Saturday, December 11, 2010

Video

Video submitted by : Dr. A.Kishore Reddy, Tirupati

This video taken fromt the wet mount preparation of a stool sample.

Identify this ...

please submit your comments to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in


Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Invitation for participation in cultural events

Invitation for participation in cultural events"

Dear delegates.

We are going to have an cultural meet on the evening of 08-1-11 at
banquet dinner.

I request all the interested delegates to send their names for participation before 25th of Dec by mail. The various events we have are :

Music - Vocal instrument

Dance - Classical and western

Mimicry

Any other feasible event



once again we extend a warm invitation for participation. This is to facilitate a homely atmosphere of AP Microbiological family get together.

Thanking you,

Yours affectionately,

Organising committee
XIV IAMM APCON 2011.

Monday, October 11, 2010

XIV IAMM AP CHAPTER CONFERENCE : JANUARY 2011



IAMM AP CHAPTER is previlaged to invite you all to the historical city of Guntur for the hot and spicy academic feast to be served at XIV IAMM AP Conference "XIV APCON 2011" with the theme, "Animalcules to Molecules".

Dates of the Conference : 7th , 8th and 9th January, 2011
  • 7th : Preconfernce CME on : "Automation in Microbiology"
  • 8th and 9th : Conference
  • *PG Symposium : 8th
  • *PG Quiz : 9th
PLEASE SEE THE BROCHURE FOR DETAILS OF REGISTRATION
For registration :
DDs should be drawn in favour of : iammXIVapcon2011 , payable at Guntur
Registration : For further details : Please contact : Dr.P.Venkataramana, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur for further clarifications if necessary. Ph. 9885170050
***
PRIZES AT THE CONFERENCE :
  1. Dr. Rajyalakshmi Oration Award : Sponsored by Dr. Rajyalakshmi, for the Guest Lecture (invited)
  2. Dr. C.S.Bhaskaran Award : Sponsored by Dr. C.S.Bhaskaran
  3. Smt B.S.Laxmi Memorial Prize for Postgraduates : Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani, Professor of Microbiology, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.
  4. Sri B.Krishna Rao Memorial Prize for Junior faculty : Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani, Professor of Microbiology, Andhra Medical College, Visakhapatnam.
  5. The Rangaraya Medical College Senior Faculty Award : sponsored by the Department of Microbiology, Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada
  6. Dr. Satyanarayana Memorial Prize for Postgraduate Quiz : Sponsored by Dr. M.Rajarajeswari, Professor, Guntur Medical College on the name of her husband, Late Dr. M.Satyanarayana.
  7. Gold Medal for Postgraduate student who secured highest marks in the University Post graduate examination : Sponsored by Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, Principal, Siddartha Medical College, Vijayawada
IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRIZES :
MEMBERSHIPS :
Annual Membership : Rs. 250-00
Postgraduate Membership (for 3 years) : Rs. 500-00
Life Membership : Rs. 1000-00
Refer to the CONSTITUTION available on the website for details.
If you need any help or clarifications regarding memberships, please contact : the Treasurer, Dr. K.Prasanthi, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Gandhi Medical College, Secunderabad (Ph. 9490119539).
Or You may post your questions to our email : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in . They will be appropriately answered.
Existing members can check their details in the Directory (click here).
If you think your details need to be corrected, please mail the details quoting your membership number to our email : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Conference 2011 : News

The XIV IAMM AP Chapter Anual Conference 2011 is going to be organized by the Department of Microbiology, Guntur Medical College, Guntur at Guntur.

The Conference dates are : 7th-9th JANUARY 2011

7th January 2011 (Friday): Preconference CME ( On Automation in Microbiology)

8th (Saturday) and 9th (Sunday), January 2011 : Conference

The dates were preponed ( from February, which was conventional) as DrNTRUHS is conducting the MBBS Exams in February, 2011.

Prizes in the conference :

Prizes for the Senior Faculty (Instituted by Rangaraya Medical College)

Dr C.S.Bhaskaran's Award (For Postgraduates)

Smt B.S.Lakshmi Memorial Prize for Junior Faculty (Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani)

Sri B.Krishna Rao Memorial Prize for Postgraduates (Sponsored by Dr. K.R.L.Suryakirani)

In addition, a prize for the winner of the PG Quiz will be awarded from this time. The Prize is being sponsored by Dr. Rajarajeswari, Professor(Rtd.), Guntur Medical College, Guntur.

Also a good news for PGs :

TWO Prizes for best presentations in PG Symposium....!
Dont miss them.


The last dates and other details will be available on the website soon. Please keep visiting.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Robert Koch

Centennial Death Ceremony of the great scientist, Robert Koch was observed on 27th May, 2010.

In this connection, Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati conducted a memorial meeting to pay tributes to his great scientist and biologist, the man who is now the partly forgotten captain of an obscure heroic age (as mentioned by Paul deKruif, Microbe Hunters).

The programme started around 11 AM. Dr. B.Vengamma, DM (Neuro), Director, SVIMS unveiled the photograph of Robert Koch.

(A replica of the photograph of Robert Koch, in thinking posture is presented here)



Candles were lit and 2-minute silence was observed by all. After the introductory remarks by Dr. Gururaj Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of Microbiology, SVIMS, the Memorial Speech for the day was given by Dr. Vengamma.

Later Dr. Abhijit Chowdhary, Additional Professor of Microiology, SVIMS, spoke on "Koch, Cholera and Calcutta". He vividly gone through the events that led to the discovery of cholera bacillus or the 'comma' bacillus.

Dr. Usha Kalawat, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS, spoke on the "Contributions of Robert Koch" and mentioned how amazingly Koch pioneered and standardized several bacteriological techniques being used today.

Dr. K.K.Sharma, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, SVIMS discussed the "Influence of Koch on Pasteur".


Finally, Dr. Alladi Mohan, Professor of Medicine, SVIMS, author of the book "Tuberculosis" and several resesarch papers, described the scientific ardour, meticulousness and hard work of Robert Koch in identifying the tuberculous bacillus and several other infectious agents as well as the inspiration Koch generated in his desciples.


During the programme, there was a slide show on Robert Koch, created by Surender, a PhD scholor, SVIMS.


The programme ended with the concluding remarks of Dr Gururaj Kumar.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

To Madam

To Madam, with love
( my memories of a great teacher)
By Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, MD
Principal, Siddartha Medical College, Vijayawada


Dr P S Leela Naidu is very critically ill, fighting for her life in ICCU at Apollo hospital. One of her relatives rang me up this morning. She said madam was in coma for the last 10 days. Irreversible brain death. There is no scope of her recovering. She is on ventilator, and her children have to take a call on when to remove the ventilator and let her leave this world peacefully.

I started immediately to see her and share my feelings with her children. As the car dashed through the busy roads of Hyderabad, I closed my eyes and memories of my association with madam flooded back. I went back to the 80s, when I reported to her as a postgraduate........

When I chose Microbiology during my counseling at Kurnool Medical College, everyone in the hall turned their eyes to me in surprise. I remember one of them asking me, “are you new to this place?”

It was after I joined the department that I came to know that no local students would prefer to take Microbiology, as madam was known for her strictness and punctuality. She never tolerated laziness, negligence or irresponsibility.
She read my joining report carefully and asked, ‘are you determined to continue? Or are you leaving after sometime?’ Postgraduates very often left the course in the middle if they had better offers. She had such experience before.
She gave me postings initially for one year in various sections. She briefed me about the curriculum and said I have to work hard every minute, every day, every month, and every year to pass the course in the first attempt. I listened to her as she spoke, looking at the big, learned eyes behind the spectacles and the big almarah of books behind her seat. She knew each one of the books by name, by color, by size and by its place in the almarah.
When she wanted us to get a book, she would tell us all the details so we could easily pick up. And she would say,’ see page…..for this information’. She would be almost always correct!
On the first day of my joining, I sat for reporting near Dr Vijayalakshmi garu, the then Assistant Professor. She was in charge of culture section.
Those were the days when private labs hadn’t yet cropped up in a big manner. We had plenty of work in culture section. Usually the number of samples would cross 200 per day. I learnt ‘inoculating and Grams staining’ on the first day. In the afternoon, as instructed by Dr Vijayalakshmi garu, I brought pre incubated sterile culture plates from the media section, urine samples from the reception, labeled the plates and started inoculating.
Madam went by, in the verandah, observing me working in the lab. I was told later that madam was very happy to see a young postgraduate in the lab on the very first day!!
She was a committed teacher and had great love for the department. She had sculptures of Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch made, painted grey and kept at the entrance of the department. Whenever we were upset or sore over her strictness, we used to stand before the statue of Louis Pasteur and vent out our feelings to him. He would listen, looking at us impassively through his wired spectacles.
Madam would be in her seat at the stroke of 9 every morning. We always tried hard to be on time and keep pace with her. However, there were occasions when we would be late, wish her guiltily and sign in the attendance register. She would say, ‘remember, you are now in the position of a teacher, and you should be a role model to students.’ She never shouted nor used harsh words, but made us introspect and try to change ourselves.

She was very systematic in her reporting. Even as head of the department, she used to take one section for reporting everyday. And, you can very well imagine, the lab technicians in charge of that section would grumble!! Plenty of smears, staining, plenty of biochemical tests…they had heavy work when she reported. I used to admire her art of precision. She would leave no stone unturned to identify the culprit, the pathogen.

And, she would be on the dias at the stroke of the hour whenever she had a theory class. There used to be pin drop silence in the classroom. We used to sit in the back benches as postgraduates. I used to feel proud, standing by her side to take attendance after the class.
She loved mycology. Everyday she visited the section, saw the cultures, and admired the microscopic beauty. If it was a tough organism, she referred books, did a few more tests and then finally named the fungus. She always made it a point to send the new strains to referral centres for confirmation. We as postgraduates did all the paper work, and that is how we knew the various standard reference centers. We had many fungal stocks; no dearth of cultures for the examination.
I remember identifying some of the rare pathogens along with her: to name a few, Mycobacterium kansasii, Actinomyces israeli and Madurella mycetomi. I still feel the excitement of those days. I showed it on my face when I saw a moving entamoeba in liver aspirate, crawling segments of Taenia in stool, cryptococci in CSF, or evaginating scolices of Ecchinococcus in hydatid fluid. She probably thought I was like a child. She would often tell me that I was her fourth child.
Eventhough she was after us to write papers, we never realized the importance of publications. She had many to her credit. Somehow we felt that time was not enough for writing papers. Looking back now, I feel that I should have seized the opportunity I had back then, and published more papers.
She was kind and loving. She wrote letters to me about how to take care of my health when I went on maternity leave during my second year of post graduation.
She never accepted any favors. When her son appeared for microbiology examination, she never wanted the examiners to know that she influenced them in any way to pass or award distinction to her son. She went on leave during that period and did not meet the examiners.
The greatest treasure she gave us without hesitancy or a second thought is the knowledge and insight into the subject. She moulded us as part of her job. She never felt that she did us favor. Probably the only gift I gave her all these years was a box of sweets she liked, when I went to her home to inform her about my official success in the examination. She smiled, wished me and said,’yes, now I can accept sweets from you.’
She opted for voluntary retirement at the age of 55, as she felt that she had to take care of her old and ailing father, and she could not do so while doing justice to her job. I still remember the farewell party we gave her on 5th February 1985. Everyone felt bad that she was leaving. She said one sentence: it is good if we leave when everyone wants us to stay, but not when they wait for us to leave.
Nobody could imagine the existence of the department without her at Kurnool. Next day when we went, the department felt empty and forlorn. There was everything else, everybody, except her. We missed her in each wing, in each section.
Now at this juncture of my life, at the age of 57 and having been a post MD teacher for more than 25 years myself, I still feel that I owe to madam Leela Naidu a lot, for having made me what I am. Just like how a parent makes the child sit in his lap, holds the hand and teaches alphabets, she taught me the subject. I learned to love microbiology the way she loved. She never cared for publicity or recognition; she only did what she felt was her duty. Silently she retired to a reclusive life, once she felt she was not able to do justice to her job.
Now she is in hospital, on ventilator for the past 15days. Seeing her in ICCU, unconscious and all gadgets all over her body, a sharp pain pierced my heart. I learnt painfully from the doctors that there was no hope of her recovery.
I can only pray to God to relieve her quickly from her suffering. I wish to say out loudly to the whole world that I am proud to be her student.
I owe her a lot; so much that I would be able to repay her only in the next world.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Young Microbiologists and Diagnostic Challenges

PROPOSAL IN THE GENERAL BODY MEETING


The following document is the proposal by Dr. D.S.Murty, Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, S.V.Medical College, Tirupati, in the general body meeting held on 7th February, 2010.
If you feel that any modifications are required, please give suggestions to us.

You can mail your suggestions to :

iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in (or)

Dr. O.Satyanarayana, General Secretary, IAMM AP Chapter, Department of Microbiology, Rangaraya Medical College, GGH Campus, Kakinada.

The document is also available on website. It facilitates the members who don't have ( or didn't give..!) their email ids to go through the document and give suggestions.

Please send your valuable suggestions before : June 31st 2010

***
Proposal :

This proposal was made in the general body meeting with the following goals :

1. UNIFORM FORMAT : to ensure uniformity in the abstracts submitted for presentations in the conference
2. UNIFORM CUT OFF DATE : for submissions irrespective of the year or place of the annual conference

I. UNIFORM FORMAT :

The idea of uniform format for abstracts was conceived after observing several varieties of 'abstracts'- ranging from:
the shortest abstract with only few lines to the longest abstract running into several pages;
the abstracts submitted by scribbling 'something' on a small piece of paper to the abstracts that were submitted as scanned pictures (including 'as it is' pictures from text books);
abstracts that describe even the common details to the abstracts that just grope around the topic and say 'the results will be discussed later'... etc.

To avoid such 'wide variations', i felt that it is better to have an uniform format.

One more reason for this 'uniform format' is to ensure that the postgraduates get familiarised with the submission of abstrats or papers in a predefined format to the journals of their choice.

The draft prepared by me is presented here : CLICK HERE . It is based on the suggestions provided in the website of IJMM for its authors.

II. UNIFORM DATE :

December 31st of each year can be kept as a cut off date for submission of papers for presentation in the annual conference to be held in February next year. This uniform submission date is : irrespective of the place and actual dates of annual conference and independent of the registration dates.

This facilitates every one of us to gear up and prepare abstracts and submit them rather than waiting for the organising secretary to announce the dates and later murmering that the time is not sufficient or the information was not passed on in time.

The address where to submit the abstracts will be provided up to date on the website.

The rules for different prize categories are also available on the web site ( in "CONSTITUTION") .

Please mail to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in if you find any difficulty in finding them.

PG QUIZ March 2010

A 28-year old menstruating woman admitted in the emergency room with the following signs and symptoms :





  • Fever (40 C);
  • WBC : 16,000/cmm;
  • Blood pressure : 90/65 mmHg;
  • A scarlantiform rash on her trunk , palms and soles;
  • Extreme fatigue;
  • Vomiting and diarrhea.

1. The patient described here most likely has : (hint: caused by a super antigen)

2. Culture of the menstrual fluid in this case would most likely reveal a predominance of :

3. The most characteristic finding in the history that can be elicited is :


Answer and discuss.

Correct answeres submitted by :
1. Dr. M.V.Ramanamma, Principal, Siddartha Medical College
2. Dr. Haritha, PG, Osmania Medical College
3. Dr. P.Chandrakala, PG, SV Medical College
4. Dr. Sarita
5. Dr. K.Saileela
6. Dr. B.Divya

Waiting for more responses .....

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

MICROGRAPHIA : LEPTOSPIRA

The following video is a recording of the movement of Leptospira observed under Darkfield Microscope.
The video was recorded at the preconference workshop on Leptospirosis conducted at SVIMS, Tirupati during XIII IAMM AP Chapter Annual Conference (5th to 7th February 2010).

Work shop conducted by : Dr. Vijayachari, Port Blair
Acknowledgements : Sri Nataraj Sreenivasan , who prepared the cultures and demonstrated DFM at the workshop for his assistance in recording this video.
Video recorded by : Dr. D.S.Murty, Asst. Professor, Department of Microbiology, S.V.Medical College, Tirupati.


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Trichomonas vaginalis

This video shows Trichomonas vaginalis trohpozoite actively moving in a wetmount preparation from urine sample.
This video was submitted by : Dr.A.Kishore , MD (Microbiology), Indu Diagnostics, Tirupati.

You can also share interesting videos or photographs with other members. Please mail them with details to : iammapchapter@yahoo.co.in