Detection of Cryptosporidium parvum antigen by co-agglutination test and ELISA

Confirmation of the presence of Cryptosporidium in environmental samples is laborious, costly and often difficult. We report here a simple and economic slide agglutination test [co-agglutination test] for detecting cryptosporidial antigen in stool, serum and water. The results show that as a screening method co-agglutination is clearly superior to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA] and modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining, although ELISA is more accurate. The co-agglutination test is recommended for application as a new tool for detecting cryptosporidial antigen in large-scale epidemiological surveys

Coccidial infection in immunosuppressed mice: prophylaxis and treatment with dehydroepiandrosterone

Cryptosporidiosis and toxoplasmosis are diseases caused by opportunistic coccidial parasites that can lead to life-threatening infection in immunocompromised patients. We evaluated dehydroepiandrosterone as prophylaxis and therapy in immunosuppressed mice infected with Cryptosporidium parvum and avirulent Toxoplasma gondii. Mice were infected with either Cryptosporidium oocysts or Toxoplasma cysts. Assessment was by mortality rates, parasitic counts and electron microscopic studies. Mortality rates were significantly reduced in all treated groups. A significant reduction in the cryptosporidial oocyst count in stool and intestinal villi and in Toxoplasma cysts in the brains of infected mice was observed in all the groups. The effect of the drug was greater when given prior to infection

Investigation on the constituents of sesbania aegypiaca as molluscicidal agent

The crude triterpenoid saponins and tannins isolated from the ethanol extract of Sesbania aegyptiaca showed molluscicidal activity against B. alex and rina, LC power down 90 at 40 and 125 ppm, respectively. B- amyrin, oleanolic acid and dustanin were isolated and characterized

new heart model for better biological system simulation

An electronic nonlinear time varying capacitance is designed to simulate the human myocardial performance which cannot be easily programmed on an analog computer. This design makes feasible the use of RLC circuit model for the Pressure-Flow dynamics of the Cardiovascular System with a large number of segments without being limited by the size of the analog computer. The model can be interconnected to the analog computer for studying related problems. Nonlinearity in the suggested model allows for mechanical heart failure to be detected. Systolic time is made variable with heart rate to mirnic reality. Time scale is introduced to allow for the study of slow phenomena like myocardial hypertrophy