In silico investigation on sensing of tyramine by boron and silicon doped C60 fullerenes.

The present communication deals with the adsorption of tyramine neurotransmitter over the surface of pristine, Boron (B) and Silicon (Si) doped fullerenes. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations have been used to investigate tyramine adsorption on the surface of fullerenes in terms of stability, shape, work function, electronic characteristics, and density of state spectra. The most favourable adsorption configurations for tyramine have been computed to have adsorption energies of - 1.486, - 30.889, and - 31.166 kcal/mol, respectively whereas for the rest three configurations, it has been computed to be - 0.991, - 6.999, and - 8.796 kcal/mol, respectively. The band gaps for all six configurations are computed to be 2.68, 2.67, 2.06, 2.17, 2.07, and 2.14 eV, respectively. The band gap of pristine, B and Si doped fullerenes shows changes in their band gaps after adsorption of tyramine neurotransmitters. However, the change in band gaps reveals more in B doped fullerene rather than pristine and Si doped fullerenes. The change in band gaps of B and Si doped fullerenes leads a change in the electrical conductivity which helps to detect tyramine. Furthermore, natural bond orbital (NBO) computations demonstrated a net charge transfer of 0.006, 0.394, and 0.257e from tynamine to pristine, B and Si doped fullerenes.

Giardia lamblia infection and associated risk factors among patients attending Kochore Health Center, Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of Giardia lamblia infection and the associated risk factors among patients attending Kochore town health center, Ethiopia. METHODS: Stool samples were collected and assessed by direct microscopy, and antigen detection was performed using the ELISA technique. Data were analyzed using the Chi-Square test and a P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Ninety-eight out of 422 (23.22%) stool samples were positive by microscopy. Using the ELISA technique in stool samples, 160 of 422 (37.91%) samples were positive. Risk factors such as health center level, occupation, monthly income, educational status, toilet availability at home, water source, drinking water treatment, container type, waste disposal system, and eating unwashed fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with G. lamblia infection. CONCLUSION: Implementation of health education campaigns and emphasis on the importance of environmental sanitation and personal hygiene will help reduce the health burden.

Immunotherapy for Alzheimer's Disease: Current Scenario and Future Perspectives.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a global health concern owing to its complexity, which often poses a great challenge to the development of therapeutic approaches. No single theory has yet accounted for the various risk factors leading to the pathological and clinical manifestations of dementia-type AD. Therefore, treatment options targeting various molecules involved in the pathogenesis of the disease have been unsuccessful. However, the exploration of various immunotherapeutic avenues revitalizes hope after decades of disappointment. The hallmark of a good immunotherapeutic candidate is not only to remove amyloid plaques but also to slow cognitive decline. In line with this, both active and passive immunotherapy have shown success and limitations. Recent approval of aducanumab for the treatment of AD demonstrates how close passive immunotherapy is to being successful. However, several major bottlenecks still need to be resolved. This review outlines recent successes and challenges in the pursuit of an AD vaccine.

Identification of perineural cysts during ultrasound-guided caudal anaesthesia.

An 8-year-old boy was scheduled for urethral fistula correction under general anaesthesia with an ultrasound-guided caudal block. During scanning of the caudal area, we noticed two cystic structures in the caudal space in the region of the intended needle endpoint so we decided against performing the caudal block. Surgery was conducted uneventfully and a penile block was administered as an alternative for analgesia postoperatively. Radiological evaluation of the child 3 weeks later revealed the presence of perineural cysts in the sacral region. Routine use of ultrasound for caudal anaesthesia procedures may reveal unexpected anomalies in the sacral area, which could have implications for optimal patient management.

Study of M. tuberculosis ES-31 and ES-20 antigen levels in different pathogenic grades of lymph node tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE: To study tuberculous excretory-secretory (ES) 31 and ES-20 antigens in different pathogenic grades of lymph node tuberculosis (TB). DESIGN: The study group included lymph node TB patients showing granuloma with mature epithelioid cells based on cytology findings (strong immune response group, SI) and patients showing no granuloma formation and acellular necrosis (weak immune response group, WI). Sandwich ELISA was performed using affinity purified antibodies against Mycobacterium tuberculosis ES-31 and ES-20 antigens to assay free and immune complexed antigen levels in the serum of these patients. RESULTS: Higher levels of immune complexed ES-31 (geometric mean titre [GMT] 848) and ES-20 (GMT 1818) antigens than free ES-31 (GMT 462) and ES-20 (GMT 647) were observed in WI patients. There were higher levels of immune complexed ES-20 antigen levels (GMT 1818) in WI patients than in SI lymph node TB patients; the difference was significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Elevated levels of immune complexed ES-20 antigen in patient's serum may be a useful immunological marker for weak immune response patients in lymph node TB.

Novel interferon-gamma assays for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children in India.

SETTING: The tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) are used as supportive evidence to diagnose active tuberculosis (TB). Novel IGRAs could improve diagnosis, but data are lacking in young children. DESIGN: Children (age 5 years) with suspected TB were prospectively screened at a tertiary hospital in Pune, India; the children underwent TST, and standard (early secretory antigenic target 6 and culture filtrate protein 10) and enhanced (five additional novel antigens) enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot) assays. RESULTS: Of 313 children (median age 30 months) enrolled, 92% had received bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination, 53% were malnourished and 9% were coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); 48 (15%) had TB, 128 (41%) did not, and TB could not be ruled out in 137 (44%). The sensitivity of enhanced (45%) and standard (42%) ELISpot assays for diagnosing TB was better than that of TST (20%) (P  0.03); however, enhanced ELISpot was not more sensitive than the standard ELISpot assay (P = 0.50). The specificity of enhanced ELISpot, standard ELISpot and TST was respectively 82% (95%CI 74-89), 88% (95%CI 81-94) and 98% (95%CI 93-100). Rv3879c and Rv3615c, previously reported to be promising antigens, failed to improve the diagnostic performance of the ELISpot assay. CONCLUSION: The TST and the standard and novel ELISpot assays performed poorly in diagnosing active TB among young children in India.

Mycobacterial ES-31 serine protease--a biomarker for mycobacterium tuberculosis--a preliminary report.

There is a need for simple and reliable method to identify Mycobacterium tuberculosis from AFB smear positive cases. Utility of mycobacterial ES-31 serine protease as a marker to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli was explored using Fluorescein isothiocyanate conjugated anti-ES-31 serine protease antibody. The presence of ES-31 serine protease in bacilli was indicated by green fluorescence on the cell surface. Green fluorescence was observed with M.tb.H37Ra bacilli and M.tb.H37Rv bacilli while no Fluorescence was observed with M. chelonae, Nocardia farcinicum as well as in E. coli showing the usefulness of ES-31 serine protease as a marker for identification of mycobacterium tubercle bacilli in cultures.

A low molecular weight ES-20 protein released in vivo and in vitro with diagnostic potential in lymph node tuberculosis.

PURPOSE: To determine role of antigens released in vivo and in vitro in immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). METHODS: In vivo released circulating tuberculosis antigen (CTA) was obtained from TB sera by ammonium sulphate precipitation and in vitro released excretory-secretory (ES) antigens from Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate. CTA and ES antigens were fractionated by SDS-PAGE and electro-eluted gel fractions were analysed for antigen by ELISA. RESULTS: Low molecular weight proteins CTA-9 and ES-9 showed high titre of antigen activity. To explore the diagnostic potential of low molecular weight ES antigen, M. tuberculosis ES antigen was further fractionated by gel filtration chromatography followed by purification on anion exchange column using fast protein liquid chromatography and a highly seroreactive ESG-5D (ES-20) antigen was obtained. Competitive inhibition showed that CTA-9 and ES-9 antigens inhibit the binding of ES-20 antigen to its antibody. Seroanalysis showed sensitivity of 83 and 80% for ES-20 antigen and antibody detection, respectively, in pulmonary TB and 90% in lymph node TB. CONCLUSIONS: Seroreactivity studies using M. tuberculosis ES-20 antigen showed usefulness in detection of TB; in particular, lymph node TB.