Bacterial infections are often found to cause morbidity and mortality around the globe. Indiscriminate use of antibiotic for treatment of such infections is reported to cause selective pressure and increase in drug resistance. Emergence of antibiotic resistance is a growing concern for people of all age having bacterial infections. It is important to determine the trend of antibiotic resistance patterns of pathogenic bacteria isolated from clinical samples for appropriate treatment of patients. A retrospective study was conducted on patient samples collected from 1 July 2018 to 15 March 2019. A total of 500 urine, 136 blood, 120 stool, 172 swab, 90 Sputum and 60 pus samples were randomly collected from both male and female patients of different age groups who reported to a diagnostic centre in Dhaka city. Pathogenic bacteria were isolated and identified from the collected samples following standard methods. Antibiotic sensitivity patterns of isolated bacteria were also determined by disc diffusion test. Proportion of UTI in female patients (71.67%) was found to be higher than the male (28.33%) patients and mostly caused by Escherichia coli (73.33%). Among Gram negative bacteria, E. coli (51%) was found to be predominant followed by Pseudomonas spp. (11.47%), Klebsiella (9.84%) and Salmonella Typhi (9.84%). Among Gram positive organism Staphylococcus aureus (9.0%), beta haemolytic streptococci (5.74%) and enterococci (3.28%) were found to be present. Among the tested antibiotics imipenem was found to be the most effective (93.02%) followed by gentamycin (76.03%) against all isolated bacteria. Amoxycillin was found to be least effective (21.29%) against all isolated bacteria. Increase in antibiotic resistance was possibly due to indiscriminate use of antibiotic for treatment of various infections. Prudent use of antimicrobial drugs will help reduce spread of resistant bacteria and complication of treatment of infected patients. Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.9(1) 2019: 1-4

Demonstration of equivalent amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredient is a basic requirement for intravenous generic drugs prior to administration. Physicochemical methods are often used to determine concentration of antibiotics in biological fluids. However, it does not permit direct quantification of potency of a desired antibiotic. This study demonstrates the application of a microbiological assay to determine the potency and concentration of commercially available pharmaceutical-grade antibiotics used for injections. Concentration-dependent variation of inhibitory effect of four commercial brands of cefuroxime and two of ciprofloxacin were observed against two reference bacteria (Escherichia coli DH5α and Escherichia coli ATCC 8739) on Mueller Hinton agar. Regression analysis was used to assess the in vitro equivalence of generic products sold by different retail companies in Dhaka city. A linear relationship was found between the concentration and response of the bacteria in regression analysis where anti-log of X-intercept and slope showed the concentration and potency, respectively. The study showed excellent results of linearity (r2≥0.89), precision (inter assay variation ≤10% for cefuroxime and ≤20% for ciprofloxacin), accuracy and specificity tests for both types of antibiotics. Pharmaceutical equivalence demonstrated by four cefuroxime and two ciprofloxacin samples showed no significantly distinguishable slopes (P > 0.78 and P > 0.44) and intercepts (P > 0.25 and P > 0.07), respectively. Estimated potency for cefuroxime was 91.1-100.0% and for ciprofloxacin was 68.1-100.0%. Microbiological assay was found to be convenient, rapid, cost-effective, precise and accurate in demonstrating pharmaceutical equivalence of antibiotics in different dosage forms. This technique can be used as an alternative method for testing generic antibiotics prior to their use in animal and human. Stamford Journal of Microbiology, Vol.10 (1) 2020: 25-29

Background: The impact of anesthesia-based pain services has not been assessed in an efficient method. Anesthesia-based pain services are facilitating developments in the quality of care of surgical patients. Developed and directing institution-wide perioperative analgesia programs that include interdisciplinary collaborations. Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate postoperative pain management is improved by anesthesia-based pain management. Methods: This prospective single center study utilized a standardized approach to evaluate the quality of pain care provided to patients who were and who were not cared for by an anesthesia-based pain service. A total of 50 patients were evaluated using a standardized survey that consisted of a medical record review and a patient interview. Patients who received pain service care reported significantly lower pain intensity scores; had lower levels of pain in the postoperative period; had a lower incidence of pruritus, sedation, and nausea; and experienced significantly less pain than expected. Data was expressed as mean with standard deviation (Mean±SD). Collected Data were statically analyzed applying chi-square test using SPSS-24. P value of <0.05 was considered statically significant. Results: A total of 50 postoperative patients, from 23 hospitals, were evaluated prospectively. The mean age of the patients was 52.2 years (SD = 19.5 years) and 56.9% of them were female. On average, the patients stayed in the hospital 2.5 days (SD = 4.3 days; median = 1.0 days). Conclusions: The findings from this study demonstrate that the care provided by anesthesia-based pain services has a significant impact on patient outcomes.