BACKGROUND Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is one of the most significant causes of mortality and morbidity. Early diagnose is important especially in multiple drug resistant tuberculosis to avoid transmission. Traditional techniques requires at least one to three weeks for diagnosis of tuberculosis. Diagnostic delays with multiple drug resistant tuberculosis are associated with worse clinical outcomes and increased transmission The Xpert MTB/RIF assay is one of the new diagnostic device for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and rapid detection of rifampicin resistance. OBJECTIVE We assessed the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay for detecting rifampicin resistance using phenotypic drug susceptibility tests as automated BD MGIT 960. METHODS Total of 2136 specimens were included in the study. Xpert MTB/RIF testing was performed on samples, using version 4 cartridges, according to the manufacturer's recommendations. The MTBC culture and first-line phenotypic DST were performed in automated BD MGIT 960 (Becton & Dickinson, USA) according to the recommendations of the manufacturer. Agar proportion was used in the case of inconsistency for rifampicin resistance. FINDINGS Thirty-four samples (19 respiratory and 15 nonrespiratory samples) were determined as positive for M. tuberculosis complex by Xpert MTB/RIF (Cepheid GeneXpert® System, USA). Xpert MTB/RIF assay detected 4/34 (11.7%) specimens as rifampicin resistant. One of the rifampicin resistant isolates was determined susceptible in MGIT 960 automated system. This isolate was also tested with agar proportion method and found susceptible to rifampicin. MAIN CONCLUSION The Xpert MTB/RIF assay can be used as first-line assay for the detection of M. tuberculosis. However, microbiologists must be aware of the limitations of the assay.

In this study we evaluated the crystal violet decolorization assay (CVDA) for detection of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of antituberculosis drugs. 53 isolates were tested in this study and 13 of them were multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates. The antibiotics concentrations were 2-0.06 mg/L for isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIF) and were 16-0.25 mg/L for streptomycin (STM) and ethambutol (EMB). Crystal violet (CV-25 mg/L) was added into the microwells on the seventh day of incubation and incubation was continued until decolorization. Decolorization of CV was the predictor of bacterial growth. Overall agreements for four drugs were detected as 98.1%, and the average time was detected as 9.5 ± 0.89 day after inoculation. One isolate for INH and two isolates for STM were determined resistant in the reference method, but susceptible by the CVDA. One isolate was susceptible to EMB by the reference method, but resistant by the CVDA. All results were concordant for RIF. This study shows that CVDA is a rapid, reliable and suitable for determination of MIC values of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. And it can be used easily especially in countries with limited-sources.

Abstract In this paper, continuous and discontinuous cases of a contact problem for two elastic layers supported by a Winkler foundation are analyzed using both analytical method and finite element method. In the analyses, it is assumed that all surfaces are frictionless, and only compressive normal tractions can be transmitted through the contact areas. Moreover, body forces are taken into consideration only for layers. Firstly, the problem is solved analytically using theory of elasticity and integral transform techniques. Then, the finite element analysis of the problem is carried out using ANSYS software program. Initial separation distances between layers for continuous contact case and the size of the separation areas for discontinuous contact case are obtained for various dimensionless quantities using both solutions. In addition, the normalized contact pressure distributions are calculated for both cases. The analytical results are verified by comparison with finite element results. Finally, conclusions are presented.

In this study, we have evaluated the broth microdilution method (BMM) for susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A total of 43 clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis and H37Rv as a control strain were studied. All isolates were tested by the proportion method and the BMM for isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), streptomycin (STR), and ethambutol (ETM). The proportion method was carried out according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium. The BMM was carried out using 7H9 broth with 96 well-plates. All strains were tested at 3.2-0.05 µg/ml, 16-0.25 µg/ml, 32-0.5 µg/ml, and 32-0.5 µg/ml concentrations for INH, RIF, STR, and ETM, respectively. When the BMM was compared with the proportion method, sensitivity was 100, 100, 96.9, and 90.2%, while specificity was 100, 85.7, 90.9, and 100% for INH, RIF, STR, and ETM, respectively. The plates were examined 7, 10, 14, and 21 days after incubation. The majority of the result were obtained at 14th days after incubation, while the proportion method result were ended in 21-28 days. According to our results, it may be suggested that the BMM is suitable for early determining of multidrug-resistance-M. tuberculosis strains in developed or developing countries.

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between proportion method with mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT) and E-test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Forty clinical isolates were tested. MGIT and E-test with the first line antituberculous drugs correlated with the proportion method. Our results suggested that MGIT and E-test methods can be routinely used instead of the proportion method.