Differences in consumption of food items between obese and normal-weight people in India.

Background. There is a rising prevalence of obesity in India, and diet may be a major determinant of this. We aimed to assess differences in types and quantities of food items consumed by obese and normal-weight people in India. Methods. Cross-sectional data of 7067 factory workers and their families were used from the Indian Migration Study, conducted in four cities across northern, central and southern India. Food frequency questionnaire data were used to compare the quantities of consumption of 184 food items between 287 obese (body mass index >30 kg/m2) and 1871 normalweight (body mass index 18.50–22.99 kg/m2) individuals, using t tests and ANCOVAs. Individuals with diabetes, hypertension and cardio-vascular disease were excluded. SPSS 16.0 was used for analysis. Results. After adjusting for age, sex, location and socioeconomic status, obese individuals were found to eat significantly larger quantities of 11 food items compared with normalweight individuals. These included phulkas, chapatis/parathas/ naan, plain dosa, mutton/chicken pulao/biryani, chicken fried/ grilled, rasam, mixed vegetable sagu, vegetable raitha, honey, beetroot and bottlegourd (p<0.01). Consumption of plain milk was higher among normal-weight than among obese individuals (p<0.05). Consumption of some of these food items was also found to increase by socioeconomic status, decrease by age, and be higher among men relative to women. Conclusion. Obese individuals were found to consume larger quantities of certain food items compared with normal-weight individuals. Interventions should aim at limiting overall food consumption among obese individuals.

Prevalence of Extended Spectrum β-lactamases Producing Clinical Isolates from Patients of Urinary Tract Infection in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Delhi.

A total of 250 urinary isolates (188 Escherichia coli and 62 Klebsiella pneumoniae) were studied for ESBL production by double disc approximation test and disc diffusion confirmatory test (NCCLS). ESBL production was found to be 56% in E. coli and 52% in K. pneumoniae. The double disc approximation test showed false ESBL production in five (2.6%) isolates of E. coli and one (1.6%) K.pneumoniae. The susceptibility of ESBL producers to imipenem, amikacin, nitrofurantion was found to be 100%, 86% and 84% respectively. A high degree of co-resistance to co- trimaxazole and norfloxacin was found in strains of ESBL producers. Seventy five per cent of ESBL producers detected were from hospitalized patients admitted in ICU or undergoing surgery.

Spot CAMP test for the prompt presumptive identification of group B streptococci.

Spot and conventional CAMP tests done on 200 strains (120 human and 80 bovine) of group B streptococci showed 96 per cent of human and 90 per cent of bovine strains positive by both tests, indicating 100 per cent agreement. None of the 20 non-group B streptococci strains was positive for CAMP test for group B streptococci. The advantage of spot CAMP test is that it can be performed on a single isolated colony, easy to perform, inexpensive and can presumptively identify group-B streptococci within 30 min on primary sheep blood agar plate.