Ergonomic Diagnostic Tool based on Chip Mini RTPCR for Diagnosis of Pulmonary and Extra Pulmonary Tuberculosis

Diagnosis of Tuberculosis (TB) is a challenging problem with the currently available conventional methods such as microscopy for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) and culture techniques.The diagnosis of Extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is still more challenging due to the low yield of bacilli in the clinical specimens. Recently, a chip based Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) was introduced in India. This study was conducted for finding out the sensitivity and specificity of TrueNAT RT-PCR for the diagnosis of Pulmonary and EPTB at a Tertiary Care Hospital in Southern India. A total of 145 samples including both Pulmonary (80) and EPTB (65) were examined by Smear microscopy, culture on Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium and TruNat RT PCR. All the positive samples were confirmed by conventional PCR technique as well. Out of 80 Pulmonary samples such as sputum, bronchial wash and tracheal aspirate 41(51.25%) samples were positive in RT-PCR, 22 (27.5%) were positive in microscopy and 29 (36.25%) was positive for culture on LJ medium. Among the 65 EPTB samples such as pus, pleural fluid, Cerebro spinal fluid (CSF), ascitic fluid, Tissue, Peritoneal fluid, Pericardial fluid, Urine, synovial fluid, Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) 38 (58.46%) were positive in RT-PCR, 08 (12.30%) were positive in microscopy and 31(47.69%) were positive for culture on Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium. The sensitivity and specificity of TrueNat RT-PCR for the diagnosis of Pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is 93.1% and 72.5 % and for EPTB is 96.77 %and 76.4 %, respectively. The newer diagnostic tool has a Turn Around Time (TAT) of less than 2 hours, can detect rifampicin resistance, longer shelf life, cost effective and can work from 2°C to 40°C. It is portable and comes with an inbuilt rechargeable battery which makes it a compatible equipment for any health care setup and out reach programs to detect and treat patients even in remote villages

Preliminary studies on predatory potential of Australian ladybird beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant against Mealybug, Planococcus lilacinus Cockerell

Mealybug Planococcus lilacinus Cockerell (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) damages Cocoa, Guava, Citrus, Cotton and other plant families. Besides causing direct loss to the plants they also reduce the market value of infested fruits. The extent of the damage may go up to 70 percent in a severe infestation. An Australian ladybird beetle, Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) introduced from Australia is a potential bio-control agent and is being utilized on many crops in Southern India. Mealybugs or scale insects constitute the natural food of certain ladybird beetles. The adult beetles as well as their larvae (grubs) seek the pests and feed voraciously on all stages. They often wipe out the entire pest colonies. The ladybird beetles are being used for suppression of mealy bugs in citrus, coffee, grapes, guava, ornamental and a variety of other crops. The feeding potential of different development stages of C. montrouzieri, a biological control agent against mealybugs, was investigated on P. lilacinus. Fourth instar grubs and adults of C. montrouzieri were the most voracious feeders of mealybug. The number of mealybug consumed by 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th instar larvae and adult beetles of C. montrouzieri was 20, 33.30, 37.50, 40 and 66.60 percent respectively. The results indicate that C. montrouzieri has the potential to be exploited as a bio-control agent. Inoculative releases of 4th instar larvae and adults may provide instant control of P. lilacinus. Field experiments should be conducted to determine the efficiency of the ladybird beetle on this mealybug

Assessment of Tumour Response to Multimodalities of Treatment in Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Patients Using Comet Assay

ABSTRACT The present study has been carried out to evaluate tumour response to the multi-modalities of treatment using comet assay in breast cancer patients and to assess the efficacy of combinatorial therapy over single modality treatments. An effort was also made to correlate the extent of DNA damage with the cycles of chemotherapy given. A positive correlation was found with the selected comet parameters

Entropy profiling for the diagnosis of NCA/Gr-SiOx Li-Ion battery health

Graphite-silicon (Gr-Si) blends have become common in commercial Li-ion battery negative electrodes, offering increased capacity over pure graphite. Lithiation/delithiation of the silicon particles results in volume changes, which may be associated with increased hysteresis of the open circuit potential (OCP). The OCP is a function of both concentration and temperature. Entropy change measurement, which probes the response of the OCP to temperature, offers a unique battery diagnostics tool. While entropy change measurements have previously been applied to study degradation, the implications of Si additives on the entropy profiles of commercial cells have not been explored. Here, we use entropy profiling to track aging markers in the same way as differential voltage analysis. In addition to lithiation/delithiation hysteresis in the OCP of Gr-Si blends, cells with Gr-Si anodes also exhibit differences in entropy profile depending on cycling direction, reflecting degradation-related morphological changes. For cycled cells, entropy change decreased during discharge, likely corresponding to graphite particles breaking and cracking. However, entropy change during charge increased with cycling, likely due to the volume change of silicon. Over a broad voltage range, these combined effects led to the observed rise in entropy hysteresis with age. Conversely, for calendar aged cells entropy hysteresis remained stable

Sodiation energetics in pore size controlled hard carbons determined via entropy profiling †

Hard carbons show considerable potential as anode materials in emerging sodium-ion battery technologies. Recent work suggests sodiation of hard carbon proceeds by insertion of sodium at defects, within the interlayers and inside the nanopores. The energetics of these processes dictate the characteristic sloping region and plateau when hard carbon is charged/discharged with sodium. However, the driving forces affecting these processes, and particularly sodium filling into nanopores, are under debate and are holding back controlled material optimisation. We apply entropy profiling (EP), where the cell temperature is changed under open circuit conditions, to yield additional insights into sodium insertion in hard carbons of systematically controlled pore size. Features from EP vary with the pore size, allowing us to precisely determine the onset of nanopore filling. Comparing the system entropy and enthalpy data to models, we can quantify the energetics of sodium inside the nanopores. The average binding energy of sodium in the pores is found to be inversely proportional to the pore radius of curvature, which is attributed to the scaling of the surface area to volume inside the pores. This simple structure–property relationship provides a rational framework to tune the cell cut-off voltage of sodium-ion cells based on hard carbon, potentially enabling future materials of improved safety and longevity