Sera from 32 Indian patients with post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) were examined for antibodies by immunoblot analysis using an antigen extract of Leishmania donovani. The study revealed that the humoral immune response in PKDL patients was quite distinct compared to that in kala-azar patients. Antibodies to 3 antigens of L. donovani (molecular sizes 110, 65 and 38-42 kDa) were predominant in a majority (78%) of PKDL patients. The most important finding was the consistent recognition of 2 parasite antigens (of 110 and 65 kDa) by PKDL sera; antibodies to the 110-kDa antigen were detectable in 97% of cases, while antibodies to the 65-kDa antigen were detectable in 100% of cases that were examined. None of the 18 cases of leprosy, 10 of vitiligo, or the 30 healthy persons included in the study showed antibodies to these 2 antigens. Thus Western blot analysis provided a highly sensitive test for PKDL patients. Further, it led to the identification of 2 parasite antigens (110 and 65 kDa) that elicit an antibody response in 97-100% of PKDL patients. Purified or recombinant versions of these proteins deserve consideration as potential target antigens in development of simpler, highly specific and sensitive serodiagnostic tests for PKDL.

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The present study was designed to determine the lethal dose 50 (LD50) of combination of cypermethrin, a pyrethroid, and endosulfan, an organochlorine compound in Wistar rats. LD50 is the amount (dose) of a chemical, calculated as per the concentration of chemicals that produces death in 50% of a population of test animals to which it is administered by any of a variety of methods. A single oral dose of combination of cypermethrin and endosulfan were dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in a ratio of 1:1 and administered orally at the concentration of 165 mg/kg body weight (b.w), 330 mg/kg b.w, 660 mg/kg b.w, and 1320 mg/kg b.w to experimental animals. LD50 was calculated according to the method described by Miller and Tainter (1994) and was observed as 691.83 mg/kg b.w for this combination. Single dose of test article at 165 mg/kg b.w did not reveal any toxic signs or behavioral alterations, hence considered as No observed Adverse Effect level (NOAEL).

This study deals with the performance modeling and reliability analysis of a redundant machining system composed of several functional machines. To analyze the more realistic scenarios, the concepts of switching failure and geometric reneging are included. The time-tobreakdown and repair time of operating and standby machines are assumed to follow the exponential distribution. For the quantitative assessment of the machine interference problem, various performance measures such as mean-time-to-failure, reliability, reneging rate, etc. have been formulated. To show the practicability of the developed model, a numerical illustration has been presented. For the practical justification and validity of the results established, the sensitivity analysis of reliability indices has been presented by varying different system descriptors.Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 7