ABSTRACT
Background: Neonatal septicemia is one of the commonest causes of neonatal mortality and morbidity. Interleukin-6 Levels appears to be one of the most promising candidate cytokine for early diagnosis of neonatal septicaemia. The aim and objectives of this study was to study the role of IL-6 levels as an early marker for diagnosis of neonatal sepsis and to compare IL-6 levels with other septic markers. Methods: This is a hospital based prospective study to evaluate the efficacy of IL-6 as an early diagnostic marker of neonatal sepsis. Eighty neonates, delivered in the hospital, having risk factors for neonatal sepsis, along with those coming to hospital with signs and symptoms of sepsis up to 28 days of life (as study group ) along with normal newborns admitted to the postnatal ward without high risk factors (control group) were enrolled for this study. Results: IL-6 Levels has shown maximum sensitivity of 95.83%, specificity of 87.50%, positive predictive value of 92%, negative predictive value of 93.33% and accuracy of 92.50 %. E. coli was the most common organism responsible for sepsis. CRP was reported to be highly sensitive (84.21%), and CBC was highly specific (75.00%), IT ratio has sensitivity of 62.5% and specificity of 56.25% while micro-ESR has shown sensitivity of 50.0% and specificity of 62.5%. Out of 80 cases, blood culture (BacTalert) showed growth in 48 cases in study group while two cases in control group. Thus blood culture positivity was 60%. Conclusion: IL-6 test has maximum sensitivity as well as specificity in comparison with other septic markers. Blood culture is the gold standard for the diagnosis of septicemia. CRP is most sensitive while CBC is most specific marker in neonatal sepsis.
ABSTRACT
The extent of genetic polymorphism at fifteen autosomal microsatellite markers in 54 ethnically, linguistically and geographically diverse human populations of India was studied to decipher intrapopulation diversity. The parameters used to quantify intrapopulation diversity were average allele diversity, average heterozygosity, allele range (base pairs), and number of alleles. Multilocus genotype frequencies calculated for selected populations were utilized for testing conformity with the assumption of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. The exact test values, after Bonferroni correction, showed significant deviation amongst Gowda (vWA, Penta E); Dhangar, Satnami and Gounder (D8S1179); Hmar (FGA); Kuki and Balti (vWA) groups. Relatively low number of alleles and allelic diversity (base-pairs size) had been observed in populations of central India as compared with southern and northern regions of the country. The communities of Indo-Caucasoid ethnic origin and Indo-European linguistic family (Kshatriya of Uttar Pradesh) showed highest allelic diversity, as well as rare alleles, not reported in any other Indian populations. Analysis based on average heterozygosity was also found to be lowest among the populations of central India (0.729) and highest among the populations from north (0.777) and west (0.784) regions of the country, having Indo-Caucasoid ethnic origin and Austro-Asiatic linguistic affiliation. The maximum power of discrimination (85%-89%) had been observed at loci FGA, Penta E, D18S51 and D21S11, suggested high intrapopulation diversity in India. Genetic diversity revealed by STR markers was consistent with the known demographic histories of populations. Thus, the present study clearly demonstrated that the intrapopulation diversity is not only present at the national level, but also within smaller geographical regions of the country. This is the first attempt to understand the extent of diversity within populations of India at such a large scale at genomic level.