A Cross Sectional Study of Prevalence of COVID-19 and ENT Manifestations among Health Care Workers in Our Centre

Background : Health Care Workers are among the frontline COVID warriors who have been fighting all odds in serving their patients at the cost of their lives. Bangalore has been one among the hot cities in news during this pandemic and our centre, being one of the busiest working hospitals right in the middle of the city, we hereby throw limelight to the Health Care Workers of our centre who have been fighting over COVID-19 with all might and courage. This study was done to know the prevalence of COVID-19 and its ENT manifestations among Health Care Workers in our centre. Materials and Methods : A cross sectional study was done in KIMS Hospital, Bangalore, targetting all Health Care Workers of our centre, divided into 3 groups. Prevalence of ENT manifestations was studied. Results : In our study, majority who tested positive for COVID-19 were Doctors (67.6%) followed by staff nurse (27.9%) and auxiliary HCW (4.5%). One fourth of the study subjects had anosmia as the most common ENT manifestation followed by nasal obstruction (24.3%), cough and loss of taste (19.8% each). Conclusion : With inadequate precautions being taken with the mutating virus in air, causing a surge in cases, the health care workers are the most vulnerable group to acquire the deadly infection, during both the waves of the pandemic. We hereby, stress on this, with the help of our study, done during the first wave, targeting our Health Care Workers.

Susceptibility trends of pseudomonas species from corneal ulcers.

PURPOSE: To assess the changing trends in the antibiotic susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp . isolated from bacterial keratitis over a nine year period with special emphasis on fluoroquinolone susceptibilities. METHODS: All corneal scraping cultures positive for Pseudomonas spp. (n=585) isolated from patients with bacterial keratitis at the Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai from 1995-2003 were evaluated. Cultures were performed in liquid and solid media and susceptibility testing was done against amikacin, gentamicin, tobramycin, ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin by Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. RESULTS: The susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp. was over 90% from 1995-1998 to ciprofloxacin which decreased to 83% from 1999-2003. The total number of isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin was 51 (9.4%). No statistically significant increase in the number of isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin was noted. Ofloxacin showed 54% susceptibility from 1995-1998 but increased to 64% from 1999-2003. Analysis of in vitro activity of amikacin reveals that there was 43% sensitivity from 1995-1998 but later it increased to 76% from 1999-2003. In case of gentamicin, the sensitivity decreased marginally from 80% to 70% through the years. Tobramycin showed 45% sensitivity from 1995-1998 but increased to 75% from 1999-2003. CONCLUSIONS: The fluoroquinolones remain a good choice in the treatment of ocular infections, with high susceptibility of Pseudomonas spp. Among the aminoglycosides, gentamicin was found to be highly effective against Pseudomonas corneal ulcers when compared to amikacin and tobramycin. The results show a need for continuous monitoring of bacterial resistance trends.

A comparative study on the beneficial effects of garlic (Allium sativum Linn), amla (Emblica Officinalis Gaertn)and onion (Allium cepa Linn) on the hyperlipidemia induced by butter fat and beef fat in rats.

Three months feeding of butter fat (BUF) and beef (BF) separately as components of diet at a level of 21% by weight for albino rats, significantly raised their serum and tissue lipids, lipid peroxidation and activities of certain enzymes. BUF was found to be more atherogenic than BF. On incorporation of 5% garlic, amla or onion separately in the above diets, each of them ameliorated the deleterious effects of the animal fats. A higher hyperlipidemic effect of BUF as compared to that of BF may be due to the fact that the ratio of unsaturated to saturated fats is lower for the former (0.56) than for the latter (0.75) and also that the former is richer in cholesterol content than the latter. The order of the curative effects of the vegetables are garlic>amla>onion. The better hypolipidemic effects and correction of elevated levels of certain enzymes shown by garlic and amla may be due to the facts that they contain comparatively better active principles than that found in onions.

Activation of protease activity in rat peritoneal macrophages in protein deficiency: characterization of cathepsin D.

Rat peritoneal macrophages contained high proteolytic activity that was significantly enhanced under the stress induced by protein deficiency. The aspartyl protease cathepsin D which has been known to be the most active protease in endocytic processes was extracted from the macrophages recovered from control (20% protein fed) and protein deficient (4% protein fed) rats and was affinity purified and characterized further. The cathepsin D from the control sample exhibited better recovery, purification and higher specific activity compared to that from the deficient groups. Apparently the pH optima and heat stability of the enzyme from both the groups were similar. The SDS PAGE profile clearly indicated the presence of greater amounts of active forms of cathepsin D in the deficient samples in vivo itself which reflected in a reduction in Km value of the enzyme. Subtle differences observed in the activity of these macrophage proteases in the protein deficient rats may be partly responsible for the enhanced degradation of macrophage membrane proteins reported earlier.

Synthesis and phosphorylation of macrophage membrane proteins in protein deficient rat.

Changes in the biosynthesis and phosphorylation of rat peritoneal macrophage membrane proteins induced by protein malnutrition have been studied. The results clearly indicate that the biosynthesis of high molecular weight proteins (45-200 kDa) and their phosphorylation are significantly reduced in the macrophages isolated from protein deficient (4% protein-fed) rats compared to the control group fed 20% protein diet. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment both in vivo and in vitro enhanced the synthesis and phosphorylation of these proteins in both control and protein deficient groups; however, the extent of enhancement was much less in the deficient group. These results indicate that besides the down regulation of these membrane proteins, protein malnutrition seems to make these macrophages less responsive to potent immuno stimulants like LPS.

Enumeration of macrophage carbohydrates in protein-deficient rats: relation to cell surface properties.

In order to study the effect of protein malnutrition on macrophage glycoproteins the carbohydrate composition of peritoneal macrophages from protein-deficient rats has been studied by paper chromatography and HPLC. The results show that the carbohydrate content of resident cells recovered from protein-deficient group was significantly greater than control and decreased on prolonged incubation. In the protein-deficient samples there was a significant decrease in the content of galactose, fucose and galactosamine known to be binding to specific ligands and increase in glucose and mannosamine. In both control and deficient groups, thioglycollate (TG) elicitation resulted in higher total sialic acid content. Prolonged incubation (18 hr) caused an elevation of sialic acid levels in the resident cells, whereas a drastic reduction was observed in the TG elicited cells. In the protein-fed (20%) group, the cell surface sialic acid which contributes to the negative charge of the cells, reduced significantly on culturing the TG cells but not the resident cells. In the protein-deficient group, this effect was seen in the resident cells also; in the TG cells the cell surface sialic acid was significantly low at the isolation stage suggesting that these cells had become comparatively more positively charged in vivo itself. This observed reduction could be correlated to the enhanced sialidase levels in these cells. These protein deficiency related changes in the carbohydrate composition of macrophages could lead to modification of their receptor activity and charge related functions.