Background: An increased incidence of drug resistance is seen even after active implementation of directly observed treatment short course (DOTS). Early diagnosis of such cases can be improved by performing DST (drug sensitivity test) in all relapse cases. Objective: To know the drug sensitivity pattern and emergence of drug resistance among the category I relapse cases of pulmonary tuberculosi...

BACKGROUND The high cost of commercial HIV-1 viral load tests for monitoring of patients on antiretroviral treatment limits their use in resource-constrained settings. Commercial genotypic antiretroviral resistance testing is even more costly, yet it provides important benefits. OBJECTIVES We sought to determine the sensitivity and negative predictive value of a qualitative PCR targeting part...

Finite element (FE) analysis based on quantitative computed tomography (QCT) images is an emerging tool to estimate bone strength in a specific patient or specimen; however, it is limited by the computational power required and the associated time required to generate and solve the models. Thus, our objective was to develop a fast, validated method to estimate whole bone structural stiffness an...

Dietary acid load is important information, however, survey of food intake needs time and skill. Therefore, it is difficult to survey food intake from all patients. It remains to be elucidated the association between dietary acid load and urinary pH in patients with type 2 diabetes. In this cross-sectional study of 173 patients, we investigated the relationship between urinary pH and dietary ac...

BACKGROUND Routine laboratory monitoring is part of the basic care package offered to people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (PLHIV). This paper aims to identify the proportion of PLHIVs with clinical and immunological failure who are virologically suppressed and risk being misclassified as treatment failures. METHODS A retrospective analysis of patient viral load data collected ...

BACKGROUND BK virus-associated nephropathy (BKVAN) is one of the most common viral diseases affecting renal allografts. Screening for viral replication may allow for earlier intervention with reduced allograft loss. A plasma viral load >10(4) copies/mL of BKV DNA is recommended for a presumed diagnosis of BKVAN. METHODS We monitored BKV load on serum and urine samples by Real-Time TaqMan PCR ...

Reduced insulin clearance has been shown to predict the development of type 2 diabetes. Recently, it has been suggested that plasma glucose concentrations ≥ 8.6 mmol/l (155 mg/dl) at 1 h during an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) can identify individuals at high risk for type 2 diabetes among those who have normal glucose tolerance (NGT 1 h-high). The aim of this study was to examine whether ...

BACKGROUND Recent WHO guidelines identify virologic monitoring for diagnosing and confirming ART failure. In view of this, validation and scale up of point of care viral load technologies is essential in resource limited settings. METHODS A systematic validation of the GeneXpert® HIV-1 Quant assay (a point-of-care technology) in view of scaling up HIV-1 viral load in India to monitor the succ...

This paper explores a mathematical method for detecting groups of generators in an electric power system that have the potential to benefit from exercising market power. Applications of this method include metrics for measuring or detecting the possibility of market power. This paper focuses on the properties of revenue and dispatch to bid sensitivity matrices, and develops methods of identifyi...