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Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease worldwide distributed and having the economic as well as public health importance. The prevalence of brucellosis among sheep flock having history of abortions was studied. A total of 229 samples comprising of 157 blood and 72 clinical samples (vaginal swabs) were collected from 157 animals. Clinical samples were processed for the isolation of Brucella melitensis. Serum samples (n = 157) were tested by Rose Bengal plate test (RBPT) and i-ELISA. A total of 68 (43.31%) and 104 (66.24%) samples were positive by RBPT and ELISA, respectively. Brucella isolates (n = 2) were recovered from clinical samples. Both isolates demonstrated amplification for bcsp 31 and IS711 genes. On AMOS PCR, both the isolates amplified at 731 bp, i.e., belongs to B. melitensis species. The incidence of B. melitensis in a migratory flock warns the thorough testing and culling of Brucella-infected sheep from the flock on a continuous basis; otherwise, such incidence will be routine and poor farmers will be at a loss.

Fluorescent zinc complexes have recently attracted a lot of interest owing to their vast applications in cellular imaging. We report the synthesis as well as physical, chemical and biological studies of a novel zinc glyoxalbis(4-methyl-4-phenyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), [Zn(GTSC)]₃, complex. As compared with the well-studied zinc biacetylbis(4-methyl-3-thiosemicarbazone), Zn(ATSM), complex, which was used as a reference, [Zn(GTSC)]₃ had 2.5-fold higher fluorescence. When cellular fluorescence was measured using flow cytometry, we observed that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ had 3.4-fold to 12-fold higher fluorescence than Zn(ATSM) in various cell lines (n = 9) of different tissue origin. Confocal fluorescence microscopy results showed that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ appeared to have a nuclear localization within 30 min of addition to MCF7 cells. Moreover, [Zn(GTSC)]₃ showed minimal cytotoxicity compared with Zn(ATSM), suggesting that [Zn(GTSC)]₃ may be less deleterious to cells when used as an imaging agent. Our data suggest that the novel [Zn(GTSC)]₃ complex can potentially serve as a biocompatible fluorescent imaging agent for live cells.