Antibacterial effect of kitchen herbs against pathogenic multidrug-resistant E. coli isolates from calf diarrhoea.

Calf diarrhoea remains the biggest challenge both in the small and large farms. Infectious diarrhoea is associated with many pathogens, Escherichia coli being one, but majority are systematically treated with antibiotics. Since antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing menace, the need to find alternative prophylactic solutions using popular kitchen herbs such as Trachyspermum ammi (carom seeds), Curcuma longa (turmeric) and cinnamon (Cinnamomum sp.) extracts is been investigated against virulent form of E. coli isolated from calf diarrhoea. The virulence factors identified in these isolates were ST (32.5%), LT (20%), eaeA (15%), stx1 (2.5%) and stx2 (5%) with the occurrence of the most common serogroups as O18 (15%) followed by O111 (12.5%). Highest resistance was seen with beta lactam + beta lactamase inhibitor (amoxicillin/clavulanic acid) followed by beta lactams (ampicillin, cefuroxime and cefepime). The zone of inhibition due to cinnamon (methanol) and carom seed (ethanol) extracts (500 to 250 µg/mL concentration) on E. coli bacteria was >19 mm, respectively. Turmeric, cinnamon and carom had the potency of inhibiting the pathogenic E. coli which maybe suggestive of its use in calf diets as prophylaxis against diarrhoea.

Adding MR Diffusion Imaging and T2 Signal Intensity to Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System Categories 2 and 3 in Primary Sites of Postsurgical Oral Cavity Carcinoma Provides Incremental Diagnostic Value.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The NI-RADS lexicon doesn't use ADC parameters and T2 weighted signal for ascribing categories. We explored ADC, DWI, and T2WI to examine the diagnostic accuracy in primary sites of postsurgical oral cavity carcinoma in the Neck Imaging Reporting and Data System (NI-RADS) categories 2 and 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis in clinically asymptomatic post-surgically treated patients with oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma who underwent contrast-enhanced MRI between January 2013 and January 2016. Histopathology and follow-up imaging were used to ascertain the presence or absence of malignancy in subjects with "new enhancing lesions," which were interpreted according to the NI-RADS lexicon by experienced readers, including NI-RADS 2 and 3 lesions in the primary site. NI-RADS that included T2WI and DWI (referred to as NI-RADS A) and ADC (using the best cutoff from receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, NI-RADS B) was documented in an Excel sheet to up- or downgrade existing classic American College of Radiology NI-RADS and calculate diagnostic accuracy. RESULTS: Sixty-one malignant and 23 benign lesions included in the study were assigned American College of Radiology NI-RADS 2 (n = 33) and NI-RADS 3 (n = 51) categories. The recurrence rate was 90% (46/51) for NI-RADS three, 45% (15/33) for NI-RADS 2, and 73% (61/84) overall. T2WI signal morphology was intermediate in 45 subjects (53.5%) and restricted DWI in 54 (64.2%). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the American College of Radiology NI-RADS were the following: NI-RADS (75.4%, 78.3%, 90.1%, 54.5%, and 76.1%); NI-RADS A (79.1%, 81.2%, 91.9%, 59.1%, and 79.6%); and NI-RADS B (88.9%, 72.7%, 91.4%, 66.7%, and 85.1%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Adding MR imaging diagnostic characteristics like T2WI, DWI, and ADC to the American College of Radiology NI-RADS improved diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity.

Comparative occurrence of ESBL/AmpC beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli and Salmonella in contract farm and backyard broilers.

The present study was conducted to detect the occurrence of beta-lactamase and biofilm-producing Escherchia coli and Salmonella in apparently healthy broiler birds reared in household and contract poultry farms. In total, 150 cloacal swabs were collected from apparently healthy broiler birds of various age groups reared in backyard (n = 100) and contract farms (n = 50) in West Bengal (India). The isolation rate of ESBL producers was significantly more (P < 0·05) reared in contract poultry farms than those reared in backyard. Majority of the E. coli isolates possessed blaCTX-M followed by blaSHV and blaTEM . Majority of the Salmonella strains possessed blaTEM followed by blaCTX-M , and no blaSHV was detected. The selected sequences of the PCR products were found cognate with blaCTX-M-1 , blaCTX-M-2 , blaCTX-M-9 , blaCTX-M-14 , blaCTX-M-15 , blaSHV-12 and blaTEM-52 . The study detected 46·8% of E. coli and 42·5% of Salmonella strains as biofilm producers. Beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae strains showed resistance against tetracycline, chloramphenicol, doxycycline, co-trimoxazole and ampicillin and sensitivity to imipenem-EDTA, colistin and gentamicin. The study revealed the partial clonal relationship of ESBL sequences possessed by the poultry isolates of the present study and local clinical isolates available in the database. The study made consumer awareness about careful handling of live birds or poultry meat to avoid the zoonotic transmission of antimicrobial-resistant Enterobacteriaceae.

Oncological benefits of postoperative radiotherapy in node-negative early stage cancer of the oral cavity with isolated perineural invasion.

Perineural invasion has been widely regarded as a poor prognostic factor in cancer of the oral cavity, but adjuvant treatment based only on this is still debatable. We have made an effort to address the question in a retrospective analysis of data from 2009-15 of patients with early node-negative cancers of the oral cavity. Patients with perineural invasion were divided into those who were treated with radiotherapy and those who were not. The records of a total of 169 patients were analysed, and 118 were given adjuvant radiotherapy and 51 were not. The median (range) duration of follow up was 45 (26-86) months. Of 169 patients, 47 (28%) developed recurrence, 28 in the treated, and 19 in the untreated, group. There was a significant disease-free survival benefit for adjuvant treatment (p = 0.047) but no overall survival benefit (p = 0.54). We conclude that adjuvant radiotherapy should be considered for patients with perineural invasion, even in early cancers of the oral cavity.

Extracapsular extension in oral cavity cancers-predictive factors and impact on recurrence pattern and survival.

Extracapsular extension (ECE) has long been considered a poor prognostic factor in oral cavity cancer, the presence of which warrants intensification of adjuvant therapy. This study was done to analyze the survival of patients with ECE who received adjuvant chemoradiation. Patients with pathologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, with a minimum of 2 years of follow-up, who were treated at a tertiary cancer centre in New Delhi, India during the years 2009-2017, were included. On multivariate analysis, ECE was significantly associated with depth of invasion >10 mm and tumour deposit size >5 mm. Among the node-positive group, patients without ECE had a 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and 5-year overall survival (OS) advantage over ECE-positive patients of 7.8% (63.8% vs. 56.0%) and 16.5% (87.2% vs. 70.7%), respectively. For patients with ECE, the hazard ratio for DFS and OS was 1.3 (95% confidence interval 0.97-1.75, P = 0.078) and 2.30 (95% confidence interval 1.35-3.92, P = 0.002), respectively. ECE remains one of the strongest predictors of recurrence and survival in oral cancer patients, and despite aggressive adjuvant therapy, distant recurrence is still significantly high.

Epidemiology of stroke: findings from a community-based survey in rural Bangladesh.

OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to determine the epidemiology of stroke in a rural population of Bangladesh. STUDY DESIGN: In a cross-sectional study, we surveyed stroke patients. METHODS: The survey was conducted in a rural community of Bangladesh from January 2016 to June 2016. All community members 15 years and older in a surveillance system were included in this study. The Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status was used to screen stroke cases at household level which were again examined by the neurologist for confirmatory diagnosis. RESULTS: The prevalence of stroke was 1.96 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.69-2.26) per 1000 population. The highest prevalence was 9.65 (95% CI 7.42-12.33) per 1000 population, identified among patients aged 65-79 years. Males had higher prevalence (2.38 per 1000 population) than females (1.55 per 1000 population). Of the 24% of patients who had radiological examination (magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography scan) reports, 17.2% of stroke cases were ischemic, 4.8% were intracerebral, and about 1.1% were subarachnoid. The ratio of infarction to hemorrhage was 2.91. Approximately 67% of patients were diagnosed as hypertensive, and 37% of patients had elevated blood glucose level. While 15% of patients were found to be overweight or obese, 45% of patients had raised blood cholesterol level. More than 10% of patients reported that they had heart disease before the occurrence of stroke. About 40% of patients had the history of tobacco consumption. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of stroke is higher among elderly and male populations. A significant proportion of patients presented with hypertension and/or diabetes.

Carcass characteristics, chemical and fatty acid composition and oxidative stability of meat from broiler chickens fed black cumin (Nigella sativa) seeds.

A study was conducted to investigate the dietary supplementation of black cumin seeds (BCS) on carcass characteristics, chemical and fatty acid (FA) composition and antioxidant properties of thigh and breast meat of broiler chickens at 42 days of age. Three hundred sixty 1-day-old broiler chickens were allocated to five dietary treatment groups (each group containing eight replicate pens with each pen containing nine broiler chickens): basal diet (control; CON), CON + 0.05 g/kg of bacitracin methylene disalicylate (AB), CON + 5 g/kg of BCS (low dose of BCS), CON + 10 g/kg of BCS (medium dose of BCS) and CON + 20 g/kg of BCS (high dose of BCS). Weight (g) of slaughtered birds (p = .03), hot carcass (p = .007), breast (p = .03), thigh (p < .001), wing (p = .06), neck (p = .01), liver (p = .09), abdominal fat (p = .01) and total edible parts (p = .01) increased or tended to increase due to BCS supplementation compared with the CON. The concentrations of dry matter, crude protein and ether extract in chicken thigh and breast meat increased (p = .038 to <.001) with increasing doses of BCS in diets. The ferric reducing antioxidant activity in blood and meat increased linearly with increasing doses of BCS in the diets. However, peroxide values in meat were not affected by BCS and AB on both days 1 and 7 of storage at 4°C. Supplementation of BCS increased the concentrations of C14:1, C18:3n-6, C20:1, C20:2 FA and PUFA linearly (p < .05) and tended to increase (p = .098) the concentration of C18:2cis linearly. However, the concentrations of C16:0 and C16:1 FA decreased linearly with increasing doses of BCS in the diets. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of BCS at 20 g/kg diet may improve slaughter body weight, beneficial FA concentrations and antioxidant properties of broiler chicken meat.

Effect of Different Dietary n-6 to n-3 Fatty Acid Ratios on the Performance and Fatty Acid Composition in Muscles of Broiler Chickens.

The objective of this study was to investigate the different dietary ratios of n-6 to n-3 (n-6/n-3) fatty acid (FA) on performance and n-6/n-3 FA in muscles of broiler chickens. A total of 300 one-day-old Cobb chicks were randomly assigned to 3 treatments of 10 replicates in each (10 birds/replicate). Birds were fed on a corn-soybean meal-based diet containing 1% oil during starter (day 1 to 21) and 2% oil during finisher (day 22 to 39) phases, respectively. Treatments of high, medium and low dietary n-6/n-3 FA were formulated by replacing rice bran oil with linseed oil to achieve n-6/n-3 FA close to >20:1, 10:1 and 5:1, respectively. Average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and feed conversion ratio were similar (p>0.05) among the treatments. Serum glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides concentrations were not affected (p>0.05) by dietary treatments. In breast, concentration of C18:3n-3 was significantly greater (p = 0.001) for medium and low vs high n-6/n-3 FA, while concentrations of C20:5n-3, C22:6n-3, total n-3 FA, and n-6/n-3 FA were significantly higher for low vs medium, and medium vs high dietary n-6/n-3 FA. In contrast, concentrations of C18:2 and mono-unsaturated FA (MUFA) were lower for low vs high dietary n-6/n-3 FA. In thigh muscles, concentrations of C20:5n-3 were higher (p<0.05) for medium and low vs high dietary n-6/n-3 FA, and concentrations of C18:3n-3, C22:6, and n-3 FA were greater (p<0.05) for medium vs high, low vs medium dietary n-6/n-3 FA. However, concentrations of C18:1, MUFA, n-6/n-3 were lower (p<0.05) for low and medium vs high dietary n-6/n-3 FA. In conclusion, lowering the dietary n-6/n-3 FA did not affect the performance of chickens, but enhanced beneficial long-chain n-3 FA and decreased n-6/n-3 FA in chicken breast and thigh, which could be advantageous for obtaining healthy chicken products.

Prospective study of application of biological communication (cybernatics) in management of chronic low back pain--a preliminary report.

To observe the effects of application of cybernetics (theories of communication). This is an open level prospective study, involving patients with chronic low back pain of more than 3 months. Assessment were done before the start of therapy and after the completion of therapy every day for consecutive 6 days of treatment protocol. A total of 8 patients were enrolled (4 male, 4 female). The Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) was used to assess pain, Oswestry Disability Scale (ODI) was applied for scoring disability. ODI was scored at the start of treatment on 1st day and at the end of the treatment on 6th day. Mean VAS reduced from 8.12 to 6.93 after 1st day, which was also statistically significant (p < .01) .This trend continued and there was very significant reduction (p < .001) of VAS in the end when means were compared with pretreatment value. Mean Oswestry disability index reduced from 49.875 to 18.44 at the end of treatment which was statistically very significant (p < 0.001). There were significant improvements in all the outcome measured after Scrambler therapy.

Increased levels of thiols protect antimony unresponsive Leishmania donovani field isolates against reactive oxygen species generated by trivalent antimony.

The current trend of antimony (Sb) unresponsiveness in the Indian subcontinent is a major impediment to effective chemotherapy of visceral leishmaniasis (VL). Although contributory mechanisms studied in laboratory-raised Sb-R parasites include an up-regulation of drug efflux pumps and increased thiols, their role in clinical isolates is not yet substantiated. Accordingly, our objectives were to study the contributory role of thiols in the generation of Sb unresponsiveness in clinical isolates. Promastigotes were isolated from VL patients who were either Sb responsive (n=2) or unresponsive (n=3). Levels of thiols as measured by HPLC and flow cytometry showed higher basal levels of thiols and a faster rate of thiol regeneration in Sb unresponsive strains as compared with sensitive strains. The effects of antimony on generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in normal and thiol-depleted conditions as also their H2O2 scavenging activity indicated that in unresponsive parasites, Sb-mediated ROS generation was curtailed, which could be reversed by depletion of thiols and was accompanied by a higher H2O2 scavenging activity. Higher levels of thiols in Sb-unresponsive field isolates from patients with VL protect parasites from Sb-mediated oxidative stress, thereby contributing to the antimony resistance phenotype.

Differential gene expression analysis in antimony-unresponsive Indian kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) clinical isolates by DNA microarray.

In this study, cDNA microarray analysis of a closely related species, Leishmania major, was used as a screening tool to compare antimonial-resistant and susceptible clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani in order to to identify candidate genes on the basis of antimony resistance. Clinically confirmed resistant isolate 39 and sensitive isolate 2001 were used in this study. Many differentially regulated genes were identified whose expression levels differ in sodium antimony gluconate (SAG)-treated patients. Interestingly, genes on the array, showing changes in expression of over 2-fold revealed the identity of ABC transporters, which are known determinants of drug resistance in laboratory mutants. The functionality of the transporters was validated by flow cytometry which, being biologically informative, provides direct clues to gene function. The results suggest that isolate 39 could have developed resistance by an increased multidrug resistance protein (MRP)-like pump. This study provides preliminary clues to the role of a thiol-dependent efflux system in antimonial resistant clinical isolates of Leishmania donovani.

A green Hunsdiecker reaction: synthesis of beta-bromostyrenes from the reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated aromatic carboxylic acids with KBr and H2O2 catalysed by Na2MoO4.2H2O in aqueous medium.

Reaction of alpha,beta-unsaturated aromatic carboxylic acids with KBr and H2O2 in the presence of Na2MoO4.2H2O in aqueous medium affords beta-bromo alkenes in high yield.

Forecasting and warning systems for cyclones in India

Tropical cyclones are a national phenomenon, over the globe which cannot be prevented but its impacts could be minimised by understanding its regular behaviour, timely prediction and historically based damage assessment. The impacts of tropical cyclones are not dependent on strength and frequency of occurance, but are more specific to location and time of occurance. Advances technologies like remote sensing, computers have made it possible to predicte the size, intensity and path of the cyclones. It is the governments of the nations to evolve effective, short and long term mechanisms to utilise these predictions and forecasts for minimising loss of life and property over the period of time. India is one of the most well equipped countries in the world in terms of sophisticated technology and satellite in place. All that is required is to mobilise and train its taskforce for readiness and quick response to the forecasting, and communication system. (AU)

Maternal mortality following caesarean sections.

PIP: A study of 26 maternal deaths following 3647 caesarean sections was conducted in Eden Hospital from 1974-1977. During the time period there were 35,544 births and 308 total maternal deaths (8.74/1000). Indications for Caesarean sections included: 1) abnormal presentation; 2) cephalopelvic disproportion; 3) toxemia; 4) prolonged labor; 5) fetal distress; and 6) post-caesarean pregnancies. Highest mortality rates were among cephalopelvic disproportion, toxemia, and prolonged labor patients. 38.4% of the patients died due to septicaemia and peritonitis, but other deaths were due to preclampsia, shock, and hemorrhage. Proper antenatal care may have prevented anemia and preclampsia and treated other pre-existing or superimposed diseases.^ieng