{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.06199021207177814, 'fraction_numerical': 0.03099510603588907, 'mean_word_length': 4.527027027027027, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 1, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Identification of mycobacterial MPT-64 and ESAT-6 proteins in urogenital tuberculosis patients by real-time immuno-PCR.

Aim: Diagnosis of urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) is difficult and there is an immediate need to develop a reliable diagnostic test. Methods: A real-time immuno-PCR (RT-I-PCR) was developed to identify a cocktail of MPT-64 + ESAT-6 in both male/female UGTB patients comprising five confirmed cases, 40 clinically suspected cases and 37 non-TB controls, from whom mid-stream urine specimens were collected, while endometrial biopsies of female patients were obtained on day 1 of their menstrual cycle. Results obtained by RT-I-PCR were compared with I-PCR/ELISA and GeneXpert. Results: A wide range (500 fg/ml-10 ng/ml) of MPT-64 + ESAT-6 was detected in UGTB specimens by RT-I-PCR, although ELISA showed a narrow range (2.5-11 ng/ml). Sensitivities of 80% and 82.2% were obtained by RT-I-PCR in clinically suspected and total UGTB cases, respectively, whereas 94.6% specificity was obtained. Concurrently, RT-I-PCR revealed significantly higher (p < 0.05-0.001) sensitivity than I-PCR/ELISA and GeneXpert. Conclusion: After improving the specificity, the authors may develop RT-I-PCR into a diagnostic kit.