Accurate and rapid diagnostic tests are critical for achieving control of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19), a pandemic illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Diagnostic tests for covid-19 fall into two main categories: molecular tests that detect viral RNA, and serological tests that detect anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoglobulins. Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), a molecular test, has become the gold standard for diagnosis of covid-19; however, this test has many limitations that include potential false negative results, changes in diagnostic accuracy over the disease course, and precarious availability of test materials. Serological tests have generated substantial interest as an alternative or complement to RT-PCR and other Nucleic acid tests in the diagnosis of acute infection, as some might be cheaper and easier to implement at the point of care. A clear advantage of these tests over RT-PCR is that they can identify individuals previously infected by SARS-CoV-2, even if they never underwent testing while acutely ill. Many serological tests for covid-19 have become available in a short period, including some marketed for use as rapid, point-of-care tests. The pace of development has, however, exceeded that of rigorous evaluation, and important uncertainty about test accuracy remains.
Various characteristics of mesomorphism can be explained using intermolecular interactions between a pair of liquid crystalline molecules. The intermolecular interactions have been calculated considering multipole-multicentere expansion method and modified by second order perturbation treatments. For calculation of multipole i.e. charge, dipole, etc. at each atomic center of molecules, para-butyl-p'-cyano-biphenyl, GAMESS, an ab initio program, with 6-31G * basis set has been used. The stacking, in-plane and terminal interaction energies explain the liquid crystalline behaviour of the system.
In December 2019 a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 emerged in the Hunan seafood market in Wuhan, China, and soon became a global health problem. Since its outbreak, SARS-CoV-2 has had a major impact on clinical diagnostic laboratories. The scientific community has quickly risen to the occasion and reports of new developments have arrived at an unprecedented scale. At present, there is a growing list of over 400 SARC-CoV-2 diagnostic tests either in development or approved for clinical use. This presentation reviews the current laboratory methods available for testing COVID- 19 in microbiology laboratories and also provides an insight into the future diagnostics approaches. Proper respiratory specimen collected at the appropriate time and from the right anatomical site is critical in the accurate and timely diagnosis of SARSCoV2. While oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal swabs are recommended for the detection of early infection, other lower respiratory tract specimens like the sputum and bronchoalveolar lavage are used for late detection and monitoring of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Real-time RT-PCR based molecular assay remains the test of choice for the etiological diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 while serological tests are being introduced as supplementary tools. Finally, there is an urgent need for scaling up the diagnostic capacity by the introduction of reliable and accurate point-of-care tests which will assist in effective control of this outbreak. These assays can be used in the local hospitals and clinics bearing the burden of identifying and treating patients.
Tuberculosis (TB) caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been identified as a remerging infectious disease with public health importance globally. Exploitation of better diagnosis techniques for precise isolation of mycobacteria in clinical specimens is of great importance to improve the diagnosis as part of the global TB control efforts. Contamination of broth cultures of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) by bacterial species other than Mycobacterium species frequently occurs. Many of these contaminated cultures require re-decontamination and re-incubation before the appropriate tests can be performed for identification. This study aimed at the isolation/recovery of M. tuberculosis from contaminated MGIT tubes by making minor modification to the standard protocol and access whether the modification has any impact on recovery rate. Among all confirmed 451 mixed growth positive cultures, 89.57% were culture positive (positive for MTBC), 3.80% were culture negative, 4.65% were culture contaminated and 1.99% were found NTM.
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