Background: Microscopic smear examination is the most common test in tuberculosis (TB) detection. It is, however, not strong enough to identify TB in the majority of afflicted individuals; thus, a significant number of TB patients are smear negative and capable of transmitting the infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the rate of smear-negative TB in northwest Iran.Methods: In this c...

Removal of fly ash using wet scrubbers is widely used in the small and medium scale industries. Among the wet scrubbing methods, spray column falls into the simplest type category for its simple construction and various advantages. A novel pilot plant wet scrubber has been conceived, designed and fabricated. This paper distinctly focuses on the detailed design and fabrication of the ejector, wh...

Wet friction clutches have become widely used in today’s transmissions, e.g. automatic transmissions, dual clutch transmissions, etc. It is known that the central role of this particular component is strongly determined by its friction characteristics. While a clutch is in use, degradation inevitably takes place that consequently deteriorates its friction characteristics. However, to the author...

BACKGROUND Prison conditions can favor the spread of tuberculosis (TB). This study aimed to evaluate in a Brazilian prison: the performance and accuracy of smear, culture and Detect-TB; performance of smear plus culture and smear plus Detect-TB, according to different TB prevalence rates; and the cost-effectiveness of these procedures for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) diagnosis. METHODS This p...

BACKGROUND In patients with HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in resource-constrained settings, smear-negative disease has been associated with higher mortality than smear-positive disease. Higher reported mortality may be due to misdiagnosis, diagnostic delays, or because smear-negative disease indicates more advanced immune suppression. METHODS We analyzed culture-confirmed, pulmonary TB among pati...

Moving stimuli produce less smear than would be expected on the basis of visible persistence lasting 100-150 msec. Two experiments examined the duration of smear as a function of background luminance, target velocity, and duration ofthe display. It was found that smear decreased as background luminance increased, smear increased with velocity, and, as display duration increased from 10 to 160 m...

OBJECTIVE Due to the low sensitivity of Pap smear, premalignant lesions of the cervix can be missed in women with inflammatory Pap smears. However, it is not practically possible to subject all women with inflammatory Pap smear to colposcopy. This study was carried out with the aim to evaluate whether women with persistent inflammation on Pap smear need further evaluation with colposcopy. MAT...

Root canal instrumentation produces a layer of organic and inorganic material called the smear layer that may also contain bacteria and their by-products. It can prevent the penetration of intracanal medicaments into dentinal tubules and influence the adaptation of filling materials to canal walls. This article provides an overview of the smear layer, focusing on its relevance to endodontics. T...