Objective: To evaluate the antibiotic sensitivity and resistance pattern in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting of a tertiary care hospital. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted for a period of 1 month in October 2017 on a total of 195 patients who were admitted to ICU of tertiary care hospital. The culture and sensitivity pattern of clinical isolates from blood, urine, sputum, endotracheal tube (ET) aspirate, catheter sites, and wound swabs were analyzed. Positive cultures were segregated and their antibiotic sensitivity testing was performed under the guidelines of clinical and laboratory standard institute (CLSI). Results: Of the total 195 ICU admissions, cultures were sent for 167 cases. Of which 127 patients were culture positive and 40 cases were culture negative. Isolated bacteria were mostly gram-negative bacilli, of which Escherichia coli was (18.6%), Acinetobacter (14.5%), Klebsiella (11.6%), Pseudomonas (9.8%), and Proteus (1.74%). Among the gram-positive organisms, coagulase negative staphylococcus (CoNS) (15.6%) was most commonly isolated followed by Streptococcus (2.32%). Fungal growth was also seen in 26 (15.11%) samples. Samples that grew organisms were blood (n = 48), sputum (n = 17), urine (n = 39), ET aspirate (n = 40), pus (n = 11), catheter (n = 4), ear swab (n = 2), and stool (n = 1). Conclusion: Gram-negative bacterial infections are increasing in ICUs, leading to inappropriate selection of antibiotics. Hence, antibiotic sensitivity and resistance pattern in a hospital setup has to be studied so as to guide the treating consultant to initiate empirical antibiotics in critical cases.

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Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is a less common cause of stroke with a wide range of clinical presentations, predisposing factors, radiological features and outcomes. A high index of suspicion is absolutely essential to diagnose cerebral venous thrombosis. In this article, we have reviewed the clinical spectrum and radiological profile of patients with cerebral venous thrombosis and attempted to identify the specific predisposing factors for developing cerebral venous thrombosis particularly in this region of India.Methods: 116 patients hospitalized from January 2015 to March 2017 with a final diagnosis of Cerebral Venous Thrombosis which was confirmed by imaging (MRI/MRV or CT angiography) were included. Patients who were initially diagnosed as CVT but imaging were not suggestive of the same were excluded.Results: The mean age of the study population was 35.21 years, with most patients aged between 21-30 years. 18.1% of the study population were puerperal women, much lower than earlier series. 54.54% of the men had a significant history of alcohol consumption and 10.34% of the non-puerperal women revealed a history of consuming oral contraceptive pills. Among men, seizures were the most common presenting symptom followed by headache. Women presented with headache followed by vomiting. Superior sagittal sinus, transverse sinus, cortical veins and sigmoid sinus involvement were quite common in comparison to the other sinuses.Conclusions: Accurate and prompt diagnosis of CVT is crucial because timely and appropriate therapy can reverse the disease process and significantly reduce the risk of acute complications and long-term sequelae. In this article, we have reviewed the epidemiology, causative factors, clinical features and as well as radiological pattern of CVT from an Indian perspective. Over the last decade, a relatively high incidence of CVT in fairly young individuals warrants further evaluation towards genetic predisposition for pro-thrombotic states particularly in this region of India.

BACKGROUND Poisoning is a major healthcare issue in our country. There is a recent increase in trend of non-OP compound usage. We wanted to study the socio-demographic, and clinical profile in terms of outcome with different poisons. METHODS A total of 100 patients were included in this retrospective study conducted in tertiary care hospital in Northern Karnataka. Data was collected and analysed using pre-structured questionnaire regarding demographic details, mode of poisoning, precipitating factors, duration of hospitalization, and final outcome. Descriptive statistics and chi-square test were done to find the association between the two attributes. Odds ratio was also calculated. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS Mean age of the study population was 31.48 years. Majority of the study population was females (63 %, N = 63), homemakers or students (32 % each), illiterates (68 %) and married (62 %). Mode of poisoning was suicidal in 78 % of the patients. Among the compounds used for poisoning, non-OP compoundespecially pharmaceutical drugs accounted for 40 % of the cases. Mean duration of hospital stay was 5 days and 16 % had prolonged hospitalisation. Family fight, depression, and consumption of ethanol at the time of poisoning were the common precipitating factors. Mortality was 3 %. Homemakers and students (χ2 = 4.33, df = 1, OR = 3.33, 95 % CI = 1.02-10.7, P < 0.05), unmarried individuals (χ2 = 5.31, df = 1, OR = 3.75, 95 % CI = 1.16 - 12.1, P < 0.05) and teetotallers (χ2 = 18.94, df =1, OR=11, 95 % CI = 3.26 - 37, P < 0.05) had higher proportion of non-OP compound consumption and this was statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Educational awareness and regulation of drug availability over the counter, to prevent such emergencies, is essential. Awareness of good mental health and support systems has to be publicised to prevent the precipitating factors. KEYWORDS Poisoning, Drug Overdose, OP Compound, India

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