Antibiotic sensitivity profile and resistance of microorganisms isolated from south Indian population, a hospital based study at Velappanchavady, Chennai, India

Background: Increasing rates of antibiotic drug resistance has been noted in recent times and this adversely affects the prognosis and outcomes of patients. There is a greater need for local resistance prevalence data in order to guide empirical prescription and to identify areas in which medical need for newer antimicrobial agents is greater.Methods: A prospective hospital based observational study was carried out to determine antibiotic sensitivity profile and resistance pattern of microorganisms. Samples were collected from urinary tract infections, while cultures from blood stream infections, sputum samples and Serology. Antibiotic susceptibility was determined by the standard disc diffusion method. Data interpretation was based on CLSI, 2017 guidelines for antimicrobial susceptibility testing.Results: The predominant isolates from the samples were, Staphylococcus aureus (16.7%) 67, K. pneumoniae (11.5%) 46, E. coli (29.4%) 118, P. aeruginosa (6%) 24. Escherichia coli, the most common causative organism showed high resistance to commonly used drugs such as Ampicillin (60.1%) 71, Amoxicillin (53.4%) 63, Amoxicillin-clavulanic acid (44.1%) 52 and Nalidixic acid (53.4%) 63. E. coli was found to be most sensitive to Amikacin (51.7%) 61, Piperacillin (69.5%) 82, Norfloxacin (61.9%) 73, Meropenem (76.3%) 90 and Imipenem (68.6%) 81. Klebsiella was most sensitive to 30 (65.2%) ofloxacin, 31 (67.4%) ciprofloxacin followed by 24 (52.2%) ceftriaxone and least sensitive to 7 (15.2%) Amoxicillin and 12 (26.1%) Ampicillin.Conclusions: Among commonly used antibiotics resistance to Penicillins (Ampicillin, Amoxicillin) was highest. Resistance to Fluoroquinolones (Cipro?oxacin) was seen in majority of the patients. Among broad spectrum antibiotics Imipenem, Meropenem resistance was seen in lesser proportion of the patients.

Gasification kinetics of date palm seed using carbon dioxide

Gasification is a well-known reaction owing to its relevance to generation of sustainable energy from biomass and development of porous carbons. The present paper attempts to experimentally investigate the kinetics of palm shell char gasification using carbon dioxide [CO[2]] in a controlled environment using Thermo Gravimetric Analyzer [TGA] at temperatures ranging from 800 to 1000°C. A relevant kinetic model representing the experimental data was identified by fitting the experimental data with popular semi empirical kinetic models such as Linear Model [LM], Volume Reaction Model [VRM], Shrinking Core Model [SCM], and Random Pore Model [RPM]. The model kinetic parameters were evaluated by minimizing the sum of root mean square error [RMSE]. Among the models tested the RPM exhibited very close adherence to the experimental data evidenced from the minimum RMSE of 0.0046. The ability of the RPM model to represent the gasification kinetics was attributed to its ability to account for the pore growth during initial stages of gasification and destruction of pores due to coalescence in later stages of gasification. The rate of reaction increased with increase in temperature and activation energy was found to be 64.5 KJ/mol

Local anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activities of coldenia procumbens linn.

The ethanolic extract of the leaves of Coldenia procumbens Linn, was studied in Swiss albino mice against 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate [TPA] and arachidonic acid [AA] induced inflammatory response, while the analgesic effect was studied using the acetic acid-induced writhing in mice and formalin-induced nociception. The ethanolic extract produced dose dependent anti-inflammatory activity against the pathogens. It also showed an inhibitory effect on pain caused by acetic acid in mice and reduced pain episodes induced by formalin. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract produced significant [P<0.05] anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive activity when compared with the standard and untreated control