Adherence of family physicians to antibiotic prescription guidelines for children under five years in Alexandria

Background: Antibiotic use has been beneficial and, when prescribed and taken correctly, their value in patient care is enormous. Over prescription and abuse of antibiotics in the treatment is a worldwide problem. More than 40% of children with acute diarrhea receive unnecessary antibiotics and up to 60% of children with acute upper respiratory tract infections receive antibiotics inappropriately

Objectives: To assess adherence of family physicians to guidelines for antibiotic prescription in acute upper respiratory tract infections and diarrhea in children under 5 years

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 4 randomly selected family health facilities in Alexandria governorate. An observation checklist was designed based on Integrated Management of Childhood Illness [IMCI] guidelines and used on a sample of 300 consultation sessions

Results: The study revealed that antibiotics were prescribed in 49.7% of the observed sessions and prescribed appropriately in 55.4% of the sessions according to IMCI guidelines. The type of prescribed antibiotic was appropriate in 91.8% of the sessions

Conclusion: Family physicians' antibiotics prescription is inappropriate in nearly half of the studied children

Molecular identification and cloning of organophosphate degradation gene in some bacterial isolates

Seventeen local bacterial isolates which can hydrolyze a wide range of organophosphate [OP] insecticides were purified. They were reduced to ten different isolates based on their RAPD pattern and protein profile and termed as ASM-1 through ASM-10. Chemical assay and bioassay revealed that the isolate ASM-5 was the best isolate in chlorpyrifos degradation. The morphological and molecular identification characterized ASM-5 as Agrobacterium tumefaciens. A gene encoding a protein involved in OP hydrolysis was cloned and sequenced from A. tumefaciens ASM-5. This gene [named opdA] had sequence similarity about 98.7% with the A. tumefaciens opd gene. The coding sequence of the gene was sub cloned down stream an inducible expression promoter to evaluate the gene-enzyme system responsible for its OP-hydrolyzing activity. The biological activity of OPDA protein became more efficient compared to OPDA native protein

Pathological, male reproductivity and residues of dimethoate toxicity in albino rats

The current study explores the effect of the organophosphorus compound [dimethoate] on male reproductive efficiency, tissue residues and its pathological picture. Dimethoate was given either directly to aibino rats at dose level 1/10, 1/20, 1/40 of LD50 and also given green sprayed forage along 65 consecutive days. The results indicated that dimethoate altered the biochemical parameters of serum indicating liver and kidney dysfunction. Also semen picture and the weight of male sexual organs [testes, prostate and seminal vesicle] together with [lower testosterone level gave indication for lower reproductive efficiency. Tissue dimethoate residues were detected in liver, testes and skeletal muscles. Concerning hepathological findings dimethoate induced degenerative changes in liver, kidneys and heart in the form of cloudy swelling, vacuolar and hydropic degeneration. Focal areas of hemorrhages and necrosis were also seen in liver and kidneys. Vascular lesions in the form of congestion, thrombosis and necrosis of blood vessels as well as perivascular mononuclear infiltration were also pronounced. The mostly affected organs were brain and testes especially in rats given dimethoate contaminated feed. These changes included vesiculation in the brain tissue, encephalomalacia as well as satellitosis and neurophagia. The testes showed atrophy of seminiferous tubules together with fibrosis, intertubular edema and failure of spermatogenesis. We advise that great attention should be taken when dealing with such insecticides in order to avoid its various adverse action on different body tissue