture and animal studies explaining the inverse relationship between lycopene and cancer or cardiovascular disease risk, more clinical trial data is needed to support this hypothesis. In this article we outline the possible mechanisms of action of lycopene and review the current understanding of its role in human health and disease prevention

STUDY OF THE EVALUATION OF MUTAGENIC EFFECTS OF ANTIMALARIAL DRUG CHLOROQUINE IN AMES SALMONELLA ASSAY

Antimalarial drugs are frequently administered to people in topical regions of the world. It is known that commonly used antimalarial drug Chloroquine binds strongly to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA).  In the present study the mutagenic effects of antimalarial drug Chloroquine was evaluated in the Ames Salmonella assay .CHQ is the most commonly used antimalarial drug at present in different parts of the world. After the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum started to develop widespread resistance to CHQ, new potential utilizations of this cheap and widely available drug have been investigated. CHQ has been extensively used in mass drug administration’s which may have contributed to the emergence and spread of resistance. As it mildly suppresses the immune system, it is used in some autoimmune disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis. CHQ is in clinical trials as an investigational antiretroviral in humans with HIV-1/AIDS The results of the mutagenicity assay indicate that chloroquine is a weak mutagen in Salmonella strain TA100. CHQ showed a very weak mutagenic effect in the absence of S9 mix in strain TA100. But this compound didn’t show any mutagenic effect on TA98 strain both in presence or absence of S9 mix. This observation suggests that metabolic products of CHQ might not play a significant role in induction of mutation. Keywords: Chloroquine, Ames Salmonella assay, mutagenic effec

Pervaporation of Ethanol/Water Mixtures by Polyethylene based Fly Ash Composite Membranes

873-877In this study new cross-linked polyethylene based membrane was prepared by solution casting method in the presence of solvent Xylene using different proportions of fly ash particles. These composite membranes showed good selectivity and flux towards organics separation as compared to pure polymer membrane. Membranes were used in a lab scale pervaporation setup to separate 10 wt. % of ethanol water mixture. Membrane sample M4 with 10 wt. % of total polymer content showed the highest flux during experiments i.e. 873 gm/m2h and separation factor was also best for this sample

Pervaporation of Ethanol/Water Mixtures by Polyethylene based Fly Ash Composite Membranes

In this study new cross-linked polyethylene based membrane was prepared by solution casting method in the presence of solvent Xylene using different proportions of fly ash particles. These composite membranes showed good selectivity and flux towards organics separation as compared to pure polymer membrane. Membranes were used in a lab scale pervaporation setup to separate 10 wt. % of ethanol water mixture. Membrane sample M4 with 10 wt. % of total polymer content showed the highest flux during experiments i.e. 873 gm/m2h and separation factor was also best for this sample.