Growth of Mycobacterium lepraemurium in cell-free liquid medium containing soluble starch: evaluation by generation time and morphological observation.

A stimulatory effect of soluble starch on the growth of M. lepraemurium in vitro cell-free culture system has been noted. In this medium bacteria elongated gradually without manifesting any significant peak in elongation as has been noted in NC-5 medium.

In vitro effect of DDS on phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)--induced lymphocyte transformation.

A study to find out the in vitro effect of diamino diphenyl sulphone (DDS) on phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-induced lymphocyte transformation was carried out in three phases using a wide range of DDS concentrations. Lymphocytes from healthy volunteers were investigated. Volunteers were divided into three groups to conduct the study in three phases.

Phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)-induced transformation of peripheral blood-lymphocytes in leprosy patients.

101 patients belonging to different types of leprosy were investigated for PHA-induced lymphocyte transformation in peripheral blood. There was a significant depression (P < 0.05) in blastogenesis in borderline (BB), borderline lepromatous (BL) and lepromatous (LL) patients.

Assessment of Dharmendra antigen. III. Comparative study with Mitsuda antigen.

Four fractions each from Dharmendra and Mitsuda antigen have been obtained by step-wise centrifugation and sonication of the antigen. These fractions have been assessed for their capacity of inducing skin delayed hypersensitivity response. While, it has been noted that all fractions of both types of antigens can induce a good early reaction, the late skin reaction is only mounted by intact bacilli of both types of antigen.

Assessment of Dharmendra antigen. II. Standardisation of the antigens.

Dharmendra antigen with different bacterial counts (16, 12.5, 10, 7.5, 5 and 2.

In vivo effect of DDS on phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced lymphocyte transformation cultures in normal healthy volunteers.

Depression in PHA-induced lymphocyte transformation in peripheral blood has been observed in 15 healthy volunteers after administration of DDS (100 mg/day) for seven days. In vitro culture of lymphocytes obtained from these volunteers in DDS-free normal AB serum has not altered the blast cell numbers. Lymphocytes of these volunteers have been found to contain a significant amount of DDS, ranging from 0.

Immunological assessment of sera of leprosy patients.

IgG levels were significantly high in sera of all types of leprosy. House-hold contacts of lepromatous leprosy (LL) cases also showed significantly higher values for IgG when compared to that of control. Except polar tuberculoid (TT) cases and house-hold contacts other types of leprosy revealed a significant rise in IgA levels in their sera.

Bistable optical spatial device using direct optical feedback.

Analysis and implementation of a set of optically controlled optical flip-flops on the surface of a liquid-crystal spatial- light modulator (SLM) are presented. The elementary system consists of a pair of image elements on the SLM whose input and output are coupled to each other by purely optical means. The coupling is established simultaneously and independently for all pairs of elements on the SLM.

Evaluation of bacteraemia in leprosy patients.

Thirty five patients of leprosy have been screened for bacteraemia by haemolysis (HL), leucocyte adherence (LA) and buffy coat (BC) methods and the results have been compared. The HL method has yielded not only higher number of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) but also has detected more frequently AFB in blood of leprosy patients as compared to other methods. Further, it has been established that the skin over the cubital fossa does not play any significant role in contaminating blood samples while sampling blood by venepuncture.

A comparative evaluation of bacteriologic and morphologic indices of Mycobacterium leprae in skin, lymph node, bone marrow, nerve and muscle.

This study elicits the comparative evaluation of the Bacteriologic Index (BI) and Morphologic Index (MI) of the skin, lymph node, bone marrow, nerve and muscle tissues of 15 untreated leprosy patients. The findings of comparable or even higher BI's and MI's in lymph nodes than skin are of considerable interest, especially the presence of a significant percentage of viable bacilli during reaction states when MI of skin and nerve tissue was found to be negative. Evaluation of the BI's and MI's of lymph nodes has been suggested to be of utmost importance for follow-up studies of patients being treated with antileprosy drugs.