Rapid PCR

INTRODUCTION: Congenital syphilis (CS) has severe adverse outcomes, including abortion and death. Diagnosis of CS in asymptomatic newborns remains difficult. This study aims to evaluate an in-house polymerase chain reaction (PCR) on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood samples (BS) to identify T. pallidum DNA in newborns. METHODOLOGY: We performed an exploratory cross-sectional study that included newborns exposed to syphilis during pregnancy (SEG) and non-exposed (SNEG) newborns, between 2019 and 2020...

The number of applications of self-assembled deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) origami nanoparticles (DNA NPs) has increased drastically, following the development of a variety of single-stranded template DNA (ssDNA) that can serve as the scaffold strand. In addition to viral genomes, such as M13 bacteriophage and lambda DNAs, enzymatically produced ssDNA from various template sources is rapidly gaining traction and being applied as the scaffold for DNA NP preparation. However, separating fully formed DNA NPs that have custom scaffolds from crude assembly mixes is often a multistep process of first separating the ssDNA scaffold from its enzymatic amplification process and then isolating the assembled DNA NPs from excess precursor strands...

BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES: Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness that affects millions of people worldwide every year. With no vaccination available, early detection and treatment is critical. One-hundred-twelve countries in the world pose a risk to travelers, particularly in metropolitan areas. Laboratory diagnoses vary according to objectives, resources, and schedule, with sensitivity and specificity must be balanced for effective testing. METHODS: The current work is a cross-sectional diagnostic study and samples from suspected patients of dengue was collected from May 15 to November 15 2023 and transported to laboratory, and RT-PCR and Dengue Duo Rapid test diagnosis techniques were used on 48 clinical samples included in this study...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections have affected more than 769 million individuals worldwide over the last few years. Although the pandemic is transitioning into an endemic, the COVID-19 outbreak is still a global concern. A rapid screening platform is needed for effective preventive and control measures. Herein, a visual rapid lateral flow platform for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein detection is developed. Under optimal conditions, the system demonstrated good detection sensitivity and selectivity against tested respiratory viruses...

Dyspnoea is a debilitating symptom in medicine, especially in palliative care. Opioids are the pharmacological agents of choice in the treatment of dyspnoea in palliative medicine. Morphine is the best-studied opioid, and recent literature on oxycodone is encouraging. In refractory cases, opioid infusion and palliative sedation may have to be used. We present a case that used oxycodone in a patient-controlled device specifically for dyspnoea and its effects in relieving dyspnoea in a fast and timely manner...

BACKGROUND: Mucormycosis is a rare, rapidly progressive and often fatal fungal infection. The rarity of the condition lends itself to unfamiliarity, delayed treatment, and poor outcomes. Diagnosis of fungal infections early enough to enable appropriate treatment occurs in less than half of affected patients. CASE SUMMARY: An 11-year-old girl with a history of 15% total body surface area scald burns involving both lower limbs progressed to develop angioinvasive mucormycosis...

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has increased globally, with extensive drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria posing a threat to patients. CASE SUMMARY: This case report describes a young man admitted for suspected tropical fever infections who experienced rapid deterioration in health. Despite negative results for tropical fever infections, he had neutrophilic leucocytosis, acute kidney injury, and chest imaging findings suggestive of bilateral consolidations...

Objective: Improvements in SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis with easy, rapid and cost-effective approaches are required to control the COVID-19 pandemic. Antigen tests result in 5 to 30 minutes, providing an advantage over polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in duration. We tested the performance of the i-test COVID-19 rapid antigen test to real-time reverse transcriptase PCR in 200 symptomatic COVID-19 suspected patients. The cycle threshold (Ct) values of the patients were found to be between 21.6 and 34.4. The Ct value of 10 patients who tested positive in the PCR test was >30...

Wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) has gained attention as a strategy to monitor and provide an early warning for disease outbreaks. Here, we applied an isothermal gene amplification technique, reverse-transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP), coupled with nanopore sequencing (LAMPore) as a means to detect SARS-CoV-2. Specifically, we combined barcoding using both an RT-LAMP primer and the nanopore rapid barcoding kit to achieve highly multiplexed detection of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the commercial HARDSON COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kit for diagnosing COVID-19 among the Iranian population by compared with the results of commercial RT-PCR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from each patient. One swab was tested with HARDSON COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Kit, and the second swab was placed in 3 mL of a virus-transmitted inactivated media for RT-PCR testing...

OBJECTIVE: Reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) is one of the time-saving, accurate, and cost-effective alternative methods to real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This study aimed to identify the robustness of a colorimetric RT-LAMP assay kit that we developed, detecting SARS-COV-2 viral RNA within 30 minutes using a primer set special to the N gene against RT-PCR, the gold standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Both symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects were included from a single university hospital and the status of both RT-PCR and RT-LAMP assay results were compared, and the consistency of these two assays was analyzed...

BACKGROUND: Abortion and fetal death are common in fetuses with holoprosencephaly, so genetic examinations often have to be made in a post-mortem setting. The efficiency of the conventional karyotyping using cultured fibroblasts in these situations is limited due to frequent culture failure. In the current study, archived cases of holoprosencephaly, where post-mortem genetic evaluation was requested and sufficient frozen material was available, were reevaluated using the quantitative fluorescence polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) technique...

BACKGROUND: Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) play a significant role in expanding case management in peripheral healthcare systems. Histidine-rich protein-2 (HRP2) antigen detection RDTs are predominantly used to diagnose Plasmodium falciparum infection. However, the evolution and spread of P. falciparum parasite strains with deleted hrp2/3 genes, causing false-negative results, have been reported. This study assessed the diagnostic performance of HRP2-detecting RDTs for P. falciparum cases and the prevalence of pfhrp2/3 deletions among symptomatic patients seeking malaria diagnosis at selected health facilities in southern Ethiopia...

OBJECTIVES: Accuracy of malaria rapid diagnostic tests is threatened by Plasmodium falciparum with pfhrp2/3 deletions. This study compares gene deletion prevalence determined by multiplex qPCR and conventional PCR (cPCR) using existing samples with clonality previously determined by microsatellite genotyping. METHODS: Multiplex qPCR was used to estimate prevalence of pfhrp2/3 deletions in three sets of previously collected patient samples from Eritrea and Peru. The qPCR was validated by multiplex digital PCR...

Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, resulting in considerable economic losses. Its causal agent is foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), a picornavirus. Due to its error-prone replication and rapid evolution, the transmission and evolutionary dynamics of FMDV can be studied using genomic epidemiological approaches. To analyze FMDV evolution and identify possible transmission routes in an Argentinean region, field samples that tested positive for FMDV by PCR were obtained from 21 farms located in the Mar Chiquita district...

Myoclonus-dystonia syndrome (MDS) presents with both rapid myoclonus and dystonia, which is caused by mutations in the sarcoglycan (SGCE) gene. However, its complications and management remain unclear. Here, we report a case involving a girl with MDS due to a 7q21.13-q21.3 microdeletion complicated by early-onset multiple cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). The patient presented with myoclonus and dystonia at two and eight years of age, respectively. In addition to MDS, the patient developed growth hormone (GH) deficiency and mild intellectual disability...

Hypothermia is defined as a significant drop in core body temperature below 35°C (95°F). It is traditionally staged as mild, moderate, severe, and profound at temperatures of 35°C to 32°C (95°F to 89.6°F), 32°C to 28°C (89.6°F to 82.4°F), <28°C (<82.4°F), and <24°C (75.2°F), respectively. It can also be classified into the same stages by clinical presentations. We present a patient that fits into two different stages based on core body temperature and clinical presentation...

COVID-19, also known as coronavirus disease 2019, is an extremely contagious viral sickness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). After the first cases of this primarily respiratory viral illness were recorded in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in late December 2019, SARS-CoV-2 rapidly disseminated across the globe. Consequently, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a global pandemic. The rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, coupled with subsequent lockdowns and social distancing measures, profoundly disrupted traditional healthcare delivery systems...

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious and lethal viral disease that causes severe hemorrhagic fever in pigs. It keeps spreading around the world, posing a severe socioeconomic risk and endangering biodiversity and domestic food security. ASF first outbroke in China in 2018, and has spread to most provinces nationwide. Genotypes I and II ASF virus (ASFV) as the etiological pathogens have been found in China. In this study, three pairs of specific primers and probes targeting the ASFV B646L gene, F1055L gene, and E183L gene were designed to detect universal, genotype I, and genotype II strains, respectively...

Infections caused by mycobacteria, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM), are a major public health issue worldwide. An accurate diagnosis of mycobacterial species is a challenge for surveillance and treatment, particularly in high-burden settings usually associated with low- and middle-income countries. In this study, we analyzed the clinical performance of two commercial PCR kits designed for the identification and differentiation of MTBC and NTM, available in a high-burden setting such as Ecuador...