Bacteriological profile and perception on hand hygiene in school-going Children.

Background: Handwashing is the most important daily activity to keep microbial infections at a distance. Schoolchildren tend to acquire most of the infections by not following the protocol of frequent handwashing which leads to frequent illnesses and absenteeism from school on a regular basis.

Materials And Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted by means of collecting hand swabs from 133 schoolchildren to estimate the extent of germs present.

High-Level Mupirocin Resistance in Staphylococcus spp. among Health Care Workers in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

Background: Nasal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus is very common among health care workers, and treatment with mupirocin is one of the choicest antibiotics available. But with the rampant usage of mupirocin like other antibiotics, the emergence of mupirocin resistance is also on rise. This resistance is both low level as well as high level among the isolated strains.

Comparative Study on the Vaginal Flora and Incidence of Asymptomatic Vaginosis among Healthy Women and in Women with Infertility Problems of Reproductive Age.

Introduction: The normal vaginal flora is highly complex, dominated by lactobacilli of doderlein that plays a vital role in maintaining the women's health and inhibits other pathogenic microorganisms. Fluctuation in local environment or exposure to any exogenous and endogenous sources changes the vaginal flora over a period of time. Disruption of the vaginal ecosystem changes the microflora of the healthy vagina, altering the pH and predisposing to lower reproductive tract infections.

Morphometry examination of placenta in birth weight of full-term newborns in Puducherry, India.

irth weight is an important determinant of child survival, healthy growth and development. Low birth weight is a well-established risk factor for adverse long term health, particularly cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome. The ability of the fetus to grow and thrive in utero is presumed to be a function of the placenta.

A study on knowledge, attitude and practice regarding voluntary blood donation among medical students in Puducherry, India.

Knowledge, attitude and practice studies have been used to understand the various factors that influence blood donation which is the basis for donor mobilization and retention strategies. Role of youngsters in voluntary blood donation is crucial to meet the demand of safe blood. The present study was aimed to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice regarding voluntary blood donation among the health care students.

Protective effect of Triphala on cold stress-induced behavioral and biochemical abnormalities in rats.

Stress is one of the basic factors in the etiology of number of diseases. Cold-stress occurs when the surrounding temperature drops below 18 degrees C, the body may not be able to warm itself, and hence serious cold-related illnesses, permanent tissue damage and death may results. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis) against the cold stress-induced alterations in the behavioral and biochemical abnormalities in four different groups (saline control, Triphala, cold-stress and Triphala with cold-stress) of Wistar strain albino rats.

Efficacy of DL-alpha-lipoic acid on methanol induced free radical changes, protein oxidative damages and hsp70 expression in folate deficient rat nervous tissue.

DL-alpha-Lipoic acid (LPA) was reported to be effective in reducing free radicals generated by oxidative stress. The protective of effect of LPA on methanol (MeOH) induced free radical changes and oxidative damages in discrete regions of rat brain have been reported in this study. Folate deficient rat (FDD) model was used.

Evaluation of the growth inhibitory activities of Triphala against common bacterial isolates from HIV infected patients.

The isolation of microbial agents less susceptible to regular antibiotics and the rising trend in the recovery rates of resistant bacteria highlights the need for newer alternative principles. Triphala has been used in traditional medicine practice against certain diseases such as jaundice, fever, cough, eye diseases etc. In the present study phytochemical (phenolic, flavonoid and carotenoid) and antibacterial activities of aqueous and ethanol extracts of Triphala and its individual components (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis) were tested against certain bacterial isolates (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Shigella sonnei, S.

Hypolipidemic effect of triphala in experimentally induced hypercholesteremic rats.

Hypercholesteremia is one of the risk factors for coronary artery disease. The present study highlights the efficacy of Ayurvedic herbal formulation Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica, and Emblica officinalis) on total cholesterol, Low density lipoprotein (LDL), Very low density lipoprotein (VLDL), High density lipoprotein (HDL) and free fatty acid in experimentally induced hypercholesteremic rats. Four groups of rats were employed namely control, Triphala treated, hypercholesterolemia rats (4% Cholesterol + 1% cholic acid + egg yolk) and Triphala pre-treatment in hypercholesteremic rats.

Effect of methanol intoxication on specific immune functions of albino rats.

Our previous studies revealed that methanol intoxication significantly altered the non-specific immune functions in albino rats. The present investigation focuses on the effect of methanol on certain specific immune functions of cell mediated immunity such as footpad thickness, leukocyte migration inhibition test (LMI) and antibody levels. In addition, serum interleukins (IL-2, IL-4, TNF-alpha and IFN-gamma), and splenic lymphocyte subsets were measured after an immune challenge.

Competition of bacteriophage polypeptides with native replicase proteins for binding to the DNA sliding clamp reveals a novel mechanism for DNA replication arrest in Staphylococcus aureus.

Bacteriophages have evolved specific mechanisms that redirect bacterial metabolic pathways to the bacteriophage reproduction cycle. In this study, we characterized the bactericidal mechanism of two polypeptides from bacteriophages Twort and G1 that target the DNA sliding clamp of Staphylococcus aureus. The DNA sliding clamp, which tethers DNA polymerase to its template and thereby confers processivity upon the enzyme, was found to be essential for the viability of S.

A new class of small molecule RNA polymerase inhibitors with activity against rifampicin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The RNA polymerase holoenzyme is a proven target for antibacterial agents. A high-throughput screening program based on this enzyme from Staphylococcus aureus had previously identified a 2-ureidothiophene-3-carboxylate as a low micromolar inhibitor. An investigation of the relationships between the structures of this class of compounds and their inhibitory- and antibacterial activities is described here, leading to a set of potent RNA polymerase inhibitors with antibacterial activity.

Fhua and HgbA, outer membrane proteins of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae: their role as virulence determinants.

For the recently described serotype 15 of biotype I and serotypes 13 and 14 of biotype II of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae, fhuA and hgbA were detected by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. To determine the substrate specificity of the iron receptors FhuA and HgbA and to study their role in the virulence of A. pleuropneumoniae, we used two isogenic A.

Effects of chronic noise stress on spatial memory of rats in relation to neuronal dendritic alteration and free radical-imbalance in hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex.

Spatial memory is coordinated with different brain regions especially hippocampus (HIP) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Influence of noise stress on working and reference memory error in rats was evaluated by radial eight-arm maze experiment. Changes in the dendritic count were observed in the brain regions such as CA1, CA3 regions of HIP and layers II, III of mPFC.

Effect of Triphala on oxidative stress and on cell-mediated immune response against noise stress in rats.

Stress is one of the basic factors in the etiology of number of diseases. The present study was aimed to investigate the effect of Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis) on noise-stress induced alterations in the antioxidant status and on the cell-mediated immune response in Wistar strain male albino rats. Noise-stress employed in this study was 100 dB for 4 h/d/15 days and Triphala was used at a dose of 1 g/kg/b.

Protective effect of Acorus calamus LINN on free radical scavengers and lipid peroxidation in discrete regions of brain against noise stress exposed rat.

Exposure to continuous loud noise is a serious health problem due to excess production of oxygen free radicals. In medical research, more attention is paid to the antioxidant properties of medicinal plants to minimize the harmful effects of radicals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of both ethyl acetate and methanolic extract of Acorus calamus LINN against noise stress (30 d, 100 dBA/4h/d) induced changes in the rat brain.

Immunomodulatory activity of triphala on neutrophil functions.

Immune activation is an effective as well as protective approach against emerging infectious diseases. The immunomodulatory activities of Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis) were assessed by testing the various neutrophil functions like adherence, phagocytosis (phagocytic index (P.I) and avidity index (A.

MexAB-OprM hyperexpression in NalC-type multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa: identification and characterization of the nalC gene encoding a repressor of PA3720-PA3719.

MexAB-OprM is a multidrug efflux system that contributes to intrinsic and acquired multidrug resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the latter as a result of mutational hyperexpression of the mexAB-oprM operon. While efflux gene hyperexpression typically results from mutations in the linked mexR repressor gene, it also occurs independently of mexR mutations in so-called nalC mutants that demonstrate more modest mexAB-oprM expression and, thus, more modest multidrug resistance than do mexR strains. Using a transposon insertion mutagenesis approach, nalC mutant strains were selected and the disrupted gene, PA3721, identified.

Molecular cloning of haemoglobin-binding protein HgbA in the outer membrane of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae.

From the porcine pathogen Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae cultivated in iron-deficient or haem-deficient media, haemoglobin (Hb)-agarose affinity purification was exploited to isolate an outer-membrane protein of approximately 105 kDa, designated HgbA. Internal peptide sequences of purified HgbA were used to design oligonucleotide primers for PCR amplification, yielding amplicons that showed partial sequences with homology to hgbA of Pasteurella multocida. Upon screening two genomic libraries of A.

Antimicrobial drug discovery through bacteriophage genomics.

Over evolutionary time bacteriophages have developed unique proteins that arrest critical cellular processes to commit bacterial host metabolism to phage reproduction. Here, we apply this concept of phage-mediated bacterial growth inhibition to antibiotic discovery. We sequenced 26 Staphylococcus aureus phages and identified 31 novel polypeptide families that inhibited growth upon expression in S.

fhuA of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae encodes a ferrichrome receptor but is not regulated by iron.

The swine pathogen Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae possesses a 75-kDa outer membrane protein (OMP), FhuA, the receptor for ferrichrome, a hydroxamate-type siderophore. Polyclonal serum to FhuA reacted with OMP preparations from 12 serotypes of A. pleuropneumoniae under conditions of iron repletion and restriction.

The mexR repressor of the mexAB-oprM multidrug efflux operon in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: characterization of mutations compromising activity.

Mutations in mexR yield a multidrug resistance phenotype in nalB mutants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a result of derepression of the mexAB-oprM multidrug efflux operon. MexR produced by several nalB strains carried single amino acid changes that compromised MexR stability or its ability to dimerize. Changes at residues L95 and R21, however, produced a stable MexR protein capable of dimerization and, thus, likely compromised DNA binding.

Multidrug efflux systems play an important role in the invasiveness of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic human pathogen. Certain strains can transmigrate across epithelial cells, and their invasive phenotype is correlated with capacity to cause invasive human disease and fatal septicemia in mice. Four multidrug efflux systems have been described in P.

Multidrug efflux in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: components, mechanisms and clinical significance.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen characterized by an intrinsic resistance to multiple antimicrobial agents and the ability to develop high-level (acquired) multidrug resistance during antibiotic therapy. Much of this resistance is promoted by highly homologous three-component efflux systems of broad substrate specificity, of which four have been identified to date. These include MexA-Mexs-OprM and MexX-MexY-OprM, which are expressed constitutively in wild type cells and, thus, provide for intrinsic multidrug resistance, and MexC-MexD-OprJ and MexE-MexF-OprN, whose expression so far has only been seen in acquired multidrug resistant mutant strains.

Multidrug efflux pumps: expression patterns and contribution to antibiotic resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms are intrinsically resistant to antimicrobial chemotherapies. At present, very little is known about the physiological changes that occur during the transition from the planktonic to biofilm mode of growth. The resistance of P.