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Background: Incidence of hospital-acquired infection by Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (MRCoNS) continues to increase worldwide. Nasal carriage of Staphylococci plays an important role in the epidemiology and pathogenesis of hospital-acquired infection. They are usually introduced into the health care set up by a colonized or infected patient or health care workers (HCWs). Patients admitted to a critical care unit or intensive care unit have an increased chance of infection by these pathogens. Health care providers colonizing MRSA and MRCoNS may help in the transmission and spread of infection. Objective: To determine the prevalence of staphylococcal nasal carriage among HCWs working in intensive and critical care units of a tertiary care hospital and the antimicrobial susceptibility profile of the isolates. Result: One hundred and fifty nasal swabs were collected, 58 were from the nursing staff, 41 from doctors, and 51 were from other supporting staff. Samples from both anterior nares were collected using sterile cotton swabs, and cultured on mannitol salt agar. S. aureus and CoNS were identified by standard methods. Methicillin resistance was detected by cefoxitin disc. Of the 150 healthcare providers screened 31 (20.67%) were nasal carriers of S. aureus, 17 (11.33%) for MRSA, 81 (54%) harbored CoNS and 12 (8%) were MRCoNS. Conclusion: HCWs are the potential colonizers of MRSA and MRCoNS. They may serve as reservoirs and disseminators of MRSA and MRCoNS and should be treated with appropriate drugs. Regular screening of carriers is also required for the prevention of hospital-acquired infection. Keywords: Nasal Carriers, Health care worker, Methicillin­resistant Staphylococcus

The subjects with patellar height of less than cut off value by clinical method can avoid radiological investigation as there was no statistically significant difference of IS index between radiological and clinical methods.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) pressure undergoes a series of changes from foetal to neonatal period on both left and right heart. Pulmonary velocity acceleration time (PVAccT) measured by trans-thoracic echocardiography has been established as a reliable indicator of RV pressure measurement in neonates. This study aims to throw some light into the changes in the RV pressure by serial PVAccT measurements in the initial 12 weeks of life. Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out among term new-borns until 12 weeks of age and serial changes in the PVAccT values were recorded, reflecting the mean pulmonary artery pressure (MPAP), and the left ventricular internal diastolic diameter (LVIDD), left atrial diameter (LAD), right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT), right ventricular free wall thickness (RVFWT). Results: There was gradual increase in the mean value of PVAccT with age from birth i.e., 1-3 days (70.08±18.62ms) to 3 months (86.23±17.31ms) (p=<0.05). Mean value of right ventricular outflow tract proximal diameter was also seen to have an increase from day 1-3 (0.92±0.19cm) to 3 months of age (1.09±0.01cm) (p= <0.001). There was an overall decrease in the mean value of the RVFWT from day 1-3 (0.37±.07 cm) to 3 months (0.27±0.07cm) of age after an increase at 1 month (p=<0.05). Statistically significant increase in mean LAD from 1.18±0.29cm to 1.40±0.35 cm and LVIDD from 1.54±0.31cm to1.96±0.27 was seen from birth to 3 months of age. Conclusion: Changes in PVAcct and RV pressure with time from birth to 3 months of age will aid in early diagnosis of persistent pulmonary artery hypertension of new-born (PPHN) or pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).