BACKGROUND Early secretory antigenic target 6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10) are Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific antigens that are secreted by actively metabolising bacteria and contribute to the virulence of the bacteria. Their ability to induce Treg and Th2 responses, particularly during the first two weeks of treatment, has not been comprehensively examined to da...

background: pulmonary tuberculosis is still the most common form of tuberculosis in hiv infected patients having differ­ent presentations according to the degree of immunosuppression. this study appraised the impact of hiv infection on clini­cal, laboratory and radiological presentations of tuberculosis. methods: the clinical, laboratory and radiological presentations of pulmonary tb in 56 hiv-...

background: interferon gamma (ifn-γ), a cytokine produced by a variety of cells is involved in the immune response against m. tuberculosis. it activates the production of other cytokines and molecules that kill mycobacterium. ifn-γ also has diagnostic role in identification of active and latent tuberculosis. objective: to determine the level of ifn-γ in the blood of tb patients. methods: ninety...

tuberculous spondylitis is not an uncommon disease of the spine. near one percent of all cases of spinal tuberculosis (tb) involves craniocervical junction. hypoglossal nerve palsy is not an uncommon neurological finding, but isolated involvement of the hypoglossal nerve is rare and limited to case reports or small case series. here, we report a case of craniocervical junction tuberculosis pres...

A commonly observed response in mammals to calorie restriction (CR) is reduced body temperature (Tb). We explored how the Tb of male C57BL/6 mice responded to graded CR (10 to 40%), compared to the response to equivalent levels of protein restriction (PR) over 3 months. Under CR there was a dynamic change in daily Tb over the first 30-35 days, which stabilized thereafter until day 70 after whic...

Fluorescence imaging of cells and subcellular compartments is an essential tool to investigate biological processes and to evaluate the development and progression of diseases. In particular, protein-protein interactions can be monitored by Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two proximal fluorophores that are attached to specific recognition biomolecules such as antibodies. We inv...

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...

Pleural tuberculosis (TB), a form of extrapulmonary TB, can be difficult to diagnose. High numbers of lymphocytes in pleural fluid have been considered part of the diagnostic criteria for pleural TB; however, in many cases, neutrophils rather than lymphocytes are the predominant cell type in pleural effusions, making diagnosis more complicated. Additionally, there is limited information on the ...

b ackground : tuberculosis is a crucial health problem. establishing a rapid, reliable and still inexpensive diagnostic method for tuberculosis seems to be substantial in developing countries where tb has very high incidence rate . methods:   an indirect  enzyme-linked  immunosorbent  assay (elisa )   was established to detect serum antibodies against mycobacterium  tuberculosis. three kinds of...