Dengue and dengue haemorrhagic fever: implications of host genetics.

Little is known of the role of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) alleles or non-HLA alleles in determining resistance, susceptibility or the severity of acute viral infections. Dengue fever (DF) and dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) are suitable models for immunogenetic studies, yet only superficial efforts have been made to study dengue disease to date. DF and DHF can be caused by both primary and secondary infection by any of the four serotypes of the dengue virus.

Dengue vaccines: problems and prospects.

The extent of cumulative disease burden caused by dengue virus has attained an unprecedented level in recent times with sharp increase in the size of human population at risk. Dengue disease presents highly complex medical, economic and ecologic problems. The surge in publications on the development of dengue vaccines, taking advantage of new generation of biotechnology techniques indicates the profound interest and urgency in the scientific and medical communities in combating this disease.

Rett syndrome.

Rett syndrome is a rare, progressive, neurodevelopmental disorder that has been reported only in the girl child. We describe the case of a 6.9-year-old girl with Rett syndrome.

Dot-ELISA vs. PCR of fine needle aspirates of tuberculous lymphadenitis: a prospective study in India.

Objective: To evaluate an in-house dot-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for confirmation of clinically suspected cases of tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN).

Study Design: The study was performed at the postgraduate departments of microbiology and pathology of a tertiary-care teaching hospital in India. Suspected cases of TBLN were prospectively enrolled.

Assessing the feasibility of single lifetime PAP smear evaluation between 41-50 years of age as strategy for cervical cancer control in developing countries from our 32 years of experience of hospital-based routine cytological screening.

In view of the huge expenditure involved in mass cytological screening as well as lack of cytology manpower in the developing countries, single lifetime screening at 45 yr of age has been suggested as feasible strategy for control of cervical cancer. The present study is aimed at testing this hypothesis in a broader prospective, accommodating women between 41 and 50 yr of age from the data derived from the ongoing long-term hospital-based routine cervicovaginal cytology at Queen Mary's Hospital, Lucknow, India. The cervical smears of 31,032 women have been evaluated cytologically during a span of 32 yr (April 1971-March 2003) for early detection of carcinoma cervix and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

A comparative study of clinico-radiological spectrum of tuberculosis among HIV seropositive and HIV seronegative patients.

Background: A study to determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection among tuberculosis patients and to compare the clinico-radiological spectrum of tuberculosis among HIV seropositive and seronegative patients was carried out in the Department of TB and Chest Diseases, CSM Medical University, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), India.

Methods: A total of 1105 radiologically and/or bacteriologically confirmed patients of tuberculosis were screened for HIV infection during the years 1995 to 1997 and from 2000-2001.

Results: Out of a total 1105 patients screened, 31(2.