Tuberculosis is still a major health problem in most developing countdes and its incidence is rising in many developed countries. This resurgence has been attributed to the HIV epidemic and TB has been declared as a global health emergency by WHO in 1993. The diagnosis of tuberculosis mainly depends upon initial clinical suspicion and radiographic findings with subsequent bacteriological confirmation by sputum smear examination and culture. Lack of sensitivity in smear examination, non specificity of radiological findings, extended turn around time of Mycobactedum tuberculosis culture and difficulties in diagnosing paucibacillary, childhood and extrapulmonary tuberculosis has necessitated to explore the utility of immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis as a convenient and cost effective test to supplement clinical information for definite diagnosis. Many commercial tests are available in the market for diagnosis of TB. Most of these tests are based on the detection of IgG, IgA and IgM antibodies to specific mycobacterial antigen or mixture of antigens. Indigenous immunoassay systems have explored excretory-secretory ES-31 mycobactedal antigen for immunodiagnosis of'lB. Many a time there is lack of consistent elevation in all the three Ig classes in active infection thus making it more important to determine the ideal antibody isotype assay for reliable diagnosis of tuberculosis and to save the costs of the patient for unnecessary investigations.

IgG antibody to excretory-secretory antigen ES-31 is found to be having good specificity with acceptable sensitivity in detecting different forms of childhood tuberculosis. Further detection of circulating free and/or immunecomplexed antigen can be used as an adjunct tool in the diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis.

Summary The ELISAs for polyclonal antibodies against Mycobacterium /eprae (ML-ELISA) and specific antibodies against epitopes on 35 kDa protein (SACT ELISA) and phenolic glycolipid I (PG-ELISA) of M. /ep rae were evaluated comparatively in a group of 88 tuberculoid leprosy patients. The overall seropositivity rate with a battery of 3 tests (68 %) was not significantly higher than that obtained with ML-ELISA alone (55%) for IgG class of antibodies. Seropositivities for SACT -ELISA and PG-ELISA were, respectively, 38% and 26%. ML-ELISA for IgM class of antibodies was least sensitive, showing only 8% positivity.A significant correlation was noted between individual values of the three assays, but the positive proportions overlapped maximally in the case of ML ELISA (IgG) and SACT -ELISA. Further, positivity for the latter two assays, particularly SACT -ELISA, showed significant associations with the extent of 'active' (largely untreated) infection.Immunoblotting revealed that the main antibody response was directed towards M. /eprae antigens in the molecular weight range of 20-40 kDa and the densitometry results of this zone correlated significantly with corresponding SACT -ELISA and ML-ELISA (IgG) values.

Background: Vitamin D deficiency prevails in epidemic proportions among school going children in India, but there is scarcity of searchable data on vitamin D status in school children in Jammu and Kashmir; hence we have assessed the vitamin D status in school going children attending outpatient department in a tertiary care hospital Jammu.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of Biochemistry Government Medical College Jammu during June to December, 2018 and after obtaining informed consent, a total of 104 school going children between the age group of 6 years to 12 years, attending SMGS Hospital Jammu were screened for their vitamin D (25 OH-D) status by using Abbott architect chemiluminescent micro particle immunoassay.Results: Out of a total of 104 school going children screened in the study, 91 (87.5%) were found to be having insufficient vitamin D levels in their blood (<30ngm/dl) whereas 63 (60.5%) children showed severe deficiency with vitamin D levels below 20ngm/dl.Conclusions: Despite of abundant sunshine throughout the year and also with the consideration that people of this region are well off economically and can afford good nutrition, the results of our study revealing  high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in school going children can be taken as a whistle blower for the health policy makers of the region.

Background:Vitamin D deficiency is widely prevalent in this part of the country, in spite of the fact that there is ample sunshine and the economic status of the people is good. Several studies have suggested possible link between vitamin D deficiency and cardiovascular disease risk. Hence authors evaluated the patients with established coronary artery disease attending cardiology department of super speciality hospital, Government Medical College Jammu, for their vitamin D status. Methods:The study was conducted in the department of Biochemistry Government Medical College Jammu and data of established cases of coronary artery disease patients attending cardiology department of super speciality hospital, government medical college Jammu was analyzed for vitamin D levels during the period from January 2019 to February, 2020.Results: A total of 200 established cases of coronary artery disease comprising of 130 male patients and 70 female patients were analyzed in the study, out of 200 cases, 190 (95%) were found to be having low levels of vitamin D in their blood (<30 ngm/dl). 123 (94.6%) out of a total of 130 male patients had vitamin D deficiency as compared to 67 (95.7%) out of 70 females patients.Conclusions:The study has revealed a very high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in established cases of coronary artery diseases. More detailed prospective studies are required to unravel the association of vitamin D and its role in prevention of coronary artery diseases in the absence of well-established risk factors like smoking, Diabetes, Hypertension and dyslipidaemias.