The epidemiology of Mycobacterium bovis infection in humans in China is unknown. In this study, pulmonary tuberculosis caused by M. bovis in China was studied. A total of 4069 clinical strains isolated from sputa during the 2007-2009 nationwide surveillance of drug-resistant tuberculosis in China were analyzed. M. bovis was identified by para-nitrobenzoic acid and thiophen-2-carboxylic acid hyd...

BACKGROUND GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) and Genotype MTBDRplus (DRplus) are two World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed probe based molecular drug susceptibility testing (DST) methods for rapid diagnosis of drug resistant tuberculosis. Both methods target the same 81 bp Rifampicin Resistance Determining Region (RRDR) of bacterial RNA polymerase β subunit (rpoB) for detection of Rifampicin (RIF) r...

In a pioneering study, Lee et al. demonstrated how free energies of Lennard-Jones LJ clusters could be determined from Monte Carlo MC simulations. Subsequently, Garcia and Torroja compared the simulation results with both classical nucleation theory and experimental values for argon nucleation. Since then, there have been many such comparisons as well as simulations to determine the properties ...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB), a dreadful disease known to mankind continues to be a problem in a developing country like India. The incidence of people getting infected with TB is on the rise due to compounding factors like coinfection with the human immunodefiency virus and multidrug-resistant strains. There is a definitive need for early diagnosis and treatment of TB to curb transmission of t...

The objective of the current study was to compare two rapid methods, the BBL Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT TM) and Biotec FASTPlaque TB TM (FPTB) assays, with the conventional Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) media assay to diagnose mycobacterial infections from paucibacillary clinical specimens. For evaluation of the clinical utility of the BBL MGIT TM and FPTB assays, respiratory tract speci...

WHO-endorsed phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) methods for Mycobacterium tuberculosis are assumed to be the gold standard for identifying rifampin (RMP) resistance. However, previous results indicated that low-level, yet probably clinically relevant, RMP resistance linked to specific rpoB mutations is easily missed by some growth-based methods. We aimed to compare the level of resist...

Aim: This study was done to evaluate polymerase chain reaction( PCR) and BACTEC culture in diagnosis of female genital tuberculosis. The findings of these diagnostic modalities were compared with that of direct microscopy and culture on Lowenstein-Jensen( LJ) medium and also with that of laparoscopy. Methods: Thirty clinically suspected cases of female genital tuberculosis were included in this...

Arbuscular mycorrhiza and the rhizobia-legume symbiosis are two major root endosymbioses that facilitate plant nutrition. In Lotus japonicus, two symbiotic cation channels, CASTOR and POLLUX, are indispensable for the induction of nuclear calcium spiking, one of the earliest plant responses to symbiotic partner recognition. During recent evolution, a single amino acid substitution in DOES NOT M...

Received 22 May2013 Revised 26 July 2013 Accepted 27 July 2013 Early online 28 July 2013 Print 31 August 2013 This study attempts to determine and compare the sensitivity, specificity and turnaround time of conventional diagnostic modalities, BACTEC culture and polymerase chain reaction test for diagnosis of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. One hundred clinically suspected patients of extra-pulmon...

INTRODUCTION Microscopic [corrected] Observation Drug Susceptibility (MODS) has been shown to be an effective and rapid technique for early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). Thus far only a limited number of studies evaluating MODS have been performed in children and in extra-pulmonary tuberculosis. This study aims to assess relative accuracy and time to positive culture of MODS for TB diagnosis ...