activities of extracellular enzymes from species isolated from corneal ulcer/keratitis.

Mycotic/fungal keratitis is a suppurative, generally ulcerative infection of the cornea. The filamentous fungi, spp. are the second leading cause of mycotic keratitis, particularly in India.

Application of immunofluorescence assay and nested polymerase chain reaction for query fever diagnosis in animal handlers of Puducherry, South India, and phylogenetic analysis based on IS1111 repetitive gene element.

Background And Aim: Diagnosis of query fever (QF) is mostly done on the basis of serological/molecular tests, due to the stringent requirement of biosafety level-3 containment facilities for isolating in culture. QF is an important zoonosis and is considered to be an occupational hazard to livestock handlers. This report describes our study on the serological as well as molecular evidence of QF in animal handlers from Puducherry and surrounding Tamil Nadu, from where, to the best of our knowledge, no such reports are available so far.

Serological evidence of spotted fever group rickettsiosis in and around Puducherry, south India-A three years study.

Background & Objectives: Rickettsial diseases are important re-emerging infections that mostly go unnoticed or are misdiagnosed. Though few case reports of Indian tick typhus have been reported in Indian literature in the past 10 yr, prevalence surveys are few and far between. The objective of this research was to study the seroprevalence of spotted fever (SF) group rickettsiosis and its coinfection with scrub typhus (ST) in Puducherry region of south India, as these two diseases may show similar clinical presentations.

Unreliability of three commercial phase II IgM ELISA kits for the seroscreening of acute Q fever in human cases.

Background & Objectives: Seroprevalence of Q fever (QF) caused by Coxiella burnetii has been reported from different parts of India. Usually serological/molecular tests are employed for detection of infection. The present study was undertaken to verify the validity of three different QF phase II IgM ELISA kits for acute QF diagnosis by comparing with the gold standard indirect fluorescent antibody assay (IFA).

Coxiellosis in domestic livestock of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu: Detection of DNA by polymerase chain reaction in slaughtered ruminants.

Background And Aim: In the course of our Indian Council of Medical Research project on coxiellosis in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, 5.64% goat, 1.85% sheep, 1.

Molecular characterization and amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analysis of entomopathogenic bacteria associated with Rhabditis (Oscheius) spp.

Bacterial strains associated with entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) Rhabditis (Oscheius) spp. were isolated from infected cadavers of Galleria mellonella. The obtained 18 isolates were subdivided into nine phylogenetically different genera based on comparative sequence analysis of their 16S rRNA genes.

Outbreak of scrub typhus in Puducherry & Tamil Nadu during cooler months.

Background & Objectives: The southern part of India has witnessed an increase in scrub typhus (ST) during the past ten years. ST outbreaks occurred during winter months but at intervals of one to three years. With only a few reports of ST in Puducherry, this study was undertaken to look for the persistence of ST cases in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu in the winter months.

Hereditary arrhythmia corner: learning from challenging patients. Family with suspect LQTS.

A brother and sister, presented to our Arrhythmia Clinic for evaluation of possible long QT syndrome (LQTS). They are 18 and 15 years of age, respectively. Their mother has been diagnosed with LQTS and the family history is remarkable for a number of sudden deaths.

Small-angle X-ray scattering and near-infrared vibrational spectroscopy of water confined in aerosol-OT reverse micelles.

The state of water confined in Aerosol-OT-hydrocarbon-water reverse micelles with cyclohexane, n-pentane, n-octane, and n-dodecane as apolar solvents is investigated by small-angle X-ray scattering and near-infrared vibrational spectroscopy of the first overtone of the OH stretching mode of water. The experiments focus on water/AOT molecular ratios W(0)=2-20, where water is strongly affected by the confinement and surface-water interactions. The pair-distance distribution functions derived from the small-angle scattering patterns allows a detailed characterization of the topology of these systems, and they indicate deviations from monodisperse, spherical water pools for some of these hydrocarbon systems.

Evaluation and treatment of resistant hypertension.

Hypertension is a major cause and contributor to stroke, heart and kidney disease. Despite the development of an arsenal of medication to treat hypertension over the past half-century, adequate treatment continues to be a major problem in the United States. The Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-III) shows that only 29% of hypertensive patients reach a blood pressure less than 140/90 mm Hg.