ABSTRACT
Nelumbo nucifera fruit (NNF) is frequently used for the treatment of many diseases in Asian countries withoutproper scientific evidence of its safety. The purpose of this study was to determine the toxicological effects ofNNF. Toxicity study was conducted on 28 male Wister rats weighing 180-230 g that were allocated equally to 4treatment groups; a control and 3 test groups. Parameters assessed were clinical signs, body weight,hematology, blood biochemistry and histopathology after administration of NNF to rats for 13 weeks. No majortoxicity was revealed throughout the study, though some biochemical changes were observed in hepatic andrenal tissues but these changes did not correspond with histopathology findings. There was no mortality andevidence of systemic toxicity following 13 weeks administration of NNF. Hematology and blood biochemistrydid not reveal any toxicity at any dose; however, histopathological evaluation of hepatic tissues of few animalstreated with 200 mg/kg showed areas of necrosis at lesser extent in few animals after 13 weeks exposure of fruit.Histopathology of renal tissues of group treated with 200 mg/kg revealed areas of moderate tubular disruptionand few foci of tubular necrosis. Although only few adverse effects were observed but NNF administration ifnecessary for a prolonged period, then it may be used in a dose rage of 50-100 mg/kg in order to avoidintractable effects. Additional studies are required to clinically evaluate the safety profile of NNF.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Surgical site infections are associated withpatient morbidity, longer duration of hospital stay and excesshospital costs. Study objective was to determine frequency ofvarious micro-organisms isolated from surgical site infectionsand their Antibiogram in Cardiac surgery unit.Material and methods: This study was conducted atpathology laboratory of Punjab Institute of Cardiology,Lahore for a period of 10 months from May 2017 to February2018. A total of 200 pus samples were collected from patientssuffering from Surgical Site Infections. Samples were culturedon MacConkey agar and Chocolate agar and were incubatedat 37°C for 24hrs. Organisms were identified on the basis ofcolonial morphology, Gram staining and biochemical tests.Antimicrobial sensitivity testing was performed on MullerHinton agar by using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusiontechnique and E-strips.Results: Out of 200 cultures, bacterial growth was obtainedfrom 43%. Among total isolates, 58% were Gram positive and42% were Gram negative bacteria. Most frequently isolatedorganism from wound swabs was Staphylococcus aureus(41.9%) followed by Coagulase negative Staphylococcus(14%). Gram negative bacteria isolated were Klebsiella from10%, Enterobacter from 10%, E.coli from 8%, Acinetobacterfrom 4% and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from 4% of surgicalwounds. All Gram Positive organisms were resistant toPenicillin, 80% to Erythromycin, 64% to Ciprofloxacin,64% to Methicillin and 28% Amikacin. All were susceptibleto Vancomycin and Linezolid. In case of Gram negativeorganisms, all isolates were resistant to Ampicillin, 94.5%to Ceftriaxone, 83.3% to Cefepime, 83.3% to Aztreonam,72.2% to Amoxycillin/clavulanate, 50% to Ciprofloxacin,44.5% to Pipperacillin-Tazobactam, 33% to Amikacin, 33.3%to Cefoperazone-sulbactam and 27.8% were resistant toImipenemConclusion: Gram positive pathogens were most commoncause of surgical site infection in cardiac surgery patients.However, significant proportion of infections were caused byGram negative pathogens.