The Surveillance for Enteric Fever in Asia Project (SEAP), Severe Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa (SETA), Surveillance of Enteric Fever in India (SEFI), and Strategic Typhoid Alliance Across Africa and Asia (STRATAA) Population-based Enteric Fever Studies: A Review of Methodological Similarities and Differences.

Building on previous multicountry surveillance studies of typhoid and others salmonelloses such as the Diseases of the Most Impoverished program and the Typhoid Surveillance in Africa Project, several ongoing blood culture surveillance studies are generating important data about incidence, severity, transmission, and clinical features of invasive Salmonella infections in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. These studies are also characterizing drug resistance patterns in their respective study sites. Each study answers a different set of research questions and employs slightly different methodologies, and the geographies under surveillance differ in size, population density, physician practices, access to healthcare facilities, and access to microbiologically safe water and improved sanitation. These differences in part reflect the heterogeneity of the epidemiology of invasive salmonellosis globally, and thus enable generation of data that are useful to policymakers in decision-making for the introduction of typhoid conjugate vaccines (TCVs). Moreover, each study is evaluating the large-scale deployment of TCVs, and may ultimately be used to assess post-introduction vaccine impact. The data generated by these studies will also be used to refine global disease burden estimates. It is important to ensure that lessons learned from these studies not only inform vaccination policy, but also are incorporated into sustainable, low-cost, integrated vaccine-preventable disease surveillance systems.

Green Synthesized Carbon Quantum Dots from Polianthes tuberose L. Petals for Copper (II) and Iron (II) Detection.

In this work carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are synthesized via a simple, low cost and as well as green way using tuberose (Polianthes tuberose L.) petals as the carbon source for the first time. We have not done any surface modification to the prepared CQDs although we directly employed this as fluorescent probe for the sensitive and selective detection of Fe2+ and Cu2+ ions. Both these ions drastically quench the emission intensity of the CQDs; in case of Cu2+ ions quenched CQDs EDTA results in regaining the fluorescence property but for Fe2+ ions quenched CQDs no such effect of EDTA is found. The limit of detection (LOD) is observed to be 200 nM in case of Cu2+ which is much lower than the safe limit provided by the WHO in drinking water. Hence the CQDs prepared in this simple and low cost method may find an important role in monitoring the water quality. The quantum yield of the CQDs prepared in our method is around 3%. Transmission electron microscope shows picture of nicely shaped CQDs with average size ~ 4 nm.

Small Vessel Vasculitis, an Uncommon Presentation of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

We report a nineteen year old female with gangrene of toes as the only clinical feature of systemic lupus erythematosus. She was treated successfully with pulse cyclophosphamide and steroid.

Treatment of asthma: Identification of the practice behavior and the deviation from the guideline recommendations.

BACKGROUND: Despite an exponential development of the understanding of the disease with availability of good therapy and feasibility of good control along with availability of globally accepted guidelines, there remains a significant gap between the guidelines and prevailing practice behavior for treating asthma all over the globe. This perhaps stands as the single most deterrent factor for good asthma care worldwide. The objective of the study is to analyze the asthma prescriptions to find out the available status of the practice behaviour and the deviations from the guideline in asthma practice. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The asthma prescriptions of the referred patients presenting to the OPD services of the IPCR, Kolkata were photocopied and collected. They were further analyzed based on the available information upon a format being prepared on four major areas as qualifications, clinical recording habit, practice of evaluating patients, and treatment habit that stands apparent from the prescribed medications. The doctors were divided into three categories as a) MBBS, b) MD/DNB (medicine and respiratory medicine), and c) DM (non respiratory sub-specialities) and statistical analysis has been performed comparing the three groups as per the performance in the four pre-decided areas. RESULTS: All the groups fall short of any guideline or text of asthma care in all the areas involved. CONCLUSION: The practice behaviour of our doctors for asthma care appears deficient in several areas and seems far from guideline recommendations. This needs further evaluation and adoption of appropriate interventions.