The poultry industry has emerged as one of the largest and fastest growing public sectors in the developed and developing countries. Unfortunately, this industry is under a major threat from diseases that are viral (Newcastle disease, infectious bursal disease, influenza, hydropericardium syndrome), bacterial (colibacillosis, pasteurellosis, salmonellosis, mycoplasmosis), parasitic (coccidiosis, histoplasmosis) or nutritional (dyschondroplasia, osteoporosis). Among these diseases, hydropericardium syndrome (HPS) is one of the important emerging diseases occurring in the specific areas of the world where broilers (chickens) are reared under intensive conditions. HPS was first observed in 1987 at Angara Goth, an area near Karachi, Pakistan, where broilers are raised. Since then, HPS has been reported in many countries of the world. From these reported cases, an adenovirus that was either isolated from or visualized electron microscopically in the liver of affected broilers has been implicated in the syndrome. The syndrome has been reproduced by inoculation of isolated fowl adenovirus (FAdV) strains, and hence, the syndrome is also called infectious hydropericardium syndrome. To our knowledge, HPS has not been observed in humans, so it is not considered a zoonotic disease, but it is of economic importance and causes huge losses to the poultry industry. Efforts have been made to develop conventional vaccines against this disease, which were formulated from infected liver homogenate. Formalin-inactivated liver organ vaccines have failed to protect the poultry industry. Hence, there is a dire need to develop a suitable vaccine to combat this disease. Currently, recombinant vaccine candidates are being developed by using molecular biology and biotechnological approaches for the prevention and control of infectious diseases, including HPS. Therefore, it is suggested that the immunogenicity of these recombinant proteins should be evaluated for their use as subunit vaccines.

Background: Typhoid is a common problem in developing countries. Cultivation of bacteria and serology (especially Widal test) give unacceptable levels of false-negative and false-positive results, respectively. Patients and Methods: In this study, a recently introduced polymerase chain reaction-based technique (which has 100% specificity for Salmonella typhi) was compared with blood culture and Widal test during the first week of illness of 82 suspected cases of typhoid. Results: The respective figures of positivity for PCR, blood culture and Widal test were 71.95%, 34.1%, and 36.5%. A control group of 20 healthy persons gave figures of 0%, 0%, and 33.3%, respectively. Conclusion: We conclude that this PCR-based technique is not only absolutely specific, but also very sensitive and, therefore, much superior to blood culture and Widal test for the early diagnosis of typhoid.

Somatic embryogenesis was induced in hypocotyl explants of geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum) cultured on media supplemented with various concentrations of N-phenyl-N'-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea (thidiazuron). In less than 2 weeks, somatic embryos were observed in treatments containing levels of thidiazuron (TDZ) ranging from 0.2 to 1.0 micromolar. The use of N'-benzylaminopurine in combination with indole-3-acetic acid also evoked embryogenesis, but the efficiency of somatic embryo production was significantly lower than that obtained with TDZ. Hypocotyl culture for only 2 days on TDZ-supplemented medium before transfer to a basal medium was sufficient for inducing somatic embryogenesis. This distinction between the induction and expression of embryogenesis may provide an experimental system for studying the developmental biology of somatic embryogenesis. Substitution of the auxin-cytokinin requirement for the induction of somatic embryogenesis by TDZ suggests the possibility of a novel mode of its action by modulation of endogenous growth regulators.TDZ3, a substituted phenylurea (N-phenyl-N'-1,2,3-thiadiazol-5-ylurea; Dropp), is primarily used as a cotton defoliant (1) and has been shown in various cytokinin bioassays to exhibit strong cytokinin-like activity similar to that of N6-substituted adenine derivatives (12). In many cytokinin-dependent callus cultures, the application of TDZ evoked a comparable or higher degree of growth response than adenine-based cytokinins (5, 20). The morphogenetic responses in which TDZ has been found to mimic cytokinin-like activity include release of lateral buds from dormancy (21) and shoot formation in cultures of a wide variety of plant species (7,9 cytokinins, or it may induce the synthesis and (or) accumulation of endogenous cytokinins (5, 11). The latter notion is based on the effects of the high ability of TDZ in inducing cytokinin-dependent shoot regeneration and modulation of endogenous levels of cytokinins. In this communication, we demonstrate the high efficiency of TDZ in stimulating somatic embryogenesis in geranium hypocotyl cultures, a response usually mediated by an appropriate combination of an auxin and a cytokinin. Our results suggest for the first time that auxin(s) may also be involved in the induction and/or expression of TDZ-induced morphogenic differentiation. MATERIALS AND METHODSSeeds of the diploid zonal geranium (Pelargonium x hortorum Bailey) cv Scarlet Orbit Improved were surface sterilized by dipping in 95% ethanol for 30 s and then immersing in a 1.2% solution of sodium hypochlorite containing two drops of Tween 20 per 200 mL. Seeds were agitated in this solution for 20 min and then rinsed three times in sterile distilled water. Ten seeds were aseptically cultured per 100 x 15 mm Petri dish on 30 mL of MS (13)