Diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a concern in haemodialysis (HD) patients. Many studies have compared QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and tuberculin skin test (TST) for detecting LTBI and reported the κ statistic of agreement between QFT-GIT and TST in HD patients. The present study aimed to systematically review this literature and conduct meta-analysis of individual studies that estimated the κ between QFT-GIT with TST among HD patients. All relevant published studies that were available as full-text were obtained by searching Medline (1950), Web of Sciences (1945), Scopus (1973) through May 2016. The κ was re-estimated from the individual studies and pooled using random effect meta-analysis. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression were applied to evaluate the effect of Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination, TST cut-off points, quality of studies, sample size and age on variation of κ estimate. Eight studies involving 901 HD patients were included in meta-analysis. The pooled κ estimate was 0·28 (I2 = 18·4%, P = 0·239, 95% confidence intervals 0·22–0·34). The discordance of TST−/QFT-GIT+ was more than TST+/QFT-GIT−. History of BCG vaccination, TST cut-off points and age are related to variation of κ estimates. TST and QFT-GIT are not comparable in detecting LTBI in HD patients. The higher TST−/QFT-GIT+ ratio compared with TST+/QFT-GIT− ratio, may indicate the superiority of QFT-GIT over TST for detection LTBI in HD patients.

Conversion of CH4 molecule into higher hydrocarbons using two different wavelengths of 248 nm KrF laser and 355 nm of third harmonic of Nd:YAG laser is studied experimentally and theoretically. The stable products are analyzed and the effect of pressure on conversion of methane is measured. The detected reaction products are C2H2, C2H4, and C2H6. The conversion efficiency of 33.5% for 355 nm in comparison to 2.2% conversion for 248 nm for C2H2 is achieved. The potential of laser parameters as an important variable in controlling of final products is investigated.

The optimum convolution of dual short pulse for producing the maximum wakefield and the highest dissociation probability of CH4 has been investigated. By using three fundamental shapes of pulses though four different arrangements, the generated wake are considered in plasma. It is found that when the first and second pulses were rectangular–triangular and sinusoidal pulse shapes, respectively, the resultant wakefield amplitude is the highest. This effect opens up a new novel way by pulse shaping mechanism in the photo dissociation dynamics of molecules and controlling of chemical reactions in the desired channels by short pulse intense lasers for reducing the computation time of genetic algorithm model. Using field assisted dissociation model, the dissociation probability for a CH4+ molecule exposed to a 100 femtosecond 8 Jcm−2 Ti:Sapphire laser pulse is calculated. Here, the highest possible dissociation probability of the methane ion is calculated by the gradient optimization method in which the gradient of a function should be in the direction of the local extremes. The C-H molecular bond of CH4+ ion is assumed to be in the same direction as the electric field component of the laser pulse. These results show that there is an excellent match with experimental data. The remarkable feature of this work is that the sensitivity of the dissociation probability of the initial bond length q, is studied and the desired product channel is controlled by variation of the laser intensity and it's time evolution by introducing a characteristic vectored space for intensity and duration of two tailored rectangular femtosecond laser pulses.

Four case reports of relapsing polychondritis, (RP), are presented, together with a literature review and management suggestions. There are approximately 211 reported cases in world literature making RP an uncommon condition associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. The key to the management of RP is based on accurate and early diagnosis though the ideal medical regimen has yet to be elucidated.