Drug utilization study of antimicrobial agents in patients of neonatal sepsis in neonatal intensive care unit at a tertiary care hospital in western part of India.

Background: Neonatal sepsis is one of the major causes of death and morbidity among neonates in India; however, studies related to neonatal sepsis are somewhat in limited numbers. Furthermore, time to time sensitivity and efficacy of various antimicrobial agents (AMA) change which necessitates studies related to antimicrobial drug utilization in hospitals. The objective of present study was to evaluate the pattern of use of AMAs in neonatal sepsis at the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at a tertiary care hospital in western part of India. Methods: It was a prospective cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 6-month duration in NICU at tertiary care hospital. Data were collected and analyzed. Results: It has been observed that 57.67% patients were pre-term, 42.32% full term; 23.28% were of normal birth weight, 58.73% low birth weight and 15.34% were very low birth weight. In 48.7% of patients, two different antibiotics were prescribed while in 40.1% of patients three different antibiotics were prescribed. A total number of antibiotics prescribed were 499, per patient 2.78 antibiotics were prescribed. Amikacin was used in 73.01% cases while cefotaxime was used in 64.55% of cases. Piperacilin + tazobactam combination was used in 41.26% cases. In 50.9% cases, antibiotics were prescribed by generic name. Conclusion: Antibiotic resistance is increasing due to the irrational prescribing habits of physicians, leading to increasing morbidity, mortality and treatment costs. Therefore, the medical professionals as well as government personnel who are related to the health sector need to understand that antibiotics are precious and finite resources. The remedy of this situation requires that regular educational awareness programs should be conducted in hospitals at a regular basis.

Role of glipizide therapy on oxidative stress parameters in the patient with Type-II diabetes mellitus.

Background: Oxidative stress has an important role in the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus (DM) Type-II. Oxidative stress has an important role in the progression of DM Type-II and its related complications such as retinopathy, neuropathy and many others. The present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of glipizide therapy on oxidative stress parameters in Type-II DM. Methods: Thirty newly diagnosed diabetes patients were given glipizide therapy on 1st day and continue for 3 months. 30 non-diabetic healthy volunteers served as a control. Plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase levels were measured at the time of enrollment and at the end of 3 months of glipizide treatment. Result: The results are analyzed using paired t-test. Plasma MDA was significantly increased, whereas SOD and catalase were significantly reduced in newly diagnosed diabetic patients as compared to control. After 3 months of glipizide therapy, plasma MDA was significantly reduced, whereas SOD and catalase were significantly increased. Conclusion: Glipizide therapy significantly reduced oxidative free radicals and increased antioxidant mechanism, which reduced oxidative stress, progression DM-II and its related complication.

Polaron hopping in some biomolecular solids and their charge transfer complexes.

The solid state spectroscopy of charge transfer complexes of biomolecules such as fatty acids, tripalmitin, lysozyme. folic acid, beta-carotene, cytochrome c, valinomycin and gramicidin has been carried out. The absorption coefficient is related with electronic conductivity. A half-power beta density is found common among these macromolecular solids, indicating photon-induced polaron hopping or hopping of a charge carrier between two branches of a polariton. Band gap vs full width at half-maximum of the mid-IR peak also reveals a linear relation.