Evaluation of Molecular Assays for Diagnosis of Amoebic Liver Abscess in India with Bayesian Latent Class Analysis.

Amoebic liver abscess (ALA) is the most common extra-intestinal complication of Entamoeba histolytica, accounting for 50,000 deaths annually, and is endemic in South Asia. Diagnosis based on microscopic examination is insensitive, and serological assays are not discerning of current infections in endemic settings with high exposure. For a rapid and confirmatory laboratory diagnosis of ALA, the performance of a polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative real time PCR (qPCR), digital droplet PCR (ddPCR), and a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay that detects E.

Risk score for malignancy in patients with suspicious gallbladder lesions: Retrospective analysis of 175 cases.

Background: Among cancers, carcinoma gallbladder has one of the most dismal prognosis. Early lesions are difficult to biopsy because of proximity to luminal structures and risk of biliary peritonitis. However, early surgery offers the only chance of a complete cure.

Elastic stable intramedullary nailing versus submuscular plating in pediatric diaphyseal femur fractures: a randomized controlled trial among children in South India.

Elastic stable intramedullary nailing (ESIN) is the current preferred method for treating diaphyseal femur fractures in children. Introduction of the submuscular locked plate (SMP) fixation construct has opened the debate on treatment options for pediatric diaphyseal femur fractures in the older children and adolescents. A randomized controlled trial (RCT) protocol was designed to compare ESIN and SMP for diaphyseal femur fractures in children.

Burden of diabetes among patients with tuberculosis: 10-year experience from a tertiary care referral teaching hospital in South India.

Context: Tuberculosis (TB) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are converging epidemics, each worsening the morbidity of the other. A study of the prevalence of DM in TB patients assumes great importance.

Aims: The study aims to evaluate the association between DM and TB over a 10-year period in a tertiary care hospital.

Clinical Manifestations, Antimicrobial Drug Susceptibility Patterns, and Outcomes in Melioidosis Cases, India.

We studied the clinical manifestations and outcomes of 114 patients with culture-confirmed melioidosis treated at a tertiary hospital in southern India. Diabetes mellitus is the main risk factor, and chronic melioidosis mimicking tuberculosis was more common than acute disease. Septicemia and respiratory involvement were associated with poor outcomes.

Utility of Loop-mediated Isothermal Amplification Assay, Polymerase Chain Reaction, and ELISA for Diagnosis of Leptospirosis in South Indian Patients.

Background: Leptospirosis is a zoonotic disease which requires laboratory diagnosis for confirmation.

Materials And Methods: In this study serum samples from adults with acute undifferentiated fever (duration ≤15 days) were tested for IgM antibodies to by ELISA, PCR for gene and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for LipL32 and LipL41.

Results: Among the 150 sera tested, three were positive by PCR, LAMP and IgM ELISA/modified Faines' criteria, two by only PCR; seven only by LAMP assay and forty fulfilled modified Faine's criteria (illness clinically compatible and IgM ELISA positive for leptospirosis).

Attributable cost of a nosocomial infection in the intensive care unit: A prospective cohort study.

Aim: To study the impact of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) on cost and outcome from intensive care units (ICU) in India.

Methods: Adult patients (> 18 years) admitted over 1-year, to a 24-bed medical critical care unit in India, were enrolled prospectively. Treatment cost and outcome data were collected.

Draft genome sequence of reduced teicoplanin-susceptible and vancomycin-heteroresistant methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus from sepsis cases.

Here we report the whole-genome shotgun sequence of six methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) showing reduced susceptibility to both vancomycin and teicoplanin. The typical Indian community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA) clone ST772-MRSA-V-t657 was the most common genotype (3/6; 50%), followed by ST672-MRSA-IV (2/6; 33%) and ST22-MRSA-IV (1/6; 17%). All strains harboured a mutation in the tcaRAB operon, vraSR, graSR and/or rpoB genes, which are frequently mutated determinants in a heteroresistant vancomycin-intermediate S.

Hypopituitarism and AutoimmuneThyroiditis Following Snake Bite: An Unusual Clinical Scenario.

Snake venom can cause local tissue damage and lead to coagulopathy, shock, neurotoxicity and acute kidney injury. Hypopituitarism is a rare complication following snake bite. It has been described following Russell's viper bite from Burma and South India.

Kikuchi-fujimoto disease: clinical and laboratory characteristics and outcome.

Introduction: Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease is an uncommon disorder with worldwide distribution, characterized by fever and benign enlargement of the lymph nodes, primarily affecting young adults. Awareness about this disorder may help prevent misdiagnosis and inappropriate investigations and treatment. The objective of the study was to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of histopathologically confirmed cases of Kikuchi's disease from a tertiary care center in southern India.

Molecular epidemiology and genetic diversity of Orientia tsutsugamushi from patients with scrub typhus in 3 regions of India.

Scrub typhus, an acute febrile illness that is widespread in the Asia-Pacific region, is caused by the bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi, which displays high levels of antigenic variation. We conducted an investigation to identify the circulating genotypes of O. tsutsugamushi in 3 scrub typhus-endemic geographic regions of India: South India, Northern India, and Northeast India.

Scrub typhus in South India: clinical and laboratory manifestations, genetic variability, and outcome.

Objectives: This study sought to document the clinical and laboratory manifestations, genetic variability, and outcomes of scrub typhus, an often severe infection caused by Orientia tsutsugamushi, in South India.

Methods: Patients admitted to a large teaching hospital with IgM ELISA-confirmed scrub typhus were evaluated. Clinical examination with a thorough search for an eschar, laboratory testing, chest X-ray, and outcome were documented and analyzed.

Informed consent among nursing students participating in biomedical research.

For consent in biomedical research, it is essential that research participants understand the need for research, the study protocol, the risk and benefits of participation, the freedom to participate or decline and the right to leave the study at any time. A structured questionnaire was used to assess understanding and knowledge among nursing trainees participating in a cohort study investigating exposure and latent tuberculosis at a tertiary care hospital. Data were collected for 138 participants.

Nasopharyngeal swabs of school children, useful in rapid assessment of community antimicrobial resistance patterns in Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae.

Objectives: The present study evaluates the feasibility of rapid surveillance of community antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae in India using nasopharyngeal swabs (NPSs) of school children. It compares the AMR data obtained with that of invasive and nasopharyngeal (NP) isolates studied previously. No one has done such surveillance since our study so we decided to publish and more clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the methodology we did.

Risk factors for tuberculosis among health care workers in South India: a nested case-control study.

Objective: The epidemiology of tuberculosis (TB) among health care workers (HCWs) in India remains under-researched. This study is a nested case-control design assessing the risk factors for acquiring TB among HCWs in India.

Study Design And Settings: It is a nested case-control study conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital in India.

Acute myocardial injury and rhabdomyolysis caused by multiple bee stings.

Massive envenomation by honey bees is capable of causing multiorgan dysfunction as a result of direct toxic effect of massive envenomation and secondary to systemic anaphylactic reactions. Acute myocardial ischemia due to bee envenomation is a rare event. We report the case of a 65 year old lady who presented with acute myocardial ischemia, severe rhabdomyolysis and angioedema following massive bee envenomation.

An open-labelled randomized controlled trial comparing costs and clinical outcomes of open endotracheal suctioning with closed endotracheal suctioning in mechanically ventilated medical intensive care patients.

Purpose: Closed endotracheal suctioning (CES) may impact ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) risk by reducing environmental contamination. In developing countries where resource limitations constrain the provision of optimal bed space for critically ill patients, CES assumes greater importance.

Materials And Methods: In this prospective, open-labeled, randomized controlled trial spanning 10 months, we compared CES with open endotracheal suctioning (OES) in mechanically ventilated patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (ICU) of a university-affiliated teaching hospital.

Salmonella paratyphi osteomyelitis and psoas abscess.

Bone and joint infections associated with Salmonella spp account for less than 1% of all Salmonella infections. Most of the isolates are Salmonella typhi. Joint infections with S.

Detecting mycobacteraemia for diagnosing tuberculosis.

Background & Objectives: In human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected persons with pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), sputum may not always show acid fast bacilli (AFB). Moreover, in most cases of suspected extrapulmonary TB (irrespective of HIV status) mycobacteria-containing material is not readily available for investigation. This study evaluated whether blood culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteraemia (mycobacteraemia) help in diagnosing TB in such cases.