Pretreatment with dithiothreitol (DTT) is necessary to dissolve mucus in samples of induced sputum prior to analysis. However, DTT may affect cell surface markers which are essential for lymphocyte subtyping. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of DTT on an appropriate panel of surface markers. Peripheral blood leukocytes were used because these cells, in contrast to spu...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis continues to rely on sputum smear microscopy in many settings. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the percentage of children and adults with tuberculosis that are sputum smear positive. METHODS We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and Global Health databases for studies that included both children and adults with all forms of active TB. The pooled ...

BACKGROUND Monitoring treatment response to anti-tuberculous therapy remains unsatisfactory in resource-limited countries where sophisticated and expensive tests are not readily available. Sputum culture for mycobacterium is desirable, but not obtainable in many developing countries. Sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear alone can be misinterpreted in the presence of unviable bacilli or non-tube...

A rapid, cheap and effective method for diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) is essential for TB control. We evaluated the performance of an immunochromatographic assay (ICA) kit (SD Bioline TB Ag MPT64 rapid test) designed for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) in liquid and solid cultures to determine its ability to detect and differentiate MTC directly in sputum samples. We attempted...

Objective: We aimed to analyse the positivity rate and cycle threshold values indicating viral loads for SARS CoV-2 among different respiratory specimens. Additionally, we evaluated diagnostic efficacy of saliva samples. Patients Methods: included combined oropharyngeal nasopharyngeal swab (cONS), sputum, tracheal aspirate (TA) specimens patients. Unpreserved samples were collected prospectivel...

Background—Sputum eosinophil counts and exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels are increased in asthma and both measurements fall in response to corticosteroids. Methods—Exhaled NO levels and sputum eosinophil counts were assessed as noninvasive markers of the response to an oral steroid in 37 patients (19 women) with stable chronic asthma (mean (SD) age 48.6 (12.2) years, asthma duration 25.9 (17.3)...

BACKGROUND Sputum eosinophil counts and exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels are increased in asthma and both measurements fall in response to corticosteroids. METHODS Exhaled NO levels and sputum eosinophil counts were assessed as non-invasive markers of the response to an oral steroid in 37 patients (19 women) with stable chronic asthma (mean (SD) age 48.6 (12.2) years, asthma duration 25. 9 (1...

Background: Epithelioid cell granulomas (ECG) are evident in the histology of various pulmonary diseases, including pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB); however, the diagnostic value of ECG in sputum cytology for patients with granulomatous lung diseases is unclear. Methods: To evaluate the value of identifying ECG in the sputum of patients with PTB and other respiratory diseases, we retrospectively r...

conclusions pcr was the most sensitive, accurate and rapid method for diagnosis of tb. it was concluded that, for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, pcr directly from sputum may be recommended in bangladesh, especially in suspected tuberculosis patients who remain negative by conventional methods. patients and methods a total of 150 clinically suspected pulmonary tb patients (male/female:...