A simple paper test for isoniazid in urine

Tests for the presence of chemotherapeutic drugs or their metabolites in urine play an important part in the management of the treatment of tuberculosis (Dixon et al., 1957; Fox, 1958). A previous report from this Centre (Gangadharam et al., 1958) presented a comparison of a number of methods for detecting isoniazid in urine including the direct naphthoquinone-mercuric chloride (N-M) test (Short and Case, 1957), and also a modification of this test which employed alkaline hydrolysis to liberate isoniazid from its conjugated forms. The direct-and hydrolysis N-M tests have been employed in this Centre for the past four years to control the self-administration of isoniazid used in the domiciliary treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. The effect of irregularity in taking isoniazid as detected by these tests on the response to treatment has been reported elsewhere (Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre, 1960). Since this method has the disadvantage that it requires a certain amount of equipment and trained personnel, it is not suitable for routine use in all chest clinics or under field conditions. An attempt was therefore made in this Centre to simplify the direct N-M test by incorporating the reagents in absorbent papers; Though impregnation of the paper with the pHl0 buffer and naphthoquinone reagent was successful, impregnation with the aqueous solution of the mercuric chloride was unsatisfactory. In 1960, Cattaneo, Fantoli and Belasio published details of a paper test modification of the N-M test in which this difficulty was overcome by impregnating absorbent papers with a solution of mercuric chloride in ether. Since then this modification has been adopted for the preparation of the test-paper developed in this Centre. Since a lower concentration of the naphthoquinone reagent and a shorter period of exposure was used in the preparation of the testpaper developed in this Centre than described by Cattaneo et al. (1960), both the paper tests have been compared with the direct and combined N-M tests described previously (Gangadharam et al., 1958). This paper presents the results of the comparison and of an of the specificity of the paper test

The Virulence in the Guinea-pig of Tubercle Bacilli Isolated before Treatment from South Indian Patients with Pulmonary Tuberculosis 3. Virulence related to Pretreatment Status of Disease and to Response to Chemotherapy

This is the last of a series of three reports from the Tuberculosis Chemotherapy Centre Madras, on a study undertaken with the object of finding out whether differences in the virulence in the guinea-pig of tubercle bacilli isolated from South Indian tuberculous patients before the start of chemotherapy are related to the severity of the patients’ disease on admission to treatment and to the subsequent response to chemotherapy. The 281 patients in this study were drawn from the patients admitted to a l-year comparison of four domiciliary chemotherapeutic regimens : (a) 3.9-5.5 mg/kg isoniazid plus 0.2-0.3 g/kg sodium PAS daily, divided into two doses (PH series) ; (b) 7.8-9.6 mg/kg isoniazid alone daily in one dose (HI-I series) ; (c) 7.8-9.6 mg/kg isoniazid alone daily, divided into two doses (HI-2 series) ; (d) 3.9-5.5 mg/kg isoniazid alone daily, divided into two doses (H series). No evidence was found of an association between the virulence of the organisms and any pretreatment condition of known prognostic importance. There was no association between pretreatment virulence and progress during treatment in the PH series (the most effective regimen). In the other series, however, the progress was more satisfactory in patients infected with organisms of low virulence than in those infected with organisms of high virulence, the association between virulence and progress attaining statistical significance in the combined HI-2 and H series (the least effective regimens) and only just failing to do so in the smaller HI-1 series. Possible explanations are put forward both for the absence of an association between virulence and severity of disease on admission and for the presence of an association between virulence and response in the patients treated with isoniazid alone

Fluorine-induced improvement of structural and optical properties of CdTe thin films for solar cell efficiency enhancement

CdTe thin films of different thicknesses were electrodeposited and annealed in air after different chemical treatments to study the effects of thickness and the different chemical treatments on these films for photovoltaic applications. The thicknesses of the samples range from 1.1 μm to 2.1 μm and the annealing process was carried out after prior CdCl2 treatment and CdCl2+CdF2 treatment as well as without any chemical treatment. Detailed optical and structural characterisation of the as-deposited and annealed CdTe thin films using UV-Vis spectrophotometry and x-ray diffraction reveal that incorporating fluorine in the well-known CdCl2 treatment of CdTe produces remarkable improvement in the optical and structural properties of the materials. This CdCl2+CdF2 treatment produced solar cell with efficiency of 8.3% compared to CdCl2 treatment, with efficiency of 3.3%. The results reveal an alternative method of post-deposition chemical treatment of CdTe which can lead to the production of CdTe-based solar cells with enhanced photovoltaic conversion efficiencies compared to the use of only CdCl2. Keywords: CdTe; CdCl2

Estimating process capability index Cpm using a bootstrap sequential sampling procedure

Construction of a confidence interval for process capability index CPM is often based on a normal approximation with fixed sample size. In this article, we describe a different approach in constructing a fixed-width confidence interval for process capability index CPM with a preassigned accuracy by using a combination of bootstrap and sequential sampling schemes. The optimal sample size required to achieve a preassigned confidence level is obtained using both two-stage and modified two-stage sequential procedures. The procedure developed is also validated using an extensive simulation study.<br /

Comparative analysis of serum titanium level in patient with healthy dental implant and patients with peri-implantitis- A cross sectional prospective study

Objectives: Titanium dental implants can last for more than two decades in the oral environment. Corrosion of the implant surface can release metallic particles or ions into surrounding tissue. The metallic constituents like titanium in human blood serum have not been fully studied. The study compares titanium serum levels before and after dental implant placement and compares levels in patients with healthy implants and those with per-implantitis. Methods: The study comprised 2groups of Group 1 patient observing implant surgery and group 2 patients with diagnosed peri-implantitis. Each group comprised of 60 patients. Serum titanium level was measured from blood obtained from Group 1 at three different intervals (one month prior to implant surgery, 4th and 8th month after successful loading) and from Group 2 during the course of peri-implantitis by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy. The statistical analysis was done for the obtained data. Results: Analysis showed a raised level of serum titanium at 4th month of post implant placement (2.39 mg/dl) and in patient with peri-implantitis(2.94 mg/dl) and both levels are significantly differ (ANOVA test) from pre-surgical estimation of serum titanium level (1.79 mg/dl). Conclusions: Understanding the correlation between titanium corrosion and peri-implantitis is vital for enhancing the long-term success and safety of dental implants. Additional research is required to investigate these links and potential strategies to protect the well-being of implant patients

The cell polarity regulator hScrib controls ERK activation through a KIM site-dependent interaction

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Differential regulation of alanine aminotransferase homologues by abiotic stresses in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings contain four alanine aminotransferase (AlaAT) homologues. Two of them encode AlaAT enzymes, whereas two homologues act as glumate:glyoxylate aminotransferase (GGAT). To address the function of the distinct AlaAT homologues a comparative examination of the changes in transcript level together with the enzyme activity and alanine and glutamate content in wheat seedlings subjected to low oxygen availability, nitrogen and light deficiency has been studied. Shoots of wheat seedlings were more tolerant to hypoxia than the roots as judging on the basis of enzyme activity and transcript level. Hypoxia induced AlaAT1 earlier in roots than in shoots, while AlaAT2 and GGAT were unaffected. The increase in AlaAT activity lagged behind the increase in alanine content. Nitrogen deficiency has little effect on the activity of GGAT. In contrast, lower activity of AlaAT and the level of mRNA for AlaAT1 and AlaAT2 in wheat seedlings growing on a nitrogen-free medium seems to indicate that AlaAT is regulated by the availability of nitrogen. Both AlaAT and GGAT activities were present in etiolated wheat seedlings but their activity was half of that observed in light-grown seedlings. Exposure of etiolated seedlings to light caused an increase in enzyme activities and up-regulated GGAT1. It is proposed that hypoxia-induced AlaAT1 and light-induced peroxisomal GGAT1 appears to be crucial for the regulation of energy availability in plants grown under unfavourable environmental conditions

Structural and thermal studies of silver nanoparticles and electrical transport study of their thin films

This work reports the preparation and characterization of silver nanoparticles synthesized through wet chemical solution method and of silver films deposited by dip-coating method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), field emission transmission electron microscopy (FETEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction (SAED), and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX) have been used to characterize the prepared silver nanoparticles and thin film. The morphology and crystal structure of silver nanoparticles have been determined by FESEM, HRTEM, and FETEM. The average grain size of silver nanoparticles is found to be 17.5 nm. The peaks in XRD pattern are in good agreement with that of face-centered-cubic form of metallic silver. TGA/DTA results confirmed the weight loss and the exothermic reaction due to desorption of chemisorbed water. The temperature dependence of resistivity of silver thin film, determined in the temperature range of 100-300 K, exhibit semiconducting behavior of the sample. The sample shows the activated variable range hopping in the localized states near the Fermi level