Modelling of cerebral tuberculosis in BALB/c mice using clinical strain from patients with CNS tuberculosis infection.

Background & Objectives: Central nervous system (CNS) infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is the most severe form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) due to a high level of mortality and morbidity. Limited studies are available on CNS-TB animal model development. The present study describes the development of a murine model of CNS-TB using a clinical strain (C3) isolated from the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of CNS-TB patients.

Incidence and Clinical Outcome of Patients with Hypertensive Acute Ischemic Stroke: An Update from Tertiary Care Center of Central India.

Introduction: We evaluated the incidence and clinical outcome of patients with hypertensive acute ischemic stroke (AIS) admitted to a tertiary care center in Central India. In addition, we examined the status of stroke biomarkers namely neuron-specific enolase (NSE), glial specific protein (S-100ββ), and inter-α-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 4(ITIH4) in the serum of patients suffering from AIS with hypertension (HTN) and without HTN.

Methods: A total of 104 patients with AIS were enrolled for the study.

Prediction of Outcome in Diabetic Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients: A Hospital-Based Pilot Study Report.

Background: Demographic and clinical characteristics are known to influence the outcome in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients.

Purpose: This study is aimed at evaluating short- and long-term outcomes in diabetic AIS patients. In addition, the study also evaluates the impact of diabetes on the performance of indigenously reported biomarker, inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 4 (ITIH4) and known biomarkers, neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and glial-derived S-100 beta beta protein (S-100ββ).

Synthetic Peptide-Based Antibody Detection for Diagnosis of Chikungunya Infection with and without Neurological Complications.

Synthetic peptide-based diagnosis of Chikungunya can be an efficient and more accessible approach in immunodiagnostics. Here, we describe the identification of Chikungunya-specific 40 kD protein for development of synthetic peptide-based enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for the detection of Chikungunya virus-specific antibodies in the patient's sample. The total sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis protein profile of the patient's sample can be done to identify specific protein bands.

Nested PCR Assay for Eight Pathogens: A Rapid Tool for Diagnosis of Bacterial Meningitis.

Purpose: Bacterial meningitis is a dreadful infectious disease with a high mortality and morbidity if remained undiagnosed. Traditional diagnostic methods for bacterial meningitis pose a challenge in accurate identification of pathogen, making prognosis difficult. The present study is therefore aimed to design and evaluate a specific and sensitive nested 16S rDNA genus-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay using clinical cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for rapid diagnosis of eight pathogens causing the disease.

Diagnosis of Herpes Simplex Encephalitis by ELISA Using Antipeptide Antibodies Against Type-Common Epitopes of Glycoprotein B of Herpes Simplex Viruses.

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) represents one of the most severe infectious diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). As effective antiviral drugs are available, an early, rapid, and reliable diagnosis has become important. The objective of this article was to develop a sensitive ELISA protocol for herpes simplex viruses (HSV) antigen detection and quantitation by assessing the usefulness of antipeptide antibodies against potential peptides of HSV glycoprotein B (gB).

Comparative evaluation of risk factors, outcome and biomarker levels in young and old acute ischemic stroke patients.

Background: Stroke is the third leading cause of death and disability worldwide accounting for 400-800 strokes per 100,000 individuals each year.

Purpose: In the present study, we compared risk factors, clinical outcome, and prognostic biomarkers NSE, S-100 ßß and ITIH4 levels in young and old acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients.

Methods: We compared the risk factors and clinical outcomes in young (n = 38) and old (n = 66) AIS patients admitted to tertiary health care centre in Central India.

Rapid diagnosis and simultaneous identification of tuberculous and bacterial meningitis by a newly developed duplex polymerase chain reaction.

The present study describes the development and evaluation of a duplex polymerase chain reaction (D-PCR) for diagnosis and simultaneous identification of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and bacterial meningitis (BM) in a single reaction. A D-PCR with primers amplifying portions of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis IS6110 and the eubacteria 16SrDNA sequence in a same reaction mix was developed and tested on DNA extracted from 150 clinical CSF samples from different categories (TBM = 39, BM = 26, control infectious and non-infectious category = 85). The results indicate a clear differentiation between bands for eubacteria and M.

Determination of viral load by quantitative real-time PCR in herpes simplex encephalitis patients.

Objective: Human herpesviruses cause various acute, subacute, and chronic disorders of the central nervous system and peripheral nervous systems in adults and children. The objective of the present study is to summarize the experience gained with the estimation of viral load in the central nervous system of children and adults with herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) admitted to a neurological institute at Nagpur, India, by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) assay within the past 4 years.

Methods: The qPCR assay was evaluated retrospectively in 242 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from patients.

Protein A-based ELISA: its evaluation in the diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis.

Herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) represents one of the most severe infectious diseases of the central nervous system. As effective antiviral drugs are available, early rapid and reliable diagnosis has become important. The objective of the present study was to develop a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) protocol for herpes simplex virus (HSV) antigen detection by assessing the usefulness of hyperimmune sera isolated from HSV-seropositive patients.

Detection of viral antigen, IgM and IgG antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid of Chikungunya patients with neurological complications.

Background: During Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) epidemic in Nagpur, India, we identified some suspected Chikungunya patients with neurological complications. Early and cost-effective diagnosis of these patients remains problematic despite many new advanced diagnostic methods. A reliable diagnostic test, which could be performed in any standard pathology laboratory, would help to obtain definitive early diagnosis of CHIKV patients with neurological complications.

Diagnosis of Chikungunya fever in an Indian population by an indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay protocol based on an antigen detection assay: a prospective cohort study.

A Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) outbreak continues in India. Monitoring of the clinical features of CHIKV infection is an important component of assessing the disease process. Diagnosis is usually made by an immunoglobulin M (IgM)/IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Neurological complications of Chikungunya virus infection.

Background: In May 2006, there was a large Chikungunya virus infection (CHIKV) outbreak in the Nagpur district of Maharashtra, a province in western India. Usually, CHIKV is a self-limiting febrile illness. However, neurological complications have been described infrequently.

Demonstration of components of antigen 85 complex in cerebrospinal fluid of tuberculous meningitis patients.

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is the most common form of chronic infection of the central nervous system. Despite the magnitude of the problem, the general diagnostic outlook is discouraging. Specifically, there is no generally accepted early confirmative diagnosis protocol available for TBM.

Differential diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis from partially-treated pyogenic meningitis by cell ELISA.

Background: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a major global health problem, and it is sometimes difficult to perform a differential diagnosis of this disease from other diseases, particularly partially-treated pyogenic meningitis (PTPM). In an earlier study, we demonstrated the presence of a 30-kD protein antigen in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of TBM patients. We have also shown that lymphocytes from CSF of TBM patients respond differently to this antigen than do those from PTPM patients.

Rapid diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis using the Simple Dot ELISA method.

Background: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a serious central nervous system infection, which is seen in clinical practice fairly frequently in developing and underdeveloped countries. Our study was intended to develop a reliable and rapid diagnostic methodology for detecting mycobacterium tuberculous bacilli (MTB) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Dot Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay (Dot ELISA) has been standardized to detect MTB antigens and antibodies against MTB in the CSF of TBM patients.

The application of the Mancini technique as a diagnostic test in the CSF of tuberculous meningitis patients.

Background: Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is still a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in developing nations, and the timing of treatment is the most crucial factor affecting the ultimate outcome. To establish a rapid diagnosis, we used Single Radial Immuno-Diffusion (SRID) to detect circulating mycobacterium antigen in the CSF of patients with clinically suspected TBM.

Material/methods: Single radial immunodiffusion is the simplest of all immunotechniques for the quantitative determination of antigen or antibody.