Adenosine deaminase(ADA) levels in CSF of tuberculous meningitis (TBM)

The paper reports on a study undertaken to assess the usefulness of estimation of ADA values bacteriologically not confirmed but clinically diagnosed cases of TBM, non-TBM and nonin CSF in the differential diagnosis of TBM inflammatory conditions of central nervous among bacteriologically confirmed cases of TBM, s y s t e m

Role of laboratory in RNTCP

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem in many parts of the world. Sputum smear microscopy is the mainstay of diagnosis of TB. RNTCP follows the international guidelines which recommend the establishment of microscopy centre for every 100,000 population. All patients with a cough of three weeks or more should undergo 3 sputum diagnostic examinations for acidfast bacilli (AFB). A separateTB laboratory register is maintained in each microscopy centre. Disposal of laboratory waste should be destroyed. One slide from each patient is sent to the District TB Centre (DTC) for external quality assurance (EQA). The activities of the microscopy centres in aTB unit are supervised by a Senior TB Laboratory Supervisor (STLS). The STLS visits every microscopy centre at least once a month. Sputum samples from patients who fail RNTCP treatment are sent to the nearest reference laboratory for culture of M tuberculosis and drug susceptibility testing; however there is no need to send patient samples routinely for culture

Indigenous development of ultra high vacuum (UHV) magnetron sputtering system for the preparation of Permalloy magnetic thin films

We have designed and developed an indigenous ultra high vacuum (UHV) sputtering system which can deposit magnetic thin films with high purity and good uniformity. The equipment consists of state-of the-art technologies and sophistication. With this system it is possible to deposit coatings of various materials on a sample size of 3”3” 3”. The Ni81Fe19 ferromagnetic thin films, with Tantalum (Ta) as a buffer and cap layers have been deposited on silicon substrates using this ultra high vacuum (UHV) sputtering system. The magneto transport measurement study indicated a significant variation in the AMR values of the films for varying thicknesses of tantalum and NiFe layers

Investigation of interface properties of sputter deposited TiN/CrN superlattices by low-angle X-ray reflectivity

Approximately 1.8 m thick nanolayered multilayer coatings of TiN/CrN (also known as superlattices) were deposited on silicon (100) substrates at different modulation wavelengths (4.6–12.8 nm), substrate temperatures (50-400 °C) and substrate bias voltages (-50 to -200 V) using a reactive direct current magnetron sputtering system. X-ray reflectivity (XRR) technique was employed to determine various properties of the multilayers such as interface roughness, surface roughness, electron density, critical angle and individual layer thicknesses. The modulation wavelengths of the TiN/CrN superlattice coatings were calculated using modified Bragg’s law. Furthermore, the experimental X-ray reflectivity patterns were simulated using theoretically generated patterns and a good fit was obtained for a three layer model, i.e., (1) top surface roughness layer, (2) TiN/CrN multilayer coating (approximately 1.8 m) and (3) Ti interlayer (~ 0.5 m) at the film-substrate interface. For the superlattice coatings prepared at a modulation wavelength of 9.7 nm, a substrate bias of -200 V and a substrate temperature of 400 C the XRR patterns showed Bragg reflections up to 5th order, indicating well-defined periodicity of the constituent layers and relatively sharp interfaces. The simulation showed that the superlattice coatings prepared under the above conditions exhibited low surface and interface roughnesses. We also present the effect of substrate temperature and substrate bias, which are critical parameters for controlling the superlattice properties, onto the various interface properties of TiN/CrN superlattices

Scalable and Secure Dynamic Key Management and Channel Aware Routing in Mobile Adhoc Networks

A MANET (Mobile Ad-hoc Network) is an infrastructure-less self configuring wireless networks of routers. Key management is at the center of providing network security via cryptographic mechanisms with a high-availability feature. Dynamic key is the efficient assistance for network scalability. Routing protocol used here is a form of reactive routing called CA-AOMDV and compared with Table driven routing called DSDV. Channel aware routing protocol quality of the channel which can be measured in terms of suitable metrics. This paper leads to an emphasis on Black hole attack and to develop a dynamic key framework using RSA algorithm

In vitro susceptibility of clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to cefadroxil—a cephalosporin antibiotic

The bactericidal activity (BA) of cefadroxil, a semisynthetic cephalosporin antibiotic, against M. tuberculosis H37Rv was studied in Middlebrook 7H9 medium, Cefadroxil showed good BA (average fall of viable counts = log10 0.32 colony forming units/ml/day) against the log phase culture of M. tuberculosis H37Rv. Its minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) were found to be 15 μg/ml or less. The MIC of cefadroxil for 29 clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis and a laboratory strain, M. tuberculosis H37Rv was also determined by agar dilution method using Middlebrook 7H11 agar as a screening procedure. The MIC of cefadroxil was found to be 10 μg/ml or less for M. tuberculosis H37Rv and 16 (55.1%) of 29 clinical isolates tested. The MIC for 3 of 10 drug sensitive and 9 of 19 drug resistant isolates was 40 or more, a concentration much higher than the peak plasma concentration (28 μg/ml) attained in human beings. The higher MIC observed in 12 of 29 clinical isolates irrespective of their susceptibility pattern requires further studies to assess the usefulness of cefadroxil in the treatment of tuberculosis

Isolation of mycobacterium tuberculosis from cerebrospinal fluid by the centrifugation and filtration methods

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected in 2 bottles each, from 112 children, examined clinically for tuberculous meningitis (TBM). One was processed by the centrifugation method and the other by the filtration method for the isolation of M. tuberculosis. Of these specimens, 11 and 13 yielded M. tuberculosis by the centrifugation method and the filtration method, respectively. In 7 specimens M. tuberculosis was isolated by both the methods; in 4, only by the centrifugation method, and in 6, only by the filtration method. Using both the methods, 17 (15.2%) of 112 specimens were culture positive for M. tuberculosis. The improvement in the rate of isolation, thus obtained, assumes importance as the confirmation of the diagnosis of TBM in all the clinically suspected cases is always desired. Moreover, the filtration method is simple and inexpensive and it can be carried out even in remote hospitals and the membranes, after filtration, can be transported to central mycobacteriology laboratory for culture of tubercle bacilli

A MINI REVIEW ON NON-ANTIBIOTIC THERAPIES TO TARGET EMERGING ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE DURING POST COVID ERA

Antibiotics considered as miracle drugs and as one of the most demanding life-saving discoveries of the twentieth century have now imposed a threat to society due to its overuse and misuse. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing global problem to which the current COVID-19 pandemic may fuel further. The high number of patients suffering from Covid-19 worldwide have been reported to suffer further from secondary microbial infections. This has become a challenge for the medical community. Hence, various non-antibiotic strategies have been sought after and their mechanisms have been evaluated to mitigate the rise of AMR. This review gives an overview of the success of the alternate methods to combat AMR

Efficacy of micro algae and cyanobacteria as a live feed for juveniles of shrimp Penaeus monodon

Growth performance and survival of giant tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon fed with five different micro algal diets as a live feed, was evaluated under laboratory condition. The experimental design consisted of feeding the juvenile with micro algal diets and cyanobacterial diets at the same concentrations. Fresh biomass of Chlorella sp., Tetraselmis sp., Isochrysis sp., Synechococcus sp. and Phormidium sp. were used as feed for shrimp P. monodon. Mean total length of shrimp was higher when fed with Chlorella sp. (4.8 cm) followed by Phormidium sp. (4.4 cm) and mean total weight was also higher in shrimp fed with Chlorella sp. (0.59 g) followed by Phormidium sp. (0.569 g). The survival rate of the shrimp was improved in shrimp fed Phormidium sp. (83.33%) and it was decreased in shrimp fed with Isochrysis sp. (36.67%). The shrimp that performed best had significantly more edible flesh (59.35%) (with Chlorella sp.) protein and lipid content (with Phormidium sp.) carbohydrate (with Tetraselmis sp.) Further more, water quality of the tank was better in shrimp fed with Chlorella sp. In general, the research of this study revealed that Chlorella sp. and Phormidium sp. could be used as a live feed for better growth of P. monodon.Key words: Penaeus monodon, micro algae, Synechococcus, Phormidium, Shrimp growth, Chlorella

Cerebrospinal fluid lysozyme in the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis

Pretreatment lysozyme levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were estimated in 37 patients with tuberculous meningitis (TBM), 16 with non-tuberculous meningitis (non-TBM) and 13 with non-inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system (controls) in an attempt to assess the role of CSF lysozyme in the diagnosis of TBM. Lysozyme content in the CSF was found to be elevated in all patients with bacteriologically confirmed TBM and in a large proportion of patients in whom the disease was clinically diagnosed but bacteriologically not confirmed. The enzyme was not detected in all but one of the control subjects and in most (69%) of the non-TBM patients