Objective: Neonatal septicemia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in newborn inborn. As the clinical manifestations are vague and nonspecific, it is pertinent that an early diagnosis is made to prevent serious morbidity and mortality. So, an attempt was made to establish correlation between sepsis screening & blood culture in neonate presenting with features of sepsis to accelerate the diagnostic process. Research and Methods: In our study we tried to study (1) early indicators of sepsis screen & their statistical correlation with blood culture (considered as gold standard); (2) different aspects of outcome in neonatal sepsis. Results: Though individual sepsis screen parameters showed little correlation with blood culture status, yet on combination it was found that specificity and positive predictive accuracy increased while sensitivity decreased them individual tests. Also combination of tests yield better results than single tests. Conclusion: The combination of parameters yielded better results than single tests and proved to be an invaluable aid for early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis.

Midline sternotomy is the most common incision for cardiac surgery, but problems of wound healing and sternal instability are still matters of concern. The use of stainless steel wires only was compared with the use of wires plus sternal bands for closure of midline sternotomy wounds in a 2-year period. Of 370 patients in whom only stainless steel wires were used, 14 (3.78%) required re-operation for dehiscence. Only 3 (0.76%) of 395 patients in whom sternal bands were also used, required re-operation for dehiscence. The difference was highly significant. It was concluded that use of sternal bands leads to a more stable union.

Myiasis is an infection of live mammalian tissue by the larvae of dipteran flies and commonly found in the tropics and subtropics. It usually infects domestic and wild animals, but sometimes also affects human. Umbilical cord myiasis in the neonatal period associated with sepsis is a rare occurrence with few reported cases in the literature. In this article, authors report a 7-day-old neonate from a rural area presented with neonatal sepsis due to umbilical myiasis caused by fly larval form of blow fly (Chrysomya megacephala).

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