Diagnostic role of the antibody response to the 38kDa, 16kDa proteins and lipoarabinomannan of mycobacterium tuberculosis

The antibody response to the 38kDa, 16kDa and Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) antigens ofMycobacterium tuberculosis was evaluated using three different ELISAs based on these antigens. The study group included tuberculosis patients (n=52), patients with HIV and TB co-infection (n=10), other chest symptomatics (n=5), HIV infected individuals (n=10), leprosy cases (n=7) and healthy controls (n=75). The results indicate that the 38kDa and LAM based ELISA for IgM/IgG has a low specificity (ranging from 69–85%) and sensitivity (ranging from 55–78%). When three ELISAs are carried out on a single patient the probability of detection of tuberculosis was significantly increased to 95.2% indicating that a single ELISA test is of low sensitivity and that a combination of ELISA’s may be needed to be of any value as a diagnostic test for tuberculosis. Additionally, a western blot assay of the serum antibody response to protein fraction ofM. tuberculosis was analysed in 15 tuberculosis patients and five healthy controls. A multiple antibody response to various M.tuberculosis proteins was observed which varied from patient to patient as compared to controls who showed a single 38–39 kDa protein band positivity. These finding suggest that a western blot assay which determines the antibody response to a set of antigenic components ofM. tuberculosis could be a better serological test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in our population.     

Various quantum mechanical concepts for confinements in semiconductor nanocrystals

In this section of Resonance, we invite readers to pose questions likely to be raised in a classroom situation. We may suggest strategies for dealing with them, or invite responses, or both, “Classroom” is equally a forum for raising broader issues and sharing personal experiences and viewpoints on matters related to teaching and learning science.     

Accessing higher education: the dilemma of schooling women,minorities, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in contemporary India

This article focusses on the growth of higher education within the framework of preferential treatment and supportive measures for the benefit of different social groups, namely, the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, minorities and women. It also reviews the educational policy discourse which assigns several functions to higher education. Some of these are: equity for the Scheduled Castes and Tribes; mainstreaming for the minorities, and equality for women. It demonstrates that the educational policy fails to integrate these functions which remain sectoral aims even at the conceptual level. Further, in the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic Indian society, the parametres of gender, caste, class and region are crucial in determining access to higher education. Again, gender becomes the all inclusive negative parameter conferring cumulative and competing disadvantages on women. Lastly, the educational policies and programmes are unable to encompass the complex social reality within a single framework and are, therefore, unable to bridge the gap between policy and practice.First published inHigher Education Reform in India, eds. Philip G. Altbach and Suma Chitnis (New Delhi: Sage Publication India Pvt. Ltd.).