Antibiotic susceptibility patterns of bacterial isolates of patients with upper respiratory tract infections

Abstract To evaluate the antibiotic susceptibility patterns in URTIs reporting to tertiary hospitals of Lahore. A cross-sectional study employing 259 culture sensitivity reports obtained from tertiary care hospitals of Lahore. Using SPSS, descriptive statistics were used to estimate frequencies and percentages. In URTIs, S. aureus (5%) was the frequent gram-positive isolate followed by MRSA (1.5%) and MSSA (1.5%), while P. aeruginosa (15.8%) was the prevalent gram-negative isolate followed by Klebsiella (13.1%) and E. coli (6.9%). Against P. aeruginosa, ceftazidime (7.7%), cefuroxime/ceftriaxone (4.6%), amoxicillin (4.3%) and ciprofloxacin (4.2%), were tested resistant, while imipenem (11.2%), ciprofloxacin (9.2%), amikacin (9.2%), meropenem/ levofloxacin/gentamicin (8.1%) and piptaz (6.9%) were found sensitive. Against Klebsiella, carbepenems (7.3%), amikacin (6.5%), ciprofloxacin (5.4%) and gentamicin (5%) were tested sensitive, whereas, ceftazidime (8.5%), ceftriaxone (5.8%), cefaclor (5.5%), ampicillin (4.6%), co-amoxiclave (4.2%) and ciftazidime/ciprofloxacin (3.8%) were found resistant. Overall, imipenem (35%), meropenem (30.8%) and amikacin (31.9%) were the three most sensitive antibiotics, while ceftazidime (25.4%), ceftriaxone (19.2%) and ampicillin (18.5%) were the three most resistant antibiotics. Data suggested that P.aeruginosa and Klebsiella, were the most frequent bacterial isolates in URTIs of Lahore. These isolates were resistant to ampicillin, cefuroxime and ceftazidime, but were sensitive to carbapenem and aminoglycosides

Frequency of Impairment of Executive Functioning among Patients having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Introduction: Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) isa highly debilitating neuropsychiatric condition with anestimated lifetime prevalence of 2-3 percent. Executivefunction refers to the ability to use high level oversightfunctions to modulate memory, sensory information,cognition, and affect as a situation evolves, and use ofstrategies that must shift to maintain performance. Impairmentof nonverbal memory has been reported in studies of patientswith OCD. The objective of present study was to determinethe frequency of impairment of executive functioning amongpatients having obsessive-compulsive disorder.Material and methods: A total of 150 patients fulfillingselection criteria were enrolled through the OutpatientsDepartment of Psychiatry, Services hospital Lahore. Aftertaking informed consent, the demographic data i.e. name, age,gender and duration of OCD were noted. All patients werescreened using the frontal lobe assessment battery (FAB) bythe researcher himself. Impaired executive functioning wascategorized as a calculated FAB score <12.Results: The study revealed that, out of 150 cases of OCD,frequency of impairment of executive functioning amongpatients was calculated as 22.67%(n=34). 65.33%(n=98)participants were between 18-30 years of age (M=30.05,S.D+5.83 years), 54.67%(n=82) were male and 45.33%(n=68)were females.Conclusion: Thus, it is concluded that executive functioningis impaired frequently among patients having obsessivecompulsive disorder. So, it is recommended that executivefunctioning should be monitored among patients who presentwith OCD. However, it is also required that every setup shouldhave their surveillance in order to know the frequency of theproblem.

Investigation of Genetic Diversity among Medicago species Using RAPD Markers.

Aims: Medicago is known as the Queen of forage with potential economic importance to our society. The present study aimed at the use of RAPD-PCR DNA marker to identify the genetic fingerprints affinities of six species of Alfalfa. Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at the Department of Genetics, Garden Campus, Hazara University, Mansehra Pakistan during February, 2011 to August, 2013. Methodology: In this study, six species of Medicago namely TWAL (Tetraploid Wisconsin Alfalfa Line), Medicago arborea, Medicago falcata, Medicago sativa, Medicago lupulina and Medicago polymorpha were used to explore the diversity of alfalfa. Seven out of 120 decamers produced 34 polymorphic loci with 100% polymorphism to identify the different species of Medicago crop. The range of polymorphic loci was observed from 300 to 700 bp. Eleven species specific loci were generated by seven decamers. Primer B-18 generated single specific locus 700 bp against genomic DNA of M. lupulina and it is important to identify particular species of Alfalfa. The bivariate data were recorded as the presence of locus 1 and absence 0 and then this data was transferred into A and C respectively to make it suitable for DNAMAN software (version 5.2.2.0; Applied Biostatistics Inc). Moreover, cluster analysis was performed using sequence alignment and divergence function of the DNAMAN against the bivariate data collected from the products of decamers. All members clustered in a unique pattern except M. falcata and M. lupulina those shared 86% homology. Three distinct groups were observed during UPGMA (Unweighted pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean). During the phylogenetic study, TWAL was observed to have genetic diversity from other five species of Alfalfa. Conclusion: So, the present study is enabling us to discriminate different species of Alfalfa and it could be useful to identify and authenticate different species of the same genus of medicinal important plant from the Flora of Pakistan.

Determination of antibiotic resistance pattern in Escherichia coli strains isolated from animal faeces in a farm house

The present study aimed to evaluate the antibiotic resistance pattern of Escherichia coli strains isolated from animals to ascertain the levels of antibiotic resistance pervasiveness. A total of 28 E. coli strains were isolated from faecal samples and the antibiotic resistance pattern of E. coli strains was determined by means of disc diffusion assay. The resistance pattern determined for all strains was amoxicillin, streptomycin, cefepime, azteronam, amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ciprofloxacin and ceftriaxone

About 50-75% of the strains were reported as resistant to more than five antibiotics [multidrug-resistant]. This might result in broadening of the antibiotic resistance canvas among animals and from animals to human taking the animal food products or living in close contact with them?