Rationale: Early diagnosis and treatment of tuberculous meningitis saves lives, but current laboratory diagnostic tests lack sensitivity.Objectives: We investigated whether the detection of intracellular bacteria by a modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain and early secretory antigen target (ESAT)-6 in cerebrospinal fluid leukocytes improves tuberculous meningitis diagnosis.Methods: Cerebrospinal fluid specimens from patients with suspected tuberculous meningitis were stained by conventional Ziehl-Neelsen stain, a modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain involving cytospin slides with Triton processing, and an ESAT-6 immunocytochemical stain. Acid-fast bacteria and ESAT-6-expressing leukocytes were detected by microscopy. All tests were performed prospectively in a central laboratory by experienced technicians masked to the patients' final diagnosis.Measurements and Main Results: Two hundred and eighty patients with suspected tuberculous meningitis were enrolled.Thirty-seven had Mycobacterium tuberculosis cultured from cerebrospinal fluid; 40 had a microbiologically confirmed alternative diagnosis; the rest had probable or possible tuberculous meningitis according to published criteria. Against a clinical diagnostic gold standard the sensitivity of conventional Ziehl-Neelsen stain was 3.3% (95% confidence interval, 1.6-6.7%), compared with 82.9% (95% confidence interval, 77.4-87.3%) for modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain and 75.1% (95% confidence interval, 68.8-80.6%) for ESAT-6 immunostain. Intracellular bacteria were seen in 87.8% of the slides positive by the modified Ziehl-Neelsen stain. The specificity of modified Ziehl-Neelsen and ESAT-6 stain was 85.0% (95% confidence interval, 69.4-93.8%) and 90.0% (95% confidence interval, 75.4-96.7%), respectively.Conclusions: Enhanced bacterial detection by simple modification of the Ziehl-Neelsen stain and an ESAT-6 intracellular stain improve the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis.

BackgroundAnorectal diseases are common in the population and include internal, external, and mixed hemorrhoids. Although hemorrhoid surgery is a brief operation, anesthesia, anesthetic drugs, drug concentrations, and anesthesia level control are closely related to postoperative uroschesis. For hemorrhoid surgery, a single spinal block with ropivacaine is commonly used that blocks the S2-S4 parasympathetic nervous system, which in turn governs the voiding reflex, causing postoperative urinary retention; this affects the recovery of patients. This study was performed to investigate the effects of two doses ropivacaine that provided satisfactory analgesia and muscle relaxation and inhibited adverse reflexes on urinary retention after hemorrhoidectomy.MethodsThe study included 200 male patients who underwent anorectal surgery with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) grade I–II single elective spinal anesthesia between March 2021 and March 2022. Patients were randomly assigned to 2 groups using a random number table: Group A (n = 100) received 10 mg 0.5% ropivacaine (1.5 ml 1% ropivacaine + 1.5 ml 10% glucose = 3 ml), and Group B (n = 100) received 15 mg 0.5% ropivacaine (1.5 ml 1% ropivacaine + 1.5 ml 10% glucose = 3 ml).ResultsThe anal sphincter exhibited good relaxation, and no obvious traction pain or significant difference in the time of muscle strength recovery was observed between the 10 mg and 15 mg 0.5% ropivacaine groups (P > 0.05). The 10 mg 0.5% ropivacaine group had shorter time of micturition exceeding 100 ml and lower voiding International Prostate Symptom Score than the 15 mg 0.5% ropivacaine group (P < 0.01).ConclusionsSingle spinal anesthesia with 10 mg 0.5% ropivacaine not only provides satisfactory anesthetic effect for hemorrhoidectomy but also has less influence on postoperative uroschesis and is worthy of clinical application.Trial registrationThe study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (http://www.chictr.org.cn; identifier: ChiCTR2,100,043,686) on February 27, 2021.