Culture of Cultures: A Small Step Towards Augmenting Diagnostic Stewardship.

Laboratories with a well-established diagnostic stewardship program for culture and the antimicrobial susceptibility test (C-AST) play a key role in guiding clinicians to institute specific targeted therapy. Blood culture is one of the most critical investigations performed at a microbiology laboratory. Therefore, it is particularly important to develop a robust diagnostic stewardship model for the blood culture laboratory division.

Case Report: Pharyngeal Diphtheria in a Pregnant Woman from South India.

Diphtheria is a vaccine-preventable disease and is caused by toxigenic strains of Corynebacterium diphtheriae. Several case reports have been published in the recent years, and this resurgence of cases has occurred mainly in adolescent and adult populations. Also, several research articles have reported waning immunity against diphtheria in adults who have completed childhood immunization.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) carriage among health care personnel in nonoutbreak settings in tertiary care hospital in Mysore.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a multidrug resistant organism recognized as major cause of infections ranging from relatively minor skin and soft tissue infections to life-threatening systemic infections. Contact transmission from health care personnel (HCP) to the patients provides the main mode of transmission of MRSA. Screening of HCPs colonized with MRSA may aid in preventing spread of this organism.

Comparative immunocytochemistry of isolated rat & monkey pancreatic islet cell types.

Background & Objectives: Data on comparative distribution of the islet cell types in the Indian bonnet monkeys and rats are not available. The aim of the present study was to compare the arrangement of the three islet cell types in the native and in isolated rat and Indian bonnet monkey islets by immunocytochemistry.

Methods: Rat islets isolated by chopped tissue collagenase digestion method and islets of monkey isolated by intraductal collagenase digestion method were immunostained by streptavidin-biotin peroxidase method.