Introduction- Septicemia is a clinical syndrome characterized by fever, malaise, tachycardia, hyperventilation and toxicity or prostration, which results when circulating bacteria multiply at a rate that exceeds removal by phagocytes. “Failure to thrive” may indicate chronic septicemia in infants. Neonatal sepsis is an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. In India nearly one fourth of half of neonatal deaths is due to neonatal septicemia. Materials and Methods- The study was approved by the Institute Ethical committee and conducted between January 2006 to December 2007. 50 infants with clinically suspected neonatal septicaemia were included in the present study. An incidence of clinically suspected septicaemia with positive blood cultures, their bacteriological profile and sensitivity pattern were studied. Results and observation- Incidence of culturally positive neonatal septicaemia in NICU is 62% out of clinically suspected neonates. Male neonates may be prone to septicaemia. There is a correlation between preterm babies and neonatal septicaemia. CRP, band cell % and band cell to neutrophil ratio are significant parameters for early diagnosis. Local bacterial infections are less significant with bacteremia. Gram negative bacteria are showing increase in resistance towards antibiotics. In vitro testing, most bacteria have good sensitivity towards ciprofloxacin and Amikacin. Conclusion-.Study reveals elevated incidence of neonatal septicaemia in our hospital. To reduce comprehensive neonatal mortality, strategies of proven value such as hand hygiene, barrier nursing, and constraint use of antibiotic have to be implanted.

Myectomas are chronic subcutaneous infections caused by fungi and bacteria. When the etiology is fungal they are known as Eumycetomas. We describe a case of white grain eumycetoma by Aspergillus nidulans (A. nidulans) of the foot in a 60 yrs. old male patient agriculturist by occupation from Maharashtra, India. A. nidulans mycetoma shows more bleeding than usually seen and it is more painful than other fungal agents. South and North part of India are endemic for Mycetoma. Maharashtra is western part of India where Mycetoma is not endemic. In present case lesion was painful probably due to A. nidulans infection and /or by secondary bacterial infection by MRSA and M. morganii. Conclusion-High index clinical suspicion, accurate categorization of lesion into eumycotic or actinomycotic along with culture correlation, is vital for prognosis for positive clinical outcome.

Introduction- Fungi are world- wide in distribution but only few of them are considered as pathogenic. As the fungal infections are not notifiable infections like viral, parasitic, bacterial diseases hence these are not given much attention and usually the diagnosis is established very late. In response to the increased incidence of fungal infections, the pharmaceutical industry has developed a number of newer less toxic anti-fungal drugs for clinical use. The increased use of antifungal drugs, often for prolonged periods, has led to acquired antifungal resistance among previously susceptible strains or species and to the increased incidents of infections with less common species. Objective- To study the fungal isolates in relation to site of infection/specimen and to establish in vitro anti-fungal susceptibility testing. Materials and Methods- The study was conducted during January 2007 to December 2008 Pad. Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College and Hospital Pimpri, Pune-18. Total 120 clinically suspected cases of superficial fungal infections were collected for study from various wards and OPDs of hospital. Results and Observation- Superficial fungal infection occurs mainly in younger age group and adults. In the present study males were more affected than females. Most common clinically diagnosed cases in superficial fungal infection of skin were of Tinea corporis, T. pedis and T. cruris. Among dermatophytes, T. rubrum was the commonest etiological agent followed by T. mentagrophytes. Amongst the non-dermatophyte moulds, Aspergillus spp. was the most prevalent species. SAAS method showed potential as a screen for anti-fungal susceptibility testing. Anti-fungal susceptibility testing of dermatophytes (Trichophyton rubrum was done by semi-solid agar dilution method using ant-fungal drug terbinafine. All isolates were sensitive. MIC of all isolates were 0.25µg/ml. Conclusion- To reduce the time required for anti-fungal susceptibility testing of filamentous fungi, semi-solid agar susceptibility method uses inoculums suspensions that can be readily prepared from the original pure plate. The test can even set up as soon as the mould is isolated. No special expertise or expensive equipments is needed, because the procedure is simple and similar for all fungi.

Introduction- Preterm labour is a challenging issue for the obstetricians even today. It is the largest contributor to the perinatal morbidity and mortality throughout the world. With the improvement of neonatal care, there has been a dramatic improvement in neonatal survival rates of preterm infants. But Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care is expensive and a preterm baby is at an increased risk of many complications like respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), hyperbilirubinemia, etc. So preterm labour is not only a medical and social problem but also an economic burden. Objective- Our study aims at detecting the incidence of bacterial vaginosis in preterm labour and comparing it with the control i.e. Pregnant women admitted in labour room at term. Materials and Methods- This study was conducted at Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College and Research Centre, Pimpri, Pune from 1st August 2006 to 31st July 2008 after taking permission from the institution’s ethical board committee. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Group I- 60 pregnant patients diagnosed as preterm labour, between 24-36 weeks gestation, were screened for Bacterial Vaginosis. Group II- 60 pregnant women admitted in labour room at term were taken as control (>37 weeks gestation). Results and Observations- 45% of the patients in Group I and 13.33% of the patients in Group II had bacterial vaginosis. 80% of the patients in group II had normal vaginal flora as compared to only 18.33% in group I. Out of 60 preterm cases 13.33% of the patients had intermediate Bacterial Vaginosis and 45% had definite Bacterial Vaginosis. Conclusion- Significant percentage of pregnant women with preterm labour had lower genital tract infections. They can be easily screened for bacterial vaginosis using Nugent’s scoring and treated with a combination of clotrimazole and clindamycin (local application). Nugent’s method is considered the gold standard method for microbiological detection of bacterial vaginosis.

Evaluation of students is a vital component of any educational process and it is necessary to assess their performance. It also gets a feedback of teaching process so as to improve the performance of teacher and student both. It is also of paramount importance to evaluate the tool used to assess the students so that the competencies aimed to achieve in the learner, can be measured. To fulfill the above goal, a study was undertaken for 1st M.B.B.S students at Seth G.S.Medical College, Mumbai. Students were exposed to two methods of evaluation viz a viz routine evaluation method in microanatomy (spots with unstructured viva and OSPE-objective structured practical examination).Feedback was taken in the form of a questionnaire and statistical analysis was done. The result shows that objective structured practical examination increases the objectivity and reduces subjectivity compared to conventional viva.