Factors affecting the nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients.

Human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients attending skin outpatient department were studied for nasal carriage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and associated factors affecting nasal colonization. Nasal swabs were used for isolation of S. aureus. MRSA were detected by agar screen and agar dilution methods. Careful examination for dermatoses was carried out. Forty-six of the 60 (76.67%) outpatients with HIV infection were colonized with S. aureus in the anterior nares. Significant number of S. aureus carriers were in the 31-40 year age group. Methicillin resistance was found in eight (17.39%) isolates. Of the 46 S. aureus strains, 29 (63%) were resistant to erythromycin, 69.5% to co-trimoxazole and 41.3% to ciprofloxacin. Co-trimoxazole use was found to be a risk factor for S. aureus carriage ( P = 0.0214) but not for methicillin resistance. Hospital stay for more than 10 days was a risk factor for methicillin resistance whereas stay for more than 25 days was found to be a highly significant risk factor. Dermatophytosis and herpes simplex virus infection were other risk factors for nasal carriage of S. aureus.

Smoking behaviour among arts student of a college in Mangalore, Dakshina Kannada.

176 Arts students out of 450 students doing their under-graduation in an age range of 17 to 24 years returned a questionnaire designed to test their level of knowledge about smoking, attitude towards smoking and practice of smoking. 96.6% of the respondents were aware of the injurious nature of smoking. Potential to induce lung cancer was known by 93.2% of them, but only 34.1% knew it was a factor for GI malignancy. A higher proportion of males had good knowledge whereas females had moderate knowledge (p = 0.04). The incidence of smoking was 33.1%. A higher proportion of smokers chewed pan and consumed supari. 68.2% of smokers wished to quit smoking. Easy availability (47.7%) and influence of friends (34.1%) were the predominant reasons to smoke. Interestingly, 48% of males felt that smoking women had appeal. Anti smoking campaigns in addition to provision of information has to focus towards a change in attitude to smoking.

Intracardiac blood flow velocities and cardiac output in normal fetuses: a prospective pulsed Doppler echocardiographic study.

Two dimensional and pulsed Doppler echocardiographic studies were performed in human fetuses with the aim to establish normal values for blood flow velocities and cardiac output in Indian subjects. Thirteen pregnant mothers were prospectively followed up at 4 weeks interval from 19 to 40 weeks of gestation. Blood flow velocity spectra across aortic, pulmonary, mitral and tricuspid valves were analyzed to obtain peak flow velocity (cm/sec) and velocity time integral. Aortic and pulmonary diameters were measured at the valve level from two dimensional echocardiographic images and ventricular stroke volume calculated. The values were plotted against fetal age (weeks) and fetal weight (gms). Our results showed that there is a linear increase of the measured Doppler data, with increasing gestational age and weight. These values may be used as a reference for the Indian population.