No abstract

Sixty-one isolates of Candida recovered from HIV seropositive and cancer patients were studied for elaboration of putative virulence determinants--phospholipase (PL) and secreted aspartyl proteinase (Sap). Forty two (68.85%) isolates examined were PL producers and 51 (83.6%) were positive for Sap. 57.37% (35/61) isolates produced both enzymes. Enzymatic activity was more pronounced in Candida albicans with 100% PL and 94.1% Sap activity. In contrast, non-C. albicans species demonstrated only 29.6% PL and 70.3% Sap activity, indicating interplay of other virulence determinants in these yeasts in colonization and disease.

The locally available (khadikraft) honey produced the best activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and was found to be better than all of the imported varieties of therapeutic honey.

The myth that the effect of oil-pulling therapy on oral health was just a placebo effect has been broken and there are clear indications of possible saponification and emulsification process, which enhances its mechanical cleaning action.

Extended spectrum β lactamases (ESBLs) continue to be a major problem in clinical setups world over, conferring resistance to the expanded spectrum cephalosporins. An attempt was made to study ESBL production among Enterobacteriaceae members from a tertiary care center in Chennai. A total of seventy randomly collected isolates of the family Enterobacteriaceae from a tertiary care center was studied for their susceptibility patterns to various antibiotics and detection of ESBL producers by double disc synergy (DDS) test and three dimensional test (TDT). Eighty percent of the isolates were multidrug resistant (MDR) and 20% were ESBL producers. TDT detected 85.7% whereas only 14.2% were detected by DDS. In the present study, a large number of isolates were found to be MDR and ESBL producers. TDTs were found to be better than DDS in the detection of ESBLs. Continued monitoring of drug resistance is necessary in clinical settings for proper disease management.