Search

Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common infectious conditions seeking treatment. There are varieties of microorganisms associated. The bacteriological investigations are incomplete without antibiotic sensitivity test of the isolate. Our aim is to determine age and sex distribution of UTI, bacteriological profile, and antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the organisms. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional observational study of records of patients with clinically suspected UTI from Kartik 2076 to Magh 2076 was conducted at National Medical College and Teaching Hospital (NMCTH). It included both inpatient and OPD visit patients who submitted their clean-catch midstream urine sample for culture and antibiotic sensitivity at Microbiology lab of NMCTH. Result: Out of 385 patients, 103 (26.75%) showed bacterial growth. Escherichia coli (47.58 %) was the most common organism followed by Staphylococcus sps. (18.45%) and Klebsiella sps.(17.47%) respectively. There was female dominance (62.13%) but male were predominantly affected in children and older population. The most common age group for UTI was 21-30 years (mean age 25 years) and females were more affected than males. The most common pathogen was Escherichia coli, followed by Staphylococcal sps. and Klebsiella. All the organisms showed best sensitivity to tigecycline (100%). Conclusion: This study highlights the common pathogens causing UTI and their antibiotic sensitivity patterns which could help clinicians in starting rational empirical antibiotic therapy for such patients while awaiting urine culture reports.

Medical implants are routinely tracked and monitored using different techniques, such as MRI, X-ray, and ultrasound. Due to the need for ionizing radiation, the two former methods pose a significant risk to tissue. Ultrasound imaging, however, is non-invasive and presents no known risk to human tissue. Aerogels are an emerging material with great potential in biomedical implants. While qualitative observation of ultrasound images by experts can already provide a lot of information about the implants and the surrounding structures, this paper describes the development and study of two simple B-Mode image analysis techniques based on attenuation measurements and echogenicity comparisons, which can further enhance the study of the biological tissues and implants, especially of different types of biocompatible aerogels.

Hypertension is the leading risk factor of mortality in Nepal accounting for ∼33 000 deaths in 2016. However, more than 50% of the hypertensive patients are unaware of their status. We participated in the May Measurement Month 2017 (MMM17) project initiated worldwide by the International Society of Hypertension to raise the awareness on the importance of blood pressure (BP) screening. In this paper, we discuss the screening results of MMM17 in Nepal. An opportunistic cross-sectional survey of volunteers aged ≥18 years was carried out in May 2017 following the standard MMM protocol. Data were collected from 18 screening sites in 7 districts covering 5 provinces. Screenings were conducted either in health facilities, public places, or participants’ homes. Trained volunteers with health science background and female community health volunteers were mobilized to take part in the screening. A total of 5972 individuals were screened and of 5968 participants, for whom a mean of the 2nd and 3rd readings was available, 1456 (24.4%) participants had hypertension; 908 (16.8%) of those not receiving treatment were hypertensive; and 248 (45.2%) of those being treated had uncontrolled BP. MMM17 is the first nationwide BP screening campaign undertaken in Nepal. Given the suboptimal treatment and control rates identified in the study, there is a strong imperative to scale up hypertension prevention, screening, and management programmes. These results suggest that opportunistic screening can identify significant numbers with hypertension. Mobilization of existing volunteer networks and support of community stakeholders, would be necessary to improve the overall impact and sustainability of future screening programmes.

Sensitive spectroscopic instrumentation is now sufficiently portable to be used in field experiments involving terrestrial light sources as well as for astronomical observations. We report the results of a 20 night investigation of a phenomenon known as “Marfa lights” with the aid of a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope and a CCD-array spectrometer. We show that the combination of computer azimuth and altitude logging, video recording, and continuous spectroscopy provides enough data for unequivocal identification of false positives such as distant streetlamps, automotive headlamps, and fires. We demonstrate that spectroscopic analysis of atmospheric molecular oxygen absorption can be used to determine distances of continuum-spectrum sources with an accuracy of 6% or better for distances of 4 km or greater. We also used astronomical objects for both directional references and approximate estimation of the system noise level in terms of minimum usable light flux.

It has been shown that microplasmas, ranging from 3–20 µm in diameter, can be generated in electrolyte and dielectric liquids [1]. The application of short duration pulses, ranging in energy from milijoules to joules, to submerged electrodes releases energy in the form of shockwaves, light emission and chemistry. The energy dissipation occurs in a highly localized and non-uniform manner and the state of the fluid can vary rapidly both spatially and temporally around the electrode. Concerns about bubble formation during discharge initiation may be a moot issue as in theory the localized state may even pass through super critical states during this breakdown process. To understand such plasma initiation within a liquid the thermodynamic state and process should be understood. The nature of this breakdown process can be compared to underwater explosions and this is used as a point reference throughout this analysis. Voltage-current characteristics, Schlieren and Shadowgraphs techniques are employed to trace state transitions and to obtain a better understanding of the process. Optical emission spectroscopy is also used to identify species. Production of plasma in liquid can provide both nonthermal and thermal mechanisms for chemically modifying water, oil and other liquids. It is hypothesized that the thermodynamic state and plasma state can be controlled by modifying rise time and duration of the pulses. Determining such methods of controlling the state can lead to better control over the chemistry taking place.