A Comparison of the Results of Bacteriological Examination of a Sputum Collection and a Pair of Laryngeal Swab Specimens in Patients Receiving Chemotherapy for Pulmonary Tuberculosis

pulmonary tuberculosis is of prime importance. The most valuable assessment of a treatment is its effect on the bacterial population of the sputum. A reduction in the number of organisms being excreted, or their complete elimination, is the best evidence that the patient is responding to treatment, and bacteriological negativity is the crucial desideratum of the quiescence of the disease (American Trudeau Society, 1959; Devadatta et al., 1961). In a previous report from this Centre (Andrews and Radhakrishna, 1959) a comparison was made of the results of smear and culture examinations of specimens of sputum obtained in 2 different ways from patients receiving chemotherapy. It was found that “spot” specimens, that is, specimens produced in the Centre within the course of a few minutes were less frequently positive than “collection” specimens, that is, specimens produced overnight in the home. During treatment and usually within a few months of the start of effective chemotherapy, the majority of patients find it difficult to expectorate and it, therefore, becomes of interest to study the relative usefulness of collection specimens of sputum and laryngeal swabs in detecting the presence of tubercle bacilli. This report presents the results of a comparison of an overnight collection specimen of sputum (referred to as sputum specimen in the rest of the report) with a pair of laryngeal swabs (considered as a single specimen in the laboratory) taken from patients during the third to twelfth month of anti-tuberculosis chemotherapy

Techniques Used in Biometric Authentication - Applicability and Future Scope

In recent past, biometrics has emerged rapidly with its worldwide applications for daily living. Novel trends and new developments have been proposed to obtain and pursue many diverse biometric traits. The ignored challenge in the precedent and potential issues need to be addressed together and intensely integrated. The main objective of the paper is to keep up with the innovative technologies on some current theoretical development as well as fresh trends of biometric applications. The topics covered in this paper reflect well both aspects of development. This paper deals with the techniques used for biometric authentication and their future possibilities. This paper also focus on the applicability, strengths and weaknesses of several biometric recognition systems with a comprehensive review of the developments in this field

Spectroscopic characterization and quantum chemical investigation of molecular structure and vibrational spectra of phthalazine-1(2H)-one

In this study, vibrational and electronic transition analysis of phthalazine-1(2H)-one have been presented using experimental techniques FT-IR, FT-Raman and density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The structural properties of the molecule in the ground state have been calculated using DFT employing B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) basis set. Optimized geometrical parameters have been interpreted and compared with the experimental values. The complete assignments have been performed on the basis of the experimental data and potential energy distribution (PED) of the vibrational modes. The calculated HOMO and LUMO energies and energy difference (ΔEHOMO‒LUMO = − 4.876 eV), confirm that charge transfers occur within the molecule. The stability of the molecule arising from hyperconjugative interactions and the charge delocalization has been analyzed using natural bond orbital’s analysis (NBO). The specific heat, Gibb’s free energy, and entropy of molecule have been calculated as a function of temperature by using statistical mechanics coupled with quantum chemical calculation. Observed vibrational wave numbers have been compared with calculated values, and found to be in agreement with experimental results. The study of dielectric properties like dielectric constant at microwave frequency, static dielectric constant and dielectric constant at optical frequency of Phthalazine-1(2H)-one have been determined. The dielectric relaxation studies provide information about the molecular structure and intermolecular interaction between phthalazine-1(2H)-one and alcohol mixture

(E)-1-(1,3-Benzodioxol-5-yl)-3-(3-bromo­phen­yl)prop-2-en-1-one

In the title compound, C16H11BrO3, the mol­ecules adopt an E configuration with respect to the C=C double bond of the propenone unit. The 13 non-H atoms of the benzodioxole and propenone units are approximately coplanar (r.m.s. deviation = 0.027 Å) and the bromo­benzene ring plane forms a dihedral angle of 10.8 (1)° to this plane. The structure is layered, with the mol­ecules forming a herring-bone arrangement within each layer

Induction of rifampicin metabolism during treatment of tuberculous patients with daily and fully intermittent regimens containing the drug

Self-induction of rifampicin metabolism during daily and intermittent chemotherapy was studied by monitoring the changes in the serum half-life of the drug over a 4-week period in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Rifampicin 450 mg was administered to 8 patients who received treatment daily, 7 on thrice-weekly and 7 others on twice-weekly treatment. Serum half-life was computed from concentrations of the drug determined at 3, 4½ and 6 hours after drug administration, on admission and at 1, 2 and 4 weeks after start of treatment. In the daily series, the mean serum half-life decreased from 4.9 hours on admission to 3.6 hours at 1 week (P = 0.02), and treatment beyond this had no further effect. In the thrice-weekly series, maximal induction was observed at the 2nd week, the mean values on admission and at 2 weeks being 5.8 and 3.7 hours, respectively (P < 0.01). In the twiceweekly series, maximal induction was observed only at the 4th week, the mean values on admission and at 4 weeks being 4.9 and 3.7 hours, respectively (P < 0.01). Serum activity of gamma glutamyl transferase was not found to be a suitable in vivo marker to monitor induction of the hepatic microsomal enzymes as no significant changes were observed in the activity of this enzyme in any of the 3 series during the 4-week period

Antiatherogenic activity of silybin in Wistar rats: an experimental study

Background: Dyslipidemia is the major contributor to an increased risk of atherosclerosis. Furthermore, Atherosclerosis presently comprises one of the essential contributors to a global epidemic of cardiovascular disease and turn out to be the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Natural antioxidants have been shown to be effective in reducing lipid profiles and mitigate peroxidative modification of lipoproteins and atherosclerosis. The aim of the study was to explore the antiatherogenic effect of silybin through its antioxidant mechanism in Wister rats fed on hypercholesterolemic diet.Methods: Male Wistar rats of 150-200 g were used for this study. Hypercholesterolemia in rats was induced by administration of high cholesterol diet. The Wister rats were divided into four groups, each with eight rats. After 60 days blood samples were drawn by retro-orbital puncture for biochemical analysis. The animals were sacrificed by cervical dislocation and liver and aorta were dissected out and processed for histopathological study and biochemical analyses.Results: In the histopathological study high cholesterol fed Wister rats showed fatty degeneration of hepatocytes with leucocytic infiltration of sinusoids. The level of TBARS was significantly increased in high cholesterol diet fed rats (p<0.05). Silybin at both doses [300 mg/kg (1593.00±81.08) and 600 mg/kg (1596.00±28.81)] reduced the plasma TBARS significantly (p<0.05). The antioxidant enzyme levels were also reduced significantly in high cholesterol diet fed rats (p<0.05).Conclusions: The study suggests a conclusive evidence of silybin has antiatherogenic action. Its safety profile, availability and low cost are an added advantage to the presently available pharmacological therapy. Hence, silybin can be considered in conjunction with other available dyslipidemic medication in the market

First results from the CAWSES-India Tidal Campaign

The first CAWSES-India Tidal Campaign was conducted by the Indian scientific community during March–April 2006. The objectives of this campaign were: (1) To determine the characteristics of tides in the troposphere and lower stratosphere (0–20 km) and mesosphere and lower thermosphere (MLT) region (80–100 km), (2) to explore and identify what lower atmospheric processes drive middle atmospheric tides in the Indian continental region and (3) to provide information on those short-term variabilities of MLT tides that are likely to have an impact on the ionospheric variabilities and contribute to the upper atmospheric weather. Data sets from experiments conducted at the three low latitude radar sites, namely, Trivandrum (8.5&amp;deg; N, 76.9&amp;deg; E), Tirunelveli (8.7&amp;deg; N, 77.8&amp;deg; E) and Gadanki (13.5&amp;deg; N, 79.2&amp;deg; E) and fortnightly rocket launches from Thumba were made use of in this study. An important observational finding reported in this work is that the radar observations at Tirunelveli/Trivandrum indicate the presence of 15–20 day modulation of diurnal tide activity at MLT heights during the February–March period. A similar variation in the OLR fields in the western Pacific (120–160&amp;deg; longitude region) suggests a possible link between the observed tidal variabilities and the variations in the deep tropical convection through the nonmigrating tides it generates

Visible fluorescence induced by the metal semiconductor transition in composites of carbon nanotubes with noble metal nanoparticles

We show that single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) bundles emit visible fluorescence in the presence of noble metal nanoparticles and nanorods in the solid state. Conductivity measurements with metallic nanotubes, isolated from pristine SWNTs, show that they become semiconducting in the presence of the metal nanoparticles. Nanoparticle binding increases the defects in the nanotube structures which is evident in the Raman spectra. The metal-semiconductor transition removes the nonradiative decay channels of the excited states enabling visible fluorescence. Nanotube structures are imaged using this emission with resolution below the classical limits

The effect of supplementing a rice diet with lysine, methionine, and threonine on the digestibility coefficient, biological value, and net protein utilization of the proteins and on the retention of nitrogen in children

The effect of supplementing a rice diet providing about 1.3-1.4 g protein per kg body weight with lysine, methionine, and threonine individually or together on true digestibility coefficient (DC), biological value (BV), and net protein utilization (NPU) of the proteins has been studied in girls aged 8–9 years. The retention of nitrogen on the rice diet was very low (9.5% of intake in the first series and 8.5% in the second series). The BV and NPU of the proteins of rice diet were 64.1 and 52.9 in the first series and 66.6 and 54.9 in the second series. Supplementation of the rice diet with lysine or methionine or lysine + methionine brought about a significant improvement in N retention (12.6, 12.0, 13.5% of intake) and in the BV (68.3, 66.3, 69.3) and NPU (54.8, 55.7, 55.8). When the rice diet was supplemented with lysine and threonine, a highly significant improvement in the N retention (18.9% of intake) and in the BV (77.4) and NPU (63.4) was observed. Addition of methionine to rice diet containing lysine and threonine resulted in a further improvement in N retention, BV, and NPU of the diets. The net available protein (g/kg body weight) from the different diets were as follows: rice diet, 0.71; rice diet + lysine, 0.76; rice diet + methionine, 0.74; rice diet + lysine + methionine, 0.77; rice diet + lysine + threonine, 0.85; rice diet + lysine + threonine + methionine, 0.91; and skim milk powder diet, 0.96-0.98