Re-exposure animal bite management among incident animal bite cases in a secondary care Hospital in Delhi, India

Complete postexposure prophylaxis with 4 doses of anti-rabies vaccine (ARV) in a previously vaccinated (nonna飗e) individual results in administration of two extra ARV doses resulting in wastages of precious resources comprising vaccine logistics, human resources, physician, and patient time. This cross-sectional study conducted in a secondary care hospital in Delhi among 175 incident animal bite cases observed 39 (22.3%) had an animal-bite history within the previous 5 years. A total of 19 (10.8%) cases reported a history of complete ARV vaccination during a previous animal-bite exposure. However, in the absence of supportive patient medical documentation, all the animal bite cases without exception were prescribed a full course of ARV irrespective of their previous exposure status. Rabies immunoglobulins (anti rabies serum) were also re-administered in 13 (81.2%) cases. National guidelines for rabies prophylaxis should, therefore, consider the inclusion of an explicit decision-making algorithmic mechanism when the health-care provider is confronted with this situation carrying the potential for hidden vaccine wastage.

Isolation and characterization of high quality DNA from marine benthic macroalgae.

The isolation of high quality DNA is essential for many molecular biology applications including polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and endonuclease restriction digestion based techniques. An easy and inexpensive protocol has been developed for extracting genomic DNA from seven species of algae viz. Lola capillaries, Enteromorpha intestinalis, Ulva lactuca and Rhizoclonium sp belonging to Chlorophyceae, Catenella nipae, Polysiphonia mollis belonging to Rhodophyceae and Dictyota ceylanica belonging to Phaeophyceae group were collected from the coastal regions of Sunderban delta in West Bengal, India dominantly growing on mud flats, bark of different mangrove trees, pneumatophores, stilt roots, concrete surfaces, wooden and bamboo poles, sides of the boats and other water vehicles inundated during high tides. The DNA was found suitable for restriction endonuclease digestion and PCR amplification with randomely amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. The A260/A280 ratio of 1.15 0.14 to 1.94 indicated little contamination from proteins and polysaccharides. The PCR amplification with RAPD primers showed its suitability in PCR based techniques and the restriction digestion with Eco RV confirmed its suitability for hybridization based techniques. The protocol is equally good for isolating DNA from both fresh as well as preserved materials.

Biological process of arsenic removal using selected microalgae.

In the present investigation, growth of the organisms was reduced due to presence of arsenic (III) and (V) in the culture medium. In comparison to arsenic (V), arsenic (III) had more toxic effect on microalgae. Among the different algal strains, blue green algal species Oscillatoria-Lyngbya mixed culture showed maximum efficiency in removing arsenic (64%) after 21 days of incubation and the same algal species could remove arsenic (III), but 60% after 21 days when incubated in 0.1 mg/l arsenic (III) containing medium. Maximum removal was observed at their exponential growth phase and also so sometime extended to the stationary phase.