Internal quality control for HIV testing of blood donors - Dried tube specimen as a cost-effective alternative.

Background: An important aspect of ensuring blood safety is the performance of mandatory serological testing for transfusion transmissible infections. The practice of internal quality control (IQC) in blood banks in India is nonuniform, especially the use of third-party materials. Cited reasons are cost, lack of access to control materials, and need for deep-freezers for storage, if prepared in-house.

Performance of a Modified In-House HIV-1 Avidity Assay among a Cohort of Newly Diagnosed HIV-1 Infected Individuals and the Effect of ART on the Maturation of HIV-1 Specific Antibodies.

Background: Viral kinetics impact humoral immune response to HIV; antibody avidity testing helps distinguish recent (<6 months) and long-term HIV infection. This study aims to determine the frequency of recent HIV-1 infection among clients attending ICTC (Integrated Counselling and Testing Centre) using a commercial EIA, to correlate it with a modified in-house avidity assay and to study the impact of ART on anti-HIV-1 antibody maturation.

Methods: Commercial LAg Avidity EIA was used to detect antibody avidity among 117 treatment naïve HIV-1 infected individuals.

Delftia tsuruhatensis WGR-UOM-BT1, a novel rhizobacterium with PGPR properties from Rauwolfia serpentina (L.) Benth. ex Kurz also suppresses fungal phytopathogens by producing a new antibiotic-AMTM.

Unlabelled: The bacterial strain designated as WGR-UOM-BT1 isolated from rhizosphere of Rauwolfia serpentina exhibited broad-spectrum antifungal activity and also improved early plant growth. Based on morphological, biochemical and 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses, the strain BT1 was identified as Delftia tsuruhatensis (KF727978). Under in vitro conditions, the strain BT1 suppressed the growth of wide range of fungal phytopathogens.

Vibration and DFT analysis of 2-methyl-3-nitrophenyl isocyanate and 4-methyl-2-nitrophenyl isocyanate.

Vibrational spectra of 2-methyl-3-nitrophenyl isocyanate and 4-methyl-2-nitrophenyl isocyanate, in the spectral region 4000-100 cm(-1), have been measured and assigned. Conformational and harmonic frequency analyses have been performed at B3LYP/6-311G(∗) level of calculations. The two stable conformers, cis and trans, have been computed for each of the molecules.

Evaluation of a dry format reagent for CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell enumeration with FACSCount and Guava PCA [corrected].

Purpose: In all CD4+/CD8+ T-cell estimation systems, the reagents used are liquid in nature and have to be transported and stored at 2°-8°C. This causes problems in countries where the ambient temperature is high for most parts of the year or where the laboratories are at remote places.

Materials And Methods: We evaluated a dry format of CD4/CD8 reagents from ReaMetrix (Bangalore, India) against the existing liquid reagents from Becton Dickinson (San Jose, CA, USA) and Guava PCA system (Guava Technologies, Hayward, CA, USA).