Tuberculosis has become the cause of major diseases burden in developing countries such as India. Its etiological agent is a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). This calls for the need for a rapid and accurate method of diagnosis as TB detection if not diagnosed timely can be proved to be fatal. In the present study, 90 pulmonary samples were taken into the study and a comparative study on the conventional method of Fast Plaque Assay (FPA) and Real-Time PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to find out a more accurate and reliable method of diagnosis. Of all the samples 18 samples were only diagnosed by RT-PCR but failed to be diagnosed by FPA which proves RT-PCR to be a more sensitive, rapid, reliable, and accurate method of diagnosis. Moreover, the percentage positivity rate of total samples again revealed that RT-PCR (44.4%) is more efficient than FPA (13.33%).
Being an important oilseed crop, flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum L.) grows mostly in temperate climates. The present study involved the seeds and seedlings of the flaxseed plant for analysis. The current experiment was carried out to determine the effect on seed germination, seedling growth and the antioxidant profiling of the plant when treated with heavy metal exposures. The heavy metals selected for the study were Zinc (Zn), Lead (Pb), and Copper (Cu). The inhibition caused by these metals varied from day to day as the experimental setup was upto 60 days and the observations started from the 15th day. The plant indicated inhibition on seed germination highest with Cu stress. The highest effect of heavy metal on reduced growth of shoot and root was exhibited by Pb and Cu stress. Also, when the antioxidant profiling was done, Zn had the most toxic effect on phytochemicals. The conclusions divulged that the metal toxicity was as follows: Pb > Cu >Zn.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.