International Medical Journal

To determine the antibacterial activity of a mixture of Sphatika, Navasadara, Suryakshara against common urinary pathogens. Evaluation of Sphatika, Navasadara, Suryakshara against common urinary pathogens and compare the antimicrobial activity of the Ayurvedic medicines with the standard urinary antibiotics. The material includes Mullor Hinton Agar, Sterile cotton swab, Sterile plane discs, Forceps, Sterile test tubes, Sterile cotton, Conical flasks, distilled water, Autoclave, Hot air oven, Incubator and the test organisms include Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus species, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Serratia species, Staphylococcus aureus. Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method was employed to determine the antibacterial effect of the drug. Escherichia-coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Serratia species showed sensitivity at 2000mg, 3000mg, and 3500mg but were resistant to lower concentrations. At the same time, staphylococcus aures and Proteus vulgaris exhibited resistance to the formulation of all the concentrations with a slight irrelevant zone with higher two concentrations. The formulation is a choice for treating urinary tract infection, considering its nil side effect, and further studies must be in place for advancement.

The mortality and risk factors in poor access dialysis patients especially during the Covid-19 period has not been fully explored. Objective: We designed the present retrospective cohort study to evaluate the survival and mortality risk factors of poor access hemodialysis patients with femoral tunneled catheters. All 62 poor venous access patients with femoral permanent catheters (permicath) on chronic hemodialysis at our university hospital were enrolled in the study between September 2019 and April 2021. Poor venous access was defined as people who had no other mean for dialysis access other than the femoral catheter. Causes of deaths were divided into 4 groups: Catheter-related (Bleeding, sepsis,), catheter-non related (cardiovascular disease, Pneumonia, pulmonary edema, cancer, ICH), no access for hemodialysis and Covid-19. Death time was classified as less than 30 days, between 1-6 months and after 6 months. The mean age was 54.56 (SD: 15.70) years. Of 25 deaths 5 deaths (8.1%) happened when the patients didn’t have any vascular access for dialysis. The most frequent cause of death during 2020-2021 was covid-19 (9.7%). Survival rate at 6 months and 1 year was 76% and 61% respectively. Poor access HD patients had a lower survival rate than the general HD population and we should do our best to improve the survival by improving their comorbidities status, using the best catheters as we can, and educating dialysis nurses and patients to save their catheters as no access is one of the important causes of their mortality.

Obesity has reached epidemic proportion in India with morbid obesity affecting 5% of country’s population. As the rate of Obesity climbs, obesity related diseases and conditions follow with similar rates. Adipose tissue is an active endocrine organ that releases several cytokines such as IL-1, IL-6 TNF-α and adipokines such as leptin, adiponectin, hepcidin, resistin. This study is to analyze if there is any association of Obesity with Hepcidin in men. This case-control study was conducted at a tertiary care centre in Tamil Nadu between Dec 2013 and Nov 2014, including 80 subjects of South Indian population, of male sex. The biochemical parameters which were measured included the levels of hepcidin, ferritin, iron and TIBC. The results obtained were statistically analyzed using SPSS software version 15.0. Mean and Standard deviation were found for all parameters. Independent sample t-test and ANOVA were performed to check for the statistical significance for differences in mean between the groups. The mean hepcidin values for the control group was 756 ± 411 and the study group was 1122 ± 930 and when compared it was found to be statistically significant with a p-value of 0.032. Hepcidin is predominantly produced by hepatocytes and also in adipose tissue, recognized as the key regulator of systemic iron homeostasis. The measurement of hepcidin in biological fluids is therefore a promising tool in the diagnosis and management of medical conditions in which iron metabolism is affected.

Urology is a surgical specialty that has undergone many changes in the last decade. Surgery has begun to shift from open surgery to endoscopy and laparoscopy. Post-operative infection is one of the most common complications in endoscopic and laparoscopic procedures. It is very important to distinguish the role of prophylactic antibiotics and empirical antibiotics. Prophylactic antibiotics can prevent infection but it is unable to compensate for infections due to poor hygiene and surgical techniques. Meanwhile, empirical antibiotics administration is given based on clinical symptoms, or it is proven that there was microorganism infection. Urological procedures can be categorized into 4 types: Category A (clean), B (clean- contaminated), C (contaminated), and D (dirty). In category A, patients do not need to be given prophylactic antibiotics unless they have risk factors for infection. There are significant differences in countries or regions and types of hospitals in the use of prophylactic antibiotics so that it is difficult to make the same procedure in the administration of prophylactic antibiotics.

This study was conducted with an objective to compare the efficacy of Recombinant Human Epidermal Growth Factor (rHEF) in healing of diabetic ulcers with conventional dressings, also in terms of rate of healing and duration of hospital stay. A prospective study with a total of 50 Diabetic ulcer patients between 18 and 75 yrs of age were taken for the study and were divided into 2 groups of 25 each. Only ulcers of </= to Grade II of Wagner classification were included. Group E: Patients received dressing using Recombinant Epidermal Growth factor (All of them were from a single company). Group C: Patients received Conventional dressing using Povidone iodine, H2O2, EUSOL and Normal saline. Patients were observed for a total of 6weeks each or until the complete wound healing had occurred, whichever was earlier, and were evaluated after every week for wound size and rate of wound healing. Complete healing of ulcer was observed in 21(84%) patients of Group E, whereas only 17(68%) among Group C showed complete healing. Rate of decrease in the size of the ulcer was significantly higher among Group E than in Group C patients (P <0.05). Also mean duration of hospital stay among patients in Group E was 14.2 days compared to 18.9 days in those patients in Group C. This difference was also statistically significant (p value<0.001, significant) This study demonstrates the positive effect of topical rHEGF in significantly speeding up wound healing and its efficacy in healing of diabetic ulcers.