Comparative Morphological and Anatomical Study on Thymus Gland of Human and Primate.

Context: The comparative morphological and anatomical study on thymus was carried out in human and primate. The prenatal stage of Macaca radiata was selected for the present study. Study Design: Cross sectional analytical type of study. Place and Period of study: Department of Anatomy, Dr. A.L.M. PG Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chennai from July 1999 to June 2000. Materials: The comparative morphology and anatomy of thymus of human embryonic, 10 weeks, 15 weeks and prenatal foetuses, and monkey foetus was carried out. Methods: Comparative micro-anatomical study was done by paraffin processing method. The sections were stained as per the method published by Culling (1974). Results: In monkey foetus, the thymus gland is slightly elongated, whereas in human foetuses it is not elongated and oval in shape. The size of the thymus is larger in human foetuses than monkey foetus. In both cases cells are parenchymal in nature. Due to spatial organization in human foetuses, the lymphocytes aggregation is more in cortex than in medulla. In monkey foetus the lymphocyte aggregation is simpler in arrangement through spatial organization is much less.

Prevalence of biofilm producing MDR candida albicans and non candida albicans isolate from medical devices.

Totally 56% of occurrence was observed from 6 types of sources. Among them highest prevalence was observed from urinary catheter (68%) next in line is intravenous tubes (66.66%), venflon needles (65%), and blood bags (53.33%) respectively. Four types of Candida species were identified by using selective media and biochemical tests. The Candida albicans was predominant isolates in all sources especially in urinary catheter. In this study, 60.2% of non Candida albicans were observed. All isolates were subjected to antifungal stability test, 6 antifungal agents were used. Among the 6 antifungal agents Itraconazole had highly resistance activity and Fluconazole had highly sensitive activity against the isolates. The antifungal resistance of isolates were highly observed in non Candida albicans such as Candida tropicalis (83.3%) and followed by Candida glabrata (74.5%). All isolates were have the ability to produce biofilm, among them 37.4% of isolates were strong biofilm producer and 100% of protease producing isolates were observed in the last part of the study.

Fine needle aspiration cytology in childhood TB lymphadenitis.

Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) to diagnose Tuberculous (TB) lymphadenitis with compare to excision biopsy and to correlate TB lymphadenitis with clinical, cytological, radiological and mantoux test features. Methods. This was a prospective correlational study. FNAC was done by a pediatrician for 135 children with persisting lymphadenitis after two weeks of antibiotic therapy in the period of January 2005 to June 2006 and compared with excision biopsy in a tertiary care hospital. Results. Forty Six cases (34.07%) were TB lymphadenitis diagnosed by FNAC. Excision biopsy and cytological correlation was done in 100 cases. Sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy for TB lymphadenitis were found to be 98%, 100% and 99% respectively. Positive and negative predictive values were 100 and 98 respectively. Large (>2cm) (86.9%), multiple (52.1%), matted (47.8%), posterior cervical and submandibular group nodes with history of contact (P=0.0016), positive mantoux test (P=0.0001) and Grade III and IV Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) (P=0.0041) were significantly seen in TB lymphadenitis. Ziehl Neelson staining for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB) was positive in 32.5% cases of TB Lymphadenitis. Conclusion. Pediatrician himself can do FNAC which is an excellent first line method to diagnose TB lymphadenitis and it has equal accuracy to excision biopsy.