OBJECTIVE Our aim was to describe the patient characteristics, clinical-epidemiological profile, and treatment outcome of childhood tuberculosis (TB). METHODS A retrospective, descriptive study was undertaken of 1212 children aged 0 to 18 years admitted to Beijing Children's Hospital for the treatment of TB from January 2002 to December 2010. Statistical significance of category variables was...

Studies had been attempted to define the mycobacterial antigens by standard biochemical and immunological techniques. One particular antigen, a 65-kilodalton (KDa) protein, is present in a wide range of mycobacterial species and has been most intensively studied. It is designated as 65K antigen or the cell wall protein a (CWP-a) antigen, since it appears to co-purify with cell walls. The 65K an...

Commencement of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in severely immunosuppressed HIV-infected persons is associated with unmasking of subclinical disease. The subset of patients that are diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) disease while on ART have been classified as ART-associated TB. Few studies have reported the incidence of ART-associated TB and unmasking TB-IRIS according to the International Netw...

BACKGROUND Confirming tuberculosis (TB) disease in suspects in resource limited settings is challenging and calls for the development of more suitable diagnostic tools. Different Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection phase-dependent antigens may be differentially recognized in infected and diseased individuals and therefore useful as diagnostic tools for differentiating between M.tb infec...

BACKGROUND Many synthesized drugs with clinical severe side effects have been used for diabetic nephropathy (DN) treatment. Therefore, it is urgent and necessary to identify natural and safe agents to remedy DN. Timosaponin B-II (TB-II), a major steroidal saponin constituent in Anemarrhena asphodeloides Bunge, exhibits various activities, including anti-inflammatory and hypoglycemic functions. ...

The tuberculin skin test (TST) using purified protein derivative (PPD) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is traditionally used to diagnose latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI). However, LTBI diagnosis by peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) interferon (IFN)-gamma responses to M. tuberculosis-specific antigens, early secreted antigenic target 6 kDa (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein (CFP...

SETTING Tuberculosis (TB) treatment clinics in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. OBJECTIVE To quantify anthropometrics and intake of en-ergy and protein among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive women with TB. DESIGN HIV-positive women with newly diagnosed TB were assessed on their anthropometric characteristics and dietary intake. Energy and protein intake were determined using Tanzania foo...

Cancer cachexia, which is characterized by muscle wasting, is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Because muscle protein synthesis may be increased and protein breakdown reduced by leucine supplementation, we used the C26 tumor-bearing cachectic mouse model to assess the effects of dietary supplementation with leucine on muscle weight and the markers of muscle protein breakdown (...

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is still a severe problem in underdeveloped and developing countries. Diagnostic tests are unavailable every health institution, TB culture can take up to 45 days. Therefore, there need for cheaper, faster, easily accessible diagnostic methods that guide the diagnosis. This study aimed determine whether red blood cell distribution width (RDW), C-reactive protein (C...