A microfluidic route for synthesis of scandium oxide microspheres, their characterization and neutron activation

Radioactive scandium-46 microspheres have applications in mapping flow in a chemical reactor through a technique known as radioactive particle tracking (RPT). In the present study a novel microfluidic method has been developed for synthesis of controlled size scandium oxide microspheres. An inline/in-situ mixing of the scandium precursor and gelling agents was implemented which makes the microfluidic platform amenable for truly continuous operation. Microspheres of size varying from 937 to 666 μm were produced by varying O/A ratio from 10 to 30. Perfectly spherical and monodispersed (PDI <10 %) microspheres were obtained at O/A 15 and beyond. The morphology, elemental composition, and structure of the microspheres were analysed by SEM, EDS and XRD, respectively. Subsequently the microspheres were irradiated with thermal neutrons in a nuclear reactor to obtain radioactive Sc-46 oxide microspheres. The activity produced on each Sc-46 microspheres with different sizes was in the range 19.5-34.0 MBq.

Rain garden infiltration rate modeling using gradient boosting machine and deep learning techniques

Rain garden is effective in reducing storm water runoff, whose efficiency depends upon several parameters such as soil type, vegetation and meteorological factors. Evaluation of rain gardens has been done by various researchers. However, knowledge for sound design of rain gardens is still very limited, particularly the accurate modeling of infiltration rate and how much it differs from infiltration of natural ground surface. The present study uses experimentally observed infiltration rate of rain gardens with different types of vegetation (grass, candytuft, marigold and daisy with different plant densities) and flow conditions. After that, modeling has been done by the popular infiltration model i.e. Philip's model (which is valid for natural ground surface) and soft computing tools viz. Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM) and Deep Learning (DL). Results suggest a promising performance (in terms of CC, RMSE, MAE, MSE and NSE) by GBM and DL in comparison to the relation proposed by Philip's model (1957). Most of the values predicted by both GBM and DL are within scatter limits of ±5%, whereas the values by Philips model are within the range of ±25% error lines and even outside. GBM performs better than DL as the values of the correlation coefficients and Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency (NSE) coefficient are the highest and the root mean square error is the lowest. The results of the study will be useful in selection of plant type and its density in the rain garden of the urban area.

Spread of virus laden aerosols inside a moving sports utility vehicle with open windows: A numerical study

A three dimensional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to study the dispersion of virus laden aerosols in a car moving with its windows open is reported. The aerosols are generated when a possibly infected passenger speaks. A sports utility vehicle having three rows of seats has been considered. As the vehicle moves forward, its interior will exchange air from the surroundings. The CFD model captures the flow patterns generated both outside and inside the vehicle. This internal aerodynamics will in turn dictate how aerosols will spread across the interior and whether or not they will be transported outside the vehicle. A Lagrangian approach is used to determine the transport of the aerosol particles and the effect of particle size on the simulation result has been studied. Four sets of scenarios of practical interest have been considered. The first set shows the effect of vehicle speed on aerosol transport, and the second set describes what happens when some of the windows are closed, while the third set describes how aerosol transport is affected by the location of the passenger speaking. The fourth set describes how a gush of cross wind affects aerosol transport. Simulation results reveal that when all windows are open, aerosols can go out of one window and then return back to the vehicle interior through another window. Results also reveal that when a passenger sitting in the second row speaks, the aerosols generated span across the entire volume of the car interior before going out through the open windows.

When the doorbell rings in COVID-19 times: Numerical insights into some possible scenarios

As ongoing Corona virus disease 2019 pandemic is ravaging the world, more and more people are following social distancing norms, avoiding unnecessary outings and preferring online shopping from the safety of their home over visiting brick and mortar stores and neighborhood shops. Although this has led to a significant reduction in chances of exposure, human-to-human interaction at the doorstep of the customer might be involved during the delivery of the ordered items. This human-to-human doorstep interaction arises in some other situations also. There is a finite probability that the person standing in front of the door coughs or sneezes during such an interaction. In this work, a three dimensional (3D) Euler-Lagrangian computational fluid dynamic model is used to understand the transmission and evaporation of micrometer-size droplets generated due to a coughing event in this setting. Different possible scenarios varying in wind direction, wind velocity, ventilation in the vicinity of door, and extent of door opening have been postulated and simulated. The results obtained from numerical simulations show that in the presence of wind, the dynamics of transmission of droplets is much faster than the dynamics of their evaporation. Thus wind velocity and direction have a significant impact on the fate of the droplets. The simulation results show that even if the door is opened by a very small degree, cough droplets enter through the door. Having open windows in the vicinity of the door on a windy day is expected to reduce the chance of the exposure significantly.

Status of glaciers and climate change of East Karakoram in early twenty-first century

This study aims to assess the glaciers change status in Shyok basin, East Karakoram in terms of area and mass balance, and to ascertain if glaciers in this part of Karakoram also display similar anomaly like central or western counterparts. The spatio-temporal monitoring of glaciers during the time frame of 24 years (1990/2000/2014) suggests major percentage of stable glaciers and insignificant retreat in the total glaciated area. The percentage of retreating glaciers has increased after year 2000. Area change analysis of glaciers having size >1 km² (569 glaciers) suggests the number of fluctuated glaciers have substantially increased i.e. overall 56% glaciers remained stable, 35% retreated and 9% advanced during 1990-2014. The geodetic based findings using SRTM-C (2000) and Cartosat-1 (2010/2011/2014) stereo-imageries for 201 glaciers suggest the mass loss at the rate of -0.10 ± 0.07 m w.e. a^-1. To better apprehend the status of glaciers changes in the region, climatic studies using in-situ observations as well as reanalysis dataset (ERA-I) were also undertaken of past 30 years. Therefore, this study is also a maiden attempt to ascertain if along with Karakoram anomaly, a climatic anomaly exists in the Eastern parts of Karakoram or not. A long term field collected snow-meteorological data of East Karakoram region suggests overall warming trend in annual temperature and no trend for snowfall during 1985-2015. The statistically significant increased rates of warming and decreased snowfall after year 2000 support the spatial variations in glaciers of East Karakoram and marginal mass loss. The observations of the marginal mass loss along with warming temperatures indicate that no Karakoram or climatic anomaly is existent over the East Karakoram region. Our study further refutes the prevalence of the elevation-dependent warming (EDW) over East Karakoram region vis-à-vis North-West Himalayan ranges. The impact of hiatus in global warming was also not observed over studied region.

Abortions followed by contraceptive failures in Northern India: an analysis of contraceptive histories (2009–2014)

This study tries to elicit the unexplored nexus between the contraceptive failure and abortions in India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh. Condom being the most used modern method contributes to 47% of all observed episodes in the calendar period. Of all accidental pregnancies occurred because of modern contraceptive failures, 35.2% terminated with induced abortions. Gross failure rate of modern methods is conspicuously higher for urban poor, uneducated women, and marginalized section of population living in urban area. From a total of 7496 episodes of all reversible methods, abortions are estimated as high as 29.2%, whereas for the traditional method it accounts for around 21%. The empirical evidence of induced abortions due to contraceptive failure put serious concern regarding unintended pregnancies and hence discourages fertility intentions among the potential couples.

Evaluation of forewarning models for mustard aphids in different agro-climatic zones of India

Mustard aphid, Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach), is the most serious pest of Rapeseed-Mustard which is known to be responsible for a tremendous loss in yield and oil content, under various agro-climatic conditions of India. Information support on aphid occurrence and intensity is necessary for effective management by the farmers in the mustard-growing belt. In this study, an effort is made to develop forewarning model using the field data on aphid for 12 consecutive rabi seasons from 2003-2004 to 2014-2015 under different agro-climatic locations in India. Three main components of aphid-related stages were identified for which necessary forewarnings were needed to be issued: (1) severity, (2) the time of reaching the economic threshold level (ETL) for decision-making on pesticide application, and (3) time of occurrence of peak population. To address these, three different models were developed/used and validated using incident field dataset. Those field observations when the infestation level were below severe category (< 60) during rising phase of the aphid population were found to indicate highest R sqr. (0.82) for the model-I during validation. When model-II was used, 11 out of 14 locations (78.57%) stood validated. The assumptions made in model-III also got validated when humidity thermal ratio (HTR) of the week of peak population ranged between 1.5 and 4 (lowest among the weeks considered), and population reached severe category. The models showed better results during real-time validation in seasons 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, thus suggesting that these three models can be used to ascertain the severity, week of ETL, and week of peak aphid population for Brassica juncea varieties all over the mustard belt in India and can be operationalized spatially to forewarn against the aphid pest population in future under Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS) scheme.

PRIMARY LARYNGEAL ASPERGILLOSIS IN AN IMMUNOCOMPETENT PATIENT

Background. Aspergillus is an inherently ubiquitous, weakly pathogenic fungus causing opportunistic infections. It is very rarely localized in the larynx, although laryngeal Aspergillosis may develop in the immunocompromised patients including those with leukaemia and severe aplastic anaemia. Objective. The aim of the research was to explore the primary laryngeal Aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient thru a case report. Methods. A case report of primary laryngeal Aspergillosis in an immunocompetent patient is presented. Results. A male patient of 40 years old, presenting with chronic worsening hoarseness, was found to have a smooth, white spheroid submucosal growth on left vocal cord with preserved bilateral cord movements on videostroboscopy. Histopathological examination of vocal cord growth revealed squamous epithelium containing septate hyphae with acute angle dichotomous branching pattern consistent with Aspergillus. Voice improved after a four-week course of oral itraconazole 200 mg/day. Post therapy follow up of 24 months was unremarkable. Conclusions. Primary laryngeal Aspergillosis develops in the immunocompetent patients. Iatrogenic, vocal abuse, occupation and lifestyle factors may be contributory. Optimal diagnosis and management mandates a high index of suspicion.

P5434P300-mediated inactivation of p53 protects against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity

Introduction

Doxorubicin is amongst the most widely prescribed chemotherapy drugs due to its effectiveness in cancer treatment. However, progressive treatment using doxorubicin severely increases the risk of congestive heart failure. Mechanistically, researchers have shown that doxorubicin (i) intercalates into DNA and disrupts topoisomerase-II-mediated DNA repair and (ii) generates free radicals which then causes damage to cellular membranes, DNA, and proteins. Ultimately these cellular insults induce cardiomyocyte (CM) death mediated by the tumour suppressor, p53. Currently, there are no clinically applicable preventative treatments for doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity and so, extensive research is being done in discovering a potential therapy. One such candidate is curcumin – a natural polyphenol compound non-toxic to humans. We have previously demonstrated that curcumin inhibits lysine acetyltransferase activity of p300, therefore reducing both histone and non-histone protein acetylation. To induce CM death, p53 requires acetylation by p300. Therefore, we hypothesize that curcumin protects against doxorubicin-induced CM death and cardiotoxicity via p300-mediated inactivation of p53.

Methods

Rat H9c2 cardiomyoblast cells were cultured and treated with a 2.5 μM dose of doxorubicin for 16 hours. One group of cells were pre-treated with curcumin (15μM) 4 hours prior to doxorubicin treatment, and controls were cultured with only diluent added. Following treatment, the cells were harvested for total protein. At end point, we performed immunoblotting to measure protein expression of key proteins involved in DNA damage (y-H2A.X, p53), and apoptosis (cleaved-Caspase 3).

Results

Our findings show that following doxorubicin treatment, p53 expression was significantly increased (p<0.001), confirming its role in doxorubicin-associated cardiotoxicity. Furthermore, doxorubicin was associated with increased DNA-damage as evidenced by increased expression and activation of DNA double-stranded breaks (DSBs) marker, y-H2A.X (p<0.001). Elevated levels of DNA-damage were further associated with significantly increased doxorubicin-induced apoptosis as measured by immunoblotting for cleaved-Caspase 3 (p<0.001). However, DNA-damage and apoptosis were attenuated by pre-treatment of cells with curcumin. Curcumin treatment led to a significant decrease in both y-H2A.X (p<0.01) and cleaved-Caspase 3 (p<0.01) expression compared to cells treated with only doxorubicin.

Conclusions

Our data provides the first evidence that curcumin protects against doxorubicin-induced apoptosis in rat cardiomyoblast cells in vitro. Further studies are warranted in vivo to confirm the potential of curcumin as a cardio-protective drug. Curcumin is a natural compound with little to no side-effects in humans, therefore our finding may provide a novel therapeutic target and treatment approach for doxorubicin-associated cardiotoxicity.

Acknowledgement/Funding

Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada

Application of hot melt extrusion for improving bioavailability of artemisinin a thermolabile drug

Hot melt extrusion has been used to produce a solid dispersion of the thermolabile drug artemisinin. Formulation and process conditions were optimized prior to evaluation of dissolution and biopharmaceutical performance. Soluplus^®, a low T_g amphiphilic polymer especially designed for solid dispersions enabled melt extrusion at 110 °C although some drug-polymer incompatibility was observed. Addition of 5% citric acid as a pH modifier was found to suppress the degradation. The area under plasma concentration time curve (AUC_0-24h) and peak plasma concentration (C_max) were four times higher for the modified solid dispersion compared to that of pure artemisinin.

Bulk synthesis of multi-walled carbon nanotubes by AC arc discharge method

This work proposes the production of multi-walled carbon nanotubes by AC arc discharging of spectroscopically pure graphite electrodes of different shapes, that is, movable cylindrical and stationary rectangular electrode by manual metal arc welding setup. Continuous arc was generated by maintaining the gap of about 3 mm between the electrodes which in turn formed the plasma zone. Vaporization of carbon cations followed by sudden quenching paved the way for formation of carbon nantotubes. Nanotubes produced were deposited on the stationary graphite electrode in the form of soot. Further extraction of the nanoparticles from the soot was performed by conducting series of purification processes which will be discussed in upcoming chapters. Morphology and purity of the extracted nanotubes were investigated by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Following the characterization process, it was observed that the so-produced nanotubes were of different shapes, that is, carbon cone nanotubes, nanocapsules, nanoparticles and branching type and randomly oriented. The length of the nanotubes varied from 231 to 561 nm, whereas diameter was found to be in the range of 14–55 nm.

Postharvest Processing and Benefits of Black Pepper, Coriander, Cinnamon, Fenugreek, and Turmeric Spices

Spices are prime source for flavor, aroma, and taste in cuisines and play an active role as medicines due to their high antioxidant properties. As medicine or food, the importance of spices cannot be overemphasized. The medicinal values of spices are very well established in treating various ailments like cancer, fever, malaria, stomach offset, nausea, and many more. A spice may be available in several forms: fresh, whole dried, or pre-ground dried which requires further processing to be utilized in the form of value-added product. This review paper deals with the cultivation, postharvesting, chemical composition, uses, health, and medicinal benefits of the selected spice viz., black pepper, coriander, cinnamon, fenugreek, turmeric, and technological advances in processing of spices viz., super critical fluid extraction, cryogenic grinding, and microencapsulation etc. This paper also focuses on issues related to utilization of spices toward its high end-product development and characterization in pharmaceuticals and other medicinal purposes. The availability of different spices and their varietal differences and location have their pertinent characters, which are much demanding to refine postharvest and processing to assure its quality in the international market.

Sustained Early Disruption of Mitochondrial Function Contributes to Arsenic-Induced Prostate Tumorigenesis

Arsenic is a well-known human carcinogen that affects millions of people worldwide, but the underlying mechanisms of carcinogenesis are unclear. Several epidemiological studies have suggested increased prostate cancer incidence and mortality due to exposure to arsenic. Due to lack of an animal model of arsenic-induced carcinogenesis, we used a prostate epithelial cell culture model to identify a role for mitochondria in arsenic-induced prostate cancer. Mitochondrial morphology and membrane potential was impacted within a few hours of arsenic exposure of non-neoplastic prostate epithelial cells. Chronic arsenic treatment induced mutations in mitochondrial genes and altered mitochondrial functions. Human non-neoplastic prostate epithelial cells continuously cultured for seven months in the presence of 5 µM arsenite showed tumorigenic properties in vitro and induced tumors in SCID mice, which indicated transformation of these cells. Protein and mRNA expression of subunits of mtOXPHOS complex I were decreased in arsenic-transformed cells. Alterations in complex I, a main site for reactive oxygen species (ROS) production as well as increased expression of ROS-producing NOX4 in arsenic-transformed cells suggested a role of oxidative stress in tumorigenic transformation of prostate epithelial cells. Whole genome cGH array analyses of arsenic-transformed prostate cells identified extensive genomic instability. Our study revealed mitochondrial dysfunction induced oxidative stress and decreased expression of p53 in arsenic-transformed cells as an underlying mechanism of the mitochondrial and nuclear genomic instability. These studies suggest that early changes in mitochondrial functions are sustained during prolong arsenic exposure. Overall, our study provides evidence that arsenic disruption of mitochondrial function is an early and key step in tumorigenic transformation of prostate epithelial cells.

Clinico-anesthetic changes following administration of propofol alone and in combination of meperidine and pentazocine lactate in dogs

Aim:

The aim of this study is to find out the effect of propofol and its combination with meperidine and pentazocine lactate on certain clinico-anesthetic profiles in dogs.

Materials and Methods:

15 apparently healthy mongrel dogs of either sex of about 1 year of age were randomly divided into three groups of five dogs each. The animals of Group I were administered propofol intravenously alone “to effect,” whereas meperidine at 2 mg/kgb.wt. and pentazocine lactate at 2 mg/kg b.wt. were injected intramuscularly 15 min before propofol “to effect” in Groups II and III, respectively. Atropine sulfate at 0.04 mg/kgb.wt. was injected intramuscularly 20 min before each treatment. Rectal temperature, heart rate, respiration rate, and anesthetic indices were recorded before and at 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 min of induction.

Results:

As compared to Group I, the animals of Groups II and III exhibited a significant decrease (p<0.05) in the level of rectal temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate. Duration of recumbency, time of standing, time of recovery as well as the duration of analgesia were longer in pentazocine lactate (Group III) followed by meperidine (Group II) as compared to propofol alone (Group I). Meperidine treated dogs showed defecation and muscle twitching during anesthesia.

Conclusion:

Meperidine and pentazocine are suitable opioids used in combination with propofol for achieving surgical anesthesia and helpful in reduction of propofol dose.

Knowledge, attitude and practice GAP in family planning usage: an analysis of selected cities of Uttar Pradesh

Background

The GAP between the knowledge of contraception and its actual practice is well recognized in the literature of family welfare studies. The present study assessed the relation between the level of knowledge and practice of contraception among the women and sought to explore the reasons behind the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice - GAP (KAP GAP) regarding contraceptive users in six cities of Uttar Pradesh.

Method

Present analysis based on 17,643 currently married women aged 15 to 49. A Bivariate analysis (χ2 test) and a multivariable logistic regression were performed for the study.

Result

The highest percentages of respondents (women) were in the age group 35-49 (40-45 %) in all the districts considered. Knowledge of contraceptives was almost universal; tubal ligation and pill were the commonly known methods. Information about the contraceptive methods was mostly obtained through the husband. In the present study, there was a highly significant association (p < 0.01) of age group, educational status of respondents, the number of living children, the wealth of the respondent, media exposure and husband's education with the variable KAP GAP for all six cities. Health concern issues in all the districts were the most prominent reason for not using contraception.

Conclusion

There differences in the socioeconomic and demographic factors exist, which lead to KAP GAP in the family planning (FP) usages. Therefore, in designing effective family planning programme, there is a need to understand the various factors which influence the practice of contraception.

Antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and bioactive compounds of Bergenia ciliata Sternb.: A valuable medicinal herb of Sikkim Himalaya

Bergenia ciliata Sternb., commonly known as Paashaanbhed, is a well known herb of Sikkim Himalaya with various pharmaceutical properties. However, scientific exploration of B. ciliata, growing in the Sikkim Himalaya, for phytochemicals and pharmacological properties is in infancy. With this view, the present study was undertaken to investigate B. ciliata leaf extracts for antioxidant, antimicrobial activity and bioactive compounds. Three solvents viz., methanol, ethyl acetate and hexane were used for extraction and the respective leaf extracts were analyzed for total phenolic and flavonoid contents along with the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Amongst the tested solvents, methanol was found to be the best solvent for extraction with highest total phenolic contents and the lowest IC₅₀ values for the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2′-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) assays. Methanol extract also exhibited effective antimicrobial activity, particularly against bacteria and actinomycetes. Further, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis revealed that methanolic extract contains the highest amount of all the three analyzed bioactive compounds viz. bergenin, catechin and gallic acid. The current study suggests that the methanol extract of B. ciliata is a potential source of natural antioxidant and antimicrobial compounds that can be used in food and drug industries.

Contraceptive use before first pregnancy by women in India (2005-2006): determinants and differentials

Background

There exist ample of research literature investigating the various facet of contraceptive use behaviors in India but the use of contraception by married Indian women, prior to having their first pregnancy has been neglected so far. This study attempts to identify the socio demographic determinants and differentials of contraceptive use or non use by a woman in India, before she proceeds to have her first child. The analysis was done using data from the third National Family Health Survey (2005–2006), India.

Methods

This study utilized information from 54,918 women who ever have been married and whose current age at the time of NFHS-3 survey was 15–34 years. To identify the crucial socio-demographic determinants governing this pioneering behavior, logistic regression technique has been used. Hosmer Lemeshow test and ROC curve analysis was also performed in order to check the fitting of logistic regression model to the data under consideration.

Results

Of all the considered explanatory variables religion, caste, education, current age, age at marriage, media exposure and zonal classifications were found to be significantly affecting the study behavior. Place of residence i.e. urban - rural locality came to be insignificant in multivariable logistic regression.

Conclusions

In the light of sufficient evidences confirming the presence of early marriages and child bearing practices in India, conjunct efforts are required to address the socio demographic differentials in contraceptive use by the young married women prior to their first pregnancy. Encouraging women to opt for higher education, ensuring marriages only after legal minimum age at marriage and promoting the family planning programs via print and electronic media may address the existing socio economic barriers. Also, the family planning programs should be oriented to take care of the geographical variations in the study behavior.

Influence of pin and hammer mill on grinding characteristics, thermal and antioxidant properties of coriander powder

In present study, influence of grinding (hammer and pin mills) and moisture content (range: 6.4-13.6 % dry basis) on the quality traits of coriander powder were investigated. These include grinding parameters, colour parameters, specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, glass transition temperature, essential oil, total phenolic content, total flavonoid content and DPPH scavenging (%) of coriander powder. For coriander seed, the geometric properties such as major, medium, minor dimensions, geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, sphericity, surface area and volume of coriander seeds increased significantly with increasing moisture (6.4-13.6 % db). For coriander powder, the grinding parameters such as average particle size, volume surface mean diameter and volume mean diameter increased significantly with increasing moisture (6.4-13.6 % db). With the grinding method, the colour attributes of coriander powder such as L-value, a-value, b-value, hue angle and browning index varied significantly. It was observed that the specific heat followed second order polynomial relationship with temperature and moisture whereas thermal conductivity varied linearly with temperature and moisture content. The variation of glass transition temperature with moisture can be best represented in quadratic manner. Total flavonoid content (mg QE/g crude seed extract) and DPPH scavenging % activity of coriander powder is significantly affected by grinding methods. A lower value of specific heat was observed for hammer ground coriander powder as compared to pin mill ground coriander powder. The thermal conductivity of hammer mill ground coriander powder was higher as compared to pin mill ground coriander. It was observed that hammer mill yields more fine coriander powder in comparison to pin mill. The browning index was more in hammer mill ground coriander powder.

Evaluation of multiplex polymerase chain reaction utilising multiple targets in Mycobacterium tuberculosis direct test negative but culture positive cases: a potential method for enhancing the diagnosis of tuberculosis

PURPOSE

To evaluate multiplex Polymerase Chain Reaction (MPCR) utilising multiple targets (IS6110, Protein b [Pab] and MPB64 genes) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis Direct Test (MTD) negative but culture positive cases and comparison of MPCR with Real-Time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for diagnosis of tuberculosis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

MPCR was carried out on 28 culture positive sputum samples. Out of 28 culture positive samples, 17 were originally reported, as MTD test negative and 11 were MTD test positive, respectively. The results of MPCR were compared with RT-PCR. To check the specificity of the tests, MPCR and RT-PCR were also evaluated with 16 non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) isolates.

RESULTS

Out of 28 culture positive sputum samples, MPCR was positive in all 28/28 samples, whereas RT-PCR was positive in 27/28 samples and MTD test was originally tested positive in six sputum samples and on repeating MTD testing, five more sputum samples were positive and thus total number of MTD positive were 11/28 sputum samples, respectively. All the tests were negative on evaluation with all the 16 NTMs, thus giving specificity of 100% to all the tests; sensitivity of MPCR, RT-PCR and MTD tests were 100%, 96.42% and 39.28%, respectively, in these specifically selected samples.

CONCLUSIONS

MPCR may be an important tool in the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis especially in disease endemic, resource limited countries.

Bardet-Biedl syndrome presenting with steroid sensitive nephrotic syndrome

Bardet-Biedl syndrome (BBS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by postaxial polydactyly, retinitis pigmentosa, central obesity, mental retardation, hypogonadism, and renal involvement. Renal involvement in various forms has been seen in BBS. Cases with nephrotic range proteinuria not responding to steroid have been described in this syndrome. Here we report a case of BBS who presented with nephrotic range proteinuria. The biopsy findings were suggestive of minimal change disease. The child responded well to steroid therapy and remains in remission.