Oral Health Care Practice and Circumstances during Covid-19 among Dental Patients in Tertiary Care Hospital in Nepal.

Background Patients are hesitant to enter a dental hospital because of the significant danger of cross infection and illness transmission due to rapid spread of corona virus. Objective To assess knowledge regarding Covid-19, oral health practices and circumstances on dental treatment during a pandemic. Method Cross sectional study was conducted among patients visiting dental department of Dhulikhel hospital from September to October 2020. Questionnaires were interviewed following safety protocols regarding the pandemic and descriptive analysis was performed. Both verbal and written consent as well as ethical approval was taken before the study. Result A total 411 patients aged 14 to 75 years old from 14 different districts across Nepal participated in the study. All of the patient were free of Covid-19 symptoms and had strong knowledge and awareness about disease transmission. During the crisis 96% of the people maintain good oral hygiene while 25.8% acquire new dental problems where majority experienced oral discomfort and swelling, 93.2% of them did not attend a dental clinic or hospital in the interim owing to fear and inaccessibility. Majority of the participants were impressed by the safety precautions and preparations during treatment and 99.3% strongly suggest or pledge to visit dental department if necessary during the pandemic. Conclusion Dental patient visiting Dhulikhel hospital is highly aware of current health crisis, possible transmission and preventive measures. Proper safe hospital setup can encourage them to seek dental treatment during crisis. Dental pain and swelling in Endodontic department recorded most common dental emergency during this pandemic.

Antibiotic susceptibility of organisms causing urinary tract infection in patients presenting to a teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common. It causes severe morbidity and mortality, and it is important to know the causative organisms in the hospital and community for optimum management of UTI. METHODS: This is a prospective hospital based study to identify the organisms causing UTI and their antibiotic susceptibility. Consecutive patients presenting with symptoms of UTI had their clean catch midstream urine analysed. Antibiotic susceptibility was tested by Kirby-Bauer's disc diffusion method as described by National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Services (NCCLS) guidelines. RESULTS: Out of 1726 patients, 549 (31.8%) showed bacterial growth. Escherichia coli was most common (72.5%), followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (11.3%), Staphylococcus aureus (3.1%), coagulase negative Staphylococcal species (2.7%) and others (10.1%). There was a female dominance of 3.2:1 compared to males, except in the 61 and above age range. Infections were most common in young adults (21-30 years). The most effective antibiotic was Nitrofurantoin followed by Norfloxacin, Ciprofloxacin and Ofloxacin. Some isolates were resistant to Norfloxacin, Ampicillin, Cotrimoxazole and Ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSIONS: The most common causative organism for UTI was Escherichia coli, and the best first line antibiotic was Nitrofurantoin. Organisms are developing resistance to antibiotics such as Norfloxacin, Ampicillin and Ciprofloxacin.

Intestinal parasitic infections among patients attending Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal.

This study was conducted to find out the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection among patients attending Nepal Medical College Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu from July 2011 to February 2012. A total of 312 stool samples collected in a clean, dry screw capped plastic container were examined using the formal-ether concentration and sucrose-flotation techniques. Overall parasite positivity rate was 30.1% with significant difference between males (34.2%) and Female (26.3%) (p < 0.05). Out of total positive, 90.4% had single parasitism whereas 9.6% had multiple parasitism. Children aged < or = 5 years were found to be highly infected (35.8%), followed by 6-15 years (32.1%) and > 15 years old (26.9%). Rate of infection was significantly higher among patients from inside Kathmandu Valley (31.1%) than outside valley (17.4%) (p < 0.05). E. histolytica (38.5%) and Hookworm (10.6%) were the commonest protozoa and helminthes respectively. Other parasites detected were G. lamblia (26.0%), E. coli (1.0%), T. trichiura (7.7%), A. lumbricoides (6.7%), H. nana (5.8%) and Taenia species (3.8%). Out of total parasites detected, 65.4% were protozoa and 34.6% were helminthes. Positive rate was higher in Dalit (37.5%) and Aadibasi-Janjati (34.3%) than Brahman-Chhetri (22.6%) (p < 0.05).

The value of tools to assess pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Pulmonary hypertension is a common but complex clinical problem. When suspected in an appropriate clinical setting or detected incidetally, an array of investigative tools are employed with an intent to confirm the diagnosis, define aetiology, evaluate the functional and haemodynamic impairment, define treatment options, monitor the therapy, and establish long-term prognosis. However, no single tool provides comprehensive information that encompasses the aforementioned aims. Therefore, judicious use of these tools is of paramount importance, in order to maximise outcome and cost-effectiveness, while minimising risks and redundancies. Furthermore, a number of promising tools and techniques are emerging rapidly in the arena of pulmonary hypertension. These tools augment our understanding of pathophysiology and natural history of pulmonary hypertension. There is, therefore, increasing need for validating these emerging paradigms in multicentre trials. In this review, we focus on the tools commonly used to evaluate pulmonary arterial hyertension and also define some of the new approaches to pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Status of intestinal parasitosis among hospital visiting patients in Deukhury Valley, Dang, Nepal.

Intestinal parasitosis is highly prevalent among the general population in Nepal. This study aimed to assess the status of intestinal parasitosis among patients attending Deukhury Community Hospital, Lamahi, Dang, situated in the mid western region of Nepal. A total of 210 stool samples examined by direct smear technique were reported. The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection was found to be 21.4% (M = 23.5% vs F = 19.3%). Children < 15 yrs age were infected more often as compared to > 60 yrs and 15-60 yrs aged people. Among adults, Entamoeba histolytica infection was found to be very high compared to high helminthic infection found among children. Finding showed that, the prevalence was significantly high (68.8%) among people having low socio-economic status compared to others (31.1%) (p < 0.05). Among various parasites detected, E. histolytica was the most common parasite (48.8%) followed by helminths, mainly Ascaris lumbricoides (31.1%), hookworm (13.3%), Trichuris trichiura (4.4%) and Taenia species (2.2%) respectively in the locality.

Vimentin autoantibodies induce platelet activation and formation of platelet-leukocyte conjugates via platelet-activating factor.

Anti-vimentin antibodies (AVA) are associated with autoimmunity and solid organ transplantation, conditions associated with vascular disease, but their contribution to disease pathogenesis is unknown. Here, we have examined interactions between AVA (mAb and serum from patients) and various leukocyte populations using whole blood and flow cytometry. Normal blood treated with patient sera containing high AVA-IgM titers or with a vimentin-specific monoclonal IgM led to activation of platelets and other leukocytes, as demonstrated by induced expression of P-selectin, fibrinogen, tissue factor, and formation of platelet:leukocyte (P:L) conjugates and a reduction in platelet counts. This activity was antigen (vimentin)-specific and was not mediated by irrelevant IgM antibodies. Flow cytometry demonstrated that AVA do not bind directly to resting platelets in whole blood, but they bind to approximately 10% of leukocytes. Supernatant, derived from AVA-treated leukocytes, induced platelet activation, as measured by the generation of platelet microparticles, when added to platelet-rich plasma. When AVA were added to whole blood in the presence of CV-6209, a platelet-activating factor (PAF) receptor inhibitor, platelet depletion was inhibited. This suggests that PAF is one of the mediators released from AVA-activated leukocytes that leads to P:L conjugation formation and platelet activation. In summary, AVA bind to leukocytes, resulting in release of a PAF and prothrombotic factor that exert a paracrine-activating effect on platelets. Overall, this proposed mechanism may explain the pathogenesis of thrombotic events in autoimmune diseases associated with AVA.

Shigella isolates of Nepal: changes in the incidence of shigella subgroups and trends of antimicrobial susceptibility pattern.

OBJECTIVES: Shigellosis is an important cause of bloody diarrhoea in all age groups, especially in children. A retrospective study was done to analyse the pattern of shigella isolates and the antimicrobial susceptibility trend of these shigella isolated at different hospitals of Nepal from Jan, 2003- Dec, 2005. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 118 Shigella species isolated at nine different hospital laboratories of Nepal were reported to National Public Health Laboratory during January, 2003- December 2005 .The isolates were tested for the confirmation of identification and antimicrobial susceptibility pattern by standard bacteriological techniques. RESULTS: Of the 118 Shigella isolates reported, Shigella flexneri 51 (43.22%) was the predominant of the four species followed by Shigella dysenteriae 49(41.52 %) , Shigella boydii (7.62%) and Shigella sonnei (7.62%).But the yearly distribution of the Shigella isolates in 2003 and 2004 showed that Shigella dysenteriae was the most common of the four species. In 2005, a shift in the species was noted as Sh flexneri replaced Sh dysenteriae and became the most prevalent species. The percentage of Shigella dysenteriae type-1 among all Shigella dysenteriae were 66.66 % in 2003, 44.44 % in 2004 and 60 % in 2005. Individual or multiple resistances to Ampicillin, Nalidixic acid, and/or Cotrimoxazole was seen in all the four species of Shigella. 33% of the total Shigella isolates reported were multi drug resistant (showing resistance to 3 or more antibiotics at a time). Shigella dysenteriae type-1(Sd 1) isolates resistant to ciprofloxacin were also encountered in the present study .Of the total 25 Shigella dysenteriae type 1 isolates reported, 18(72%) were ciprofloxacin resistant . All the Shigella isolates were however sensitive to Ceftriaxone and Azithromycin. CONCLUSION: Distribution of different species of Shigella and their antibiotic susceptibility profile may vary from one geographical location to another and may also change with time. Systematic monitoring of the species and serotypes of Shigellae and their antimicrobial susceptibility can help to guide therapy and reveal periodic epidemics due to Sd 1, which may have acquired resistance to antibiotics that have previously been effective. Key words: Dysentery, Shigella, Shigella dysenteriae type-1, Antimicrobial resistance.

Serological prevalence of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) among healthy Nepalese males--a retrospective study.

A retrospective data analysis for sero-prevalence of antibodies to HIV, HBV and syphilis was carried out during the period 3 notrd September 2003 to 3rd June 2004 in 627 apparently healthy Nepalese males aged 17 to 48 years and association of the diseases with age group and blood group were analyzed. The study showed the prevalence of HIV, HBV and syphilis being 1.6%, 2.7% and 0.6% respectively. Analysis of blood group showed that 97.76% of total male population having Rhesus positive blood. Among them, O "positive" was the most common blood group with 31.9% followed by A "positive", B "positive" and AB "positive" respectively. The analysis of relationship showed a tendency of high affinity of those diseases in the subjects with O "positive" blood group. However, no real association of those infections was found with the blood group (HIV: X2=0.902, P=0.99; HBsAg: X2=1.212, P=0.99; RPR: X2=3.975, P=0.789).