Publications by authors named "Kusum Sharma"

Purpose: The identification of anaerobes, Mycobacterium and Nocardia species, and moulds by MALDI-TOF-MS remains a challenge. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of MALDI-TOF in the identification of these organisms.

Methods: A total of 382 strains, comprising 128 (33.

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In USA, colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in men, second in women, as well as the third leading cause of cancer deaths (Siegel et al. in Cancer J Clin 73:1-112, 2023 [109]). Worldwide, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death and causes almost 916,000 deaths each year (Ferlay in Global cancer observatory: cancer today.

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Photocatalysis has been widely used as one of the most promising approaches to remove various pollutants in liquid or gas phases during the last decade. The main emphasis of the study is on the synergy of vacancy engineering and heterojunction formation, two widely used modifying approaches, to significantly alter photocatalytic performance. The vacancy-induced AgCO/BiOBr/WO heterojunction system has been fabricated using a co-precipitation technique to efficiently abate methylene blue (MB) dye and doxycycline (DC) antibiotic.

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Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in transcriptional, epigenetic, and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and may influence carcinogenesis. MALAT1 is a lncRNA that is expressed in endocrine and many other neoplasms and it has been shown to have oncogenic and/or tumor suppressor effects in tumor development. Olfactory neuroblastomas arise in the nasal cavity while sympathetic neuroblastomas are present mainly in the adrenal and periadrenal regions.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to create and test new molecular methods for detecting drug resistance in Tuberculous meningitis (TBM), the most severe type of extrapulmonary tuberculosis.
  • Researchers analyzed 93 cerebrospinal fluid samples using the Truenat MTB Plus assay and various drug resistance chips, comparing results with traditional drug susceptibility testing methods.
  • The Truenat assay demonstrated high accuracy in identifying drug-resistant strains, but about 25% of cases yielded indeterminate results that needed confirmation through additional tests.
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Arsenic (As) contaminated water, especially groundwater reservoirs, is a major issue worldwide owing to its hazardous consequences on human health and the global environment issues. Also, irrigating agricultural fields with As-contaminated water not only produces an accumulation of As in the soil but also compromises food safety due to As entering into agricultural products. Hence, there is an urgent need to develop an efficient method for As removal in water.

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Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) have a role in driving neuroinflammation in infectious as well as non-infectious diseases; however, recent reports have potentiated the role of microRNAs in regulating MMPs at post-transcriptional levels, leading to dysregulation of crucial MMP functions like tissue remodelling, blood brain barrier integrity, etc. In present study, microRNAs regulating MMPs (MMP2 and MMP3) were selected from database search followed by literature support. Expression of these microRNAs i.

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Setting: Diagnosing osteoarticular tuberculosis (OATB) and detecting drug resistance is a challenge in an endemic country like India.

Objective: Truenat MTB Plus assay (TruPlus), a chip-based portable machine, was compared with GeneXpert Ultra (GxUltra) for diagnosing drug-resistant OATB.

Design: 115 synovial fluid and pus specimens [22 culture-positive confirmed, 58 culture-negative clinically-suspected, 35 non-TB controls] processed between 2017 and 2023 were subjected to TruPlus, GxUltra and multiplex-PCR for diagnosing OATB.

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Prolonged lead (Pb) exposure impairs human health due to its interference with physiological and biochemical processes. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate natural therapeutics to alleviate Pb-induced intoxication. In the current investigation, essential oil extracted from the fresh bulbs of Allium sativum was considered as a natural remedy.

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Background: Mycobacterium abscessus complex (MabC) has emerged as an important cause of human infections, including meningitis. In the absence of correct microbiological identification, cases of MabC meningitis are treated with conventional anti-tubercular therapy, thereby worsening the outcome.

Objective: The current study was conducted to determine the clinical features, antimicrobial susceptibility, and outcome of patients with MabC meningitis.

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Introduction: Acute encephalitis syndrome (AES) or acute febrile encephalopathy is a clinical condition characterized by altered mental status occurring after or along with a short febrile illness. In developing countries, infections are the predominant cause of AES. Prominent infections known to cause AES include viruses (such as herpes simplex virus [HSV], Japanese Encephalitis [JE] virus, dengue, enteroviruses [EVs]), bacteria, fungus, and parasites.

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Introduction: The status of vascular endothelial-derived growth factor (VEGF) in the pathogenesis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) remains far from clear. We prospectively evaluated the role of serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) VEGF in TBM.

Patients And Methods: This prospective study was conducted at a tertiary care center in North India from January 2018 to June 2019.

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Setting: Tubercular lymphadenitis (TBLA), the most common form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, is a diagnostic challenge.

Objective: Truenat MTB Plus (TruPlus) along with Truenat Rif assay (TruRif) was evaluated for detection of TBLA and rifampicin resistance and compared with GeneXpert Ultra (Xpert Ultra).

Design: 100 fine-needle aspirated specimens [50 confirmed by culture/smear/cytology, 20 clinically suspected, and 30 controls], processed in the mycobacteriology division of department of microbiology were subjected to TruPlus and TruRif, Xpert Ultra and multiplex PCR.

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Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection associated with weakened immune system due to decreased CD4 T cell count favors development of tuberculosis. Effector immune responses are also associated with micronutrient status due to their prominent role in maintaining immune functions. Micronutrient deficiencies are quite common among HIV patients that further result into compromised immunity thus making the conditions even more favorable for mycobacteria to establish disease.

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Setting: Nucleic acid amplification techniques like GeneXpert and GeneXpert Ultra (Xpert Ultra), the first-line tests for diagnosing Tuberculous meningitis (TBM), are expensive and depend on sophisticated equipment.

Objective: The diagnostic potential of multitargeted loop-mediated isothermal assay (MLAMP), a low-cost simple test using novel gene combination, was evaluated for TBM.

Design: 300 CSF specimen (200 TBM patients, 100 controls) processed between January 2017 and December 2021 were subjected to MLAMP (using sdaA, IS1081 and IS6110 gene targets), sdaA PCR and Xpert Ultra.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is difficult to diagnose using traditional methods due to their low sensitivity and high time demands, leading researchers to explore the effectiveness of PCR techniques like Pab PCR and IS6110 for routine laboratory use.
  • A study comparing these PCR methods against culture techniques and ADA tests involved 50 TBM patients and 40 controls, revealing that Pab PCR achieved higher sensitivity than IS6110, detecting additional cases of TBM.
  • The findings suggest that Pab PCR is a promising, efficient diagnostic tool for TBM, outperforming standard culture methods and providing valuable insights for clinicians in microbiology settings.
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Background: Truenat MTB Plus assay was evaluated for diagnosing ocular tuberculosis (OTB) and detecting multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extremely-drug resistant (XDR) OTB.

Methods: A total of 75 vitreous fluid specimens [five confirmed OTB, 40 clinically suspected OTB and 30 controls] were subjected to Truenat MTB Plus, multiplex PCR, and Xpert Ultra. Chips of Truenat were used for detecting rifampicin, isoniazid, fluoroquinolone and bedaquiline resistance.

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Laboratory investigations can play a significant role in the diagnosis and decision-making of infectious uveitis. Though direct demonstration of the infective organism remains the gold standard of diagnosis, it is not always possible with ocular tissues. Recent advancements in molecular techniques have made it possible to overcome these limitations and to identify the genomic DNA of pathogens associated with infectious uveitis.

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Background And Aim: Emergence of drug resistance, especially to second-line drugs, hampers tuberculosis elimination efforts. The present study aimed to evaluate MTBDRplus and MTBDRsl assays for detecting first-line and second-line drug resistance, respectively, in gastrointestinal tuberculosis (GITB).

Methods: Thirty ileocecal biopsy specimens, processed in the Department of Microbiology between 2012 and 2022, that showed growth of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on culture were included in the study.

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  • Researchers aimed to determine if diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI could effectively measure inflammation in synovial tissue among patients with knee arthritis.
  • The study involved 80 patients, with various types of arthritis, who underwent MRI imaging and synovial biopsies to analyze the relationship between imaging metrics and levels of inflammation as measured by immunohistochemistry.
  • Results showed a strong correlation between DTI metrics (specifically fractional anisotropy) and inflammatory cell presence and cytokine levels, indicating that these imaging methods could reflect the severity of inflammation in the knee synovium.
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  • Gastrointestinal tuberculosis (GITB) and Crohn's disease (CD) are similar and hard to tell apart, leading researchers to examine cytokine differences to aid diagnosis.* -
  • A study evaluated 27 patients, finding no significant differences in key cytokines (IL-10, TGF-β, IL-17) between GITB and CD, although CD had more specific symptoms like chronic diarrhea and aphthous ulcers.* -
  • The results suggest that while cytokine profiling can provide some insights, it is not effective in reliably distinguishing GITB from CD, indicating a need for more comprehensive analysis methods.*
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The study evaluated real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and high-resolution melt-curve analysis (HRM) for simultaneous diagnosis of osteo-articular tuberculosis (OATB) and drug resistance. Two hundred and fifty synovial fluid and pus specimens (20 confirmed OATB by culture, 130 suspected OATB, and 100 controls) processed in the Department of Medical Microbiology, PGIMER were subjected to qPCR using rpoB, MPB64, and IS6110 genes. All OATB positive specimens were subjected to HRM for detecting resistance to rifampicin and isoniazid.

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Background And Aim: Prompt and accurate diagnosis of gastrointestinal tuberculosis (GITB) along with simultaneous detection of drug resistance is inevitable for tuberculosis elimination. Truenat MTB Plus (TruPlus), a chip-based real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, was evaluated for the first time for diagnosing GITB and detecting rifampicin resistance.

Methods: Fifty ileocecal biopsy specimens (5 microbiologically confirmed GITB [culture-positive], 25 clinically confirmed GITB [culture-negative], and 20 control patients) processed in the Department of Microbiology between 2011 and 2021 were subjected to TruPlus assay, Xpert MTB RIF assay multiplex polymerase chain reaction.

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