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Health and Safety Survey:- *Javed Akhter, PhD, Sameera Al Johani, MD, Loulwah Hammad, BSc, Khalid Al Zahrani, MSc.
*Director, Quality Management and Laboratory Safety,Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Mail Code 1122,P.O. Box 22490,King Abdulaziz Medical City,Riyadh 11426,Saudi Arabia.
Abstract:- A Health and Safety survey was conducted among Laboratory workers in the Pathology Laboratory at King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Analysis of 154 completed questionnaires showed that the majority of respondents were female (61%) with most participants under the age of 30 years (49%). 88% of respondents regularly worked with blood and blood products. It was found that 14% had suffered a needle stick injury and 8% had received splashes to the eyes or mouth; 2% had not reported these exposures. Full compliance of wearing gloves at all times when working with blood and blood products was 92%. Only 61% of respondents washed their hands after removing gloves. There was also a low compliance of using goggles/face shields when handling body fluids outside of a biological safety cabinet (17%). Reasons given were lack of availability (30%), not thought necessary (18%) and interfered with job (8%). Total compliance for safe disposal of sharps in a sharps container was 92%. This first report in Saudi Arabia identified several deficiencies and strategies for improvement. These results are essential in formulating effective health and safety measures and provide relevant and focused education to reduce occupational related hazards and injuries.
Keywords:- Occupational hazards, laboratory workers, laboratory hazards.
Research article:- * Dr Anila.A.Mathews MD 1 , Dr Marina Thomas MD.2, Dr B.Appalaraju MD2.
1. Assistant professor, Dept of microbiology, PSGIMSR,Coimbatore, India.
2.Professor of Microbiology, Dept of microbiology ,PSGIMSR, Coimbatore, India.
3.Professor and Head , Dept of microbiology, PSGIMSR,Coimbatore, India.
Abstract:- Background and Objectives: Traditionally, methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is considered as a nosocomial pathogen, but an increasing prevalence of community acquired MRSA is being reported worldwide including India. This study is aimed at identifying the prevalence and susceptibility characteristics of community acquired MRSA in our hospital. Materials and methods: The study group consisted of 208 consecutive MRSA identified on the basis of their resistance to cefoxitin disk (30 µg) by the disc diffusion method and mecA gene detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Isolates were categorized as community acquired MRSA based on criteria for inclusion and their antibiotic susceptibility was compared with that of the hospital acquired MRSA isolates. Results: Among the 208 MRSA analyzed, 18 % (n=37) were community acquired . The isolates were significantly more sensitive to ciprofloxacin than the hospital acquired MRSA isolates. Discussion: The prevalence of community acquired MRSA in this study (12%) is comparable to its prevalence in other studies across India. Susceptibility to antibiotics other than glycopeptides was an important characteristic of community acquired MRSA. In the absence of other reliable phenotypic test for its identification, susceptibility to ciprofloxacin is suggested as an alternative. Conclusion: An important implication is that the typical first-line betalactams and cephalosporins will not cover the cellulitis or abscess if CA-MRSA is involved. Drug therapy will need to be changed. CA-MRSA appears to be sensitive to minocycline, doxycycline, Cotrimoxazole and clindamycin. Hence community acquired MRSA has a range of antibiotics to choose from, other than the glycopeptides, when compared with that of hospital acquired MRSA. Clinicians need to be aware of it and change according to susceptibility patterns.
Key words:- Community acquired MRSA, MecA gene, Cefoxitin, hospital acquired MRSA.
Research article:- * P. Shetti1 , A. Venkatachalam.1 1.Department of Chemistry, Bhavan’s College, Andheri (West), Mumbai – 400058, Maharashtra, India
Abstract:- Trihexyphenidyl HCl, Trifluoperazine HCl and Chlorpromazine HCl is antipsychotic drugs and used for symptomatic treatment of psychotic ailment. We present a simple liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method developed and validated for the quantification of Trihexyphenidyl HCl, Trifluoperazine HCl and Chlorpromazine HCl in Human Plasma. Ornidazole was used as the internal standard. The simple and cost effective Liquid-Liquid Extraction method is applied for the extraction of all three drug and Internal standard from Plasma. A rapid isocratic separation is achieved by a short HYPERSIL, Hypurity C18 (50x4.6)mm 5µ (Thermo, USA) column using mobile phase of Acetonitrile and Ammonium acetate buffer (70:30 v/v, (%) ) at flow rate of 0.4 ml/min. The run time is 2 minutes suggests high throughput of the proposed method. . The compound was ionized in the positive electro spray ionization (ESI) mode of the mass spectrometer. Detection of mass was performed in multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode; Trihexyphenidyl m/z 302.2-►98.1, Trifluoperazine m/z 408.1-►113.1, Chlorpromazine m/z 319.1-►86.1 and Ornidazole 220.1-►128.1. The response for all the three drugs found to be linear over the range of 0.1-100 ng/ml. The lower limit of quantification of the LC-MS/MS method was 0.1ng/ml. The intra-and inter-day precisions were below 10.0% and the accuracy was between + 5.0% and - 5.0%. This validated LC-MS/MS is rapid, sensitive, specific and cost-effective method for determining Trihexyphenidyl HCl, Trifluoperazine HCl and Chlorporomazine HCl in human plasma samples.
Key words :- Trihexyphenidyl HCl, Trifluoperazine HCl and Chlorpromazine HCl, LC-MS/MS study, Bioequivalence, Development and validation.
Research article(Case Report):- * Balachandra S. Ankad 1, Sharada S. Patil 2, Vijay D. Dombale 3, Yamanur P Lamani.4
1.Department of Dermatology, S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot , India.
2.Department of Pathology, S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot , India.
3.Department of Pathology, S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot , India.
4.Department of Surgery, S. Nijalingappa Medical College, Bagalkot , India.
Abstract:- Background: Liposarcoma is one of the most common soft tissue sarcoma in adulthood. Most frequently it arises in the retroperitonium, lower extremities and less often in the head and neck area. Only a few cases of scalp liposarcoma have been previously reported. Main observations: We report a case of lipomatous tumour of scalp in a 30 year old female. Wide surgical excision of the lesion was done under local anaesthesia and sent for histopathological examination. Microscopic picture revealed features suggestive of sclerosing atypical lipomatous tumour, dermis showed small clusters and isolated adipocytes with atypical features surrounded by hyalinizing fibrous stroma. After one year of follow up, the patient remained free of disease. Conclusions: Liposarcoma of head and neck is very rare, with only a handful of cases reported on scalp. Patients with cutaneous and subcutaneous atypical lipomatous tumour or well differentiated liposarcoma have a good prognosis, but there are reports of local recurrences after a long period, as well as high grade change and dedifferentiation. Hence careful follow up is required.
Key words:- Atypical lipomatous tumour, liposarcoma- scalp, sclerosing variant.
Research article:-
* I.O.George, A.I.Frank-Briggs Department of Paediatrics, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria.
Abstract:-
Background: Children with sickle cell anaemia are often treated with blood transfusion which is an important route of transmission of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV infection among previously transfused children with sickle cell anaemia at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital(UPTH), Port Harcourt, Nigeria Methods: This was a prospective study of sickle cell anaemia patients with previous blood transfusion (aged 6 months to 16 years) attending the paediatric haematology clinic of UPTH, Port Harcourt, Nigeria from January 2008 to December 2009. Results: There were a total of 118 patients with previous blood transfusion from January 2008 to December 2009. Out of these, 66 (55.9 %%) were males while 52 (44.1%) were females .The Mean age (± 1 standard deviation) was 2.7 ±2.6 years (range 0.5-16 years). Five (4.2%) of 118 patients were HIV-seropositive. The parents of these patients were HIV-seronegative. However, the HIV-seropositive patients are being followed up at the paediatric HIV clinic of our hospital after post-test counseling. Conclusion: The HIV-seropositive rate in this study is comparable with national estimates thus highlighting the continued risks of inadequate blood banking systems in Nigeria.
Keywords:- HIV INFECTION, Sickle Cell Anaemia, Blood Transfusion, Port Harcourt, Nigeria.