Credibility of Various Indices of Sacrum in Identification of Sex of Sacrum

Background: Determination of sex from skeletal remains is of paramount importance for Forensic Experts for identification of the deceased. The task becomes more difficult when only a single bone is available. Though most bones exhibit clear cut sexual variation in morphology but to determine sex with 100% accuracy, one has to use metric measurements to study various indices. These indices exhibit significant variation in range according ethnicity & geographic location, hence is suggested to arrive at Demarking Point (D.P.) for these parameters which greatly help in sexing of a bone. Sacrum has been considered amongst ideal bones to determine sex of individual because of its functional morphological variation in both sexes by virtue of its contribution to pelvis. Numerous indices have been reported to determine sex of sacra but of it none have proved to effectively & singularly differentiate sex. Hence is advised to not rely on a single index but use maximum possible indices to determine sex of sacrum. Also to be taken in consideration is fact that values of these indices so is their D.P. varies according to geographical location. Hence studies such as this are carried out to calculate anthrometric data regarding various measurements & indices for a particular region. Method: 150 sacra of known sex from Tamil Nadu of South India were studied for metrical parameters for determination of sex. Efforts were made to find Demarking point for each parameter and then compared with similar studies. Results: It was evident from present study that sacral index is the most important parameter as far as the sex determination of sacrum is concerned as it could singularly identify 56% male and 78% female bones. Sacral index for population under study was observed to be 99.21 for males and 119.94 for females. Conclusion: The present study highlight importance of certain parameters like sacral index while also demonstrating insignificance other parameters, but basic fact remains that as far as the sex determination of sacrum is concerned no single parameter could identify sex in 100% of the bones and hence, it can be concluded that for sex determination of the sacrum with 100% accuracy is possible only when maximum number of parameters are taken into consideration

Evaluation of whole blood IFNγ test using PPD and recombinant antigen challenge for diagnosis of pulmonary and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis

463-468Quantiferon TB gold (QFT-G) with recombinant antigen cocktail is well evaluated for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). However, diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is more difficult due to limitations of conventional techniques. This study compares recombinant antigens based QFT-G and low cost PPD based interferon test for the diagnosis of PTB and EPTB. IFNγ release, with recombinant antigens and PPD, was assayed by ELISA from 140 cases of EPTB, 100 cases of PTB along with acid fast bacillus (AFB) detection, AFB culture on LJ and MGIT BACTEC. Sensitivity and specificity for QFT-G recombinant antigens was 84.29% and 96%, while for PPD based interferon was 70% and 84% for EPTB group. The sensitivity was far superior to AFB smear and culture for both the antigens. Nine samples were identified as non-tubercular mycobacteria (NTM) in the EPTB group and all were negative for QFT-G, but six of them were positive for PPD based test. Results of the study show that QFT-G using recombinant antigen is sensitive and specific for both PTB and EPTB diagnosis. The PPD based test is economic and offers comparable performance for PTB and EPTB diagnosis and also useful for diagnosis of NTM

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Not AvailableSubclinical mastitis (SCM) represents a major proportion of the burden of mastitis. Determining somatic cell count (SCC) and electrical conductivity (EC) of milk are useful approaches to detect SCM. In order to correlate grades of SCM with the load of five major mastitis pathogens, 246 milk samples from a handful of organized and unorganized sectors were screened. SCC (>5 × 105/mL) and EC (>6.5 mS/cm) identified 110 (45 %) and 153 (62 %) samples, respectively, to be from SCM cases. Randomly selected SCM-negative samples as well as 186 samples positive by either SCC or EC were then evaluated for isolation of five major mastitis-associated bacteria. Of the 323 isolates obtained, 95 each were S. aureus and coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS), 48 were E. coli and 85 were streptococci. There was no association between the distribution of organisms and (a) the different groups of SCC, or (b) organised farms and unorganised sectors. By contrast, there was a significant difference in the distribution of CoNS, and not other species, between organized farms and unorganized sectors. In summary, bacteria were isolated irrespective of the density of somatic cells or the type of farm setting, and the frequency of isolation of CoNS was higher with organized farms. These results suggest the requirement for fine tuning SCC and EC limits and the higher probability for CoNS to be associated with SCM in organized diary sectors, and have implications for the identification, management and control of mastitis in India.Not Availabl

Challenges in the Development of an Immunochromatographic Interferon-Gamma Test for Diagnosis of Pleural Tuberculosis

<div><p>Existing diagnostic tests for pleural tuberculosis (TB) have inadequate accuracy and/or turnaround time. Interferon-gamma (IFNg) has been identified in many studies as a biomarker for pleural TB. Our objective was to develop a lateral flow, immunochromatographic test (ICT) based on this biomarker and to evaluate the test in a clinical cohort. Because IFNg is commonly present in non-TB pleural effusions in low amounts, a diagnostic IFNg-threshold was first defined with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for IFNg in samples from 38 patients with a confirmed clinical diagnosis (cut-off of 300pg/ml; 94% sensitivity and 93% specificity). The ICT was then designed; however, its achievable limit of detection (5000pg/ml) was over 10-fold higher than that of the ELISA. After several iterations in development, the prototype ICT assay for IFNg had a sensitivity of 69% (95% confidence interval (CI): 50-83) and a specificity of 94% (95% CI: 81-99%) compared to ELISA on frozen samples. Evaluation of the prototype in a prospective clinical cohort (72 patients) on fresh pleural fluid samples, in comparison to a composite reference standard (including histopathological and microbiologic test results), showed that the prototype had 65% sensitivity (95% CI: 44-83) and 89% specificity (95% CI: 74-97). Discordant results were observed in 15% of samples if testing was repeated after one freezing and thawing step. Inter-rater variability was limited (3%; 1out of 32). In conclusion, despite an iterative development and optimization process, the performance of the IFNg ICT remained lower than what could be expected from the published literature on IFNg as a biomarker in pleural fluid. Further improvements in the limit of detection of an ICT for IFNg, and possibly combination of IFNg with other biomarkers such as adenosine deaminase, are necessary for such a test to be of value in the evaluation of pleural tuberculosis.</p> </div

Study flow and location of testing.

<p>Legend: CMC=Christian Medical College; TB=tuberculosis; ELISA=enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; ICT= lateral flow, immunochromatographic test; IFNg=interferon gamma; ADA=adenosine deaminase.</p

Prototype of the IFNg lateral flow test (named Gammacheck).

<p>Prototype of the IFNg lateral flow test (named Gammacheck).</p

IFNg lateral flow test.

<p>(A) Initial results at Tulip with clearly defined lines indicating a positive (top) and negative (bottom) test. (B) Initial results at clinical evaluation site (CMC) with smearing of sample and incomplete advancement.</p