WHO recommends bacteriological confirmation of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by the detection of acid fast bacilli (AFB) in respiratory specimens. However about 40 60% of patients with PTB suspected clinically or radiologically may fail to produce sputum, or when it is available, AFB may be negative on repeated smear examination. These sputum smear negative patients and those who fail to produce any sputum can be diagnosed by flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FOB). Our study was an attempt to analyze the role of FOB in sputum smear negative PTB patients with respect to their association with...

Obesity is associated with a low-grade inflammation of white adipose tissue (WAT) resulting from chronic activation of proinflammatory molecules: C-reactive Protein(CRP), TNFalpha and interleukin-6 (IL-6).These cytokines subsequently lead to insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance and even diabetes. This is a cross-sectional, open label, comparative, observational study, in a North Indian population cohort. 30 cases of obesity were evaluated, against twenty normal weight regarding metabolic and inflammatory markers in relation to cardiovascular risk factors. All patients underwent...