scholarly journals Comparison of Diagnostic Tools for the Detection of Dirofilaria immitis Infection in Dogs

Pathogens ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 499
Author(s):  
Rossella Panarese ◽  
Roberta Iatta ◽  
Jairo Alfonso Mendoza-Roldan ◽  
Donald Szlosek ◽  
Jennifer Braff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dirofilaria Immitis ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Microtiter Plate ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Diagnostic Strategy ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
Large Variability ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
Knott’S Test

In the last two decades, reports of canine heartworm (HW) infection have increased even in non-endemic areas, with a large variability in prevalence data due to the diagnostic strategy employed. This study evaluated the relative performance of two microtiter plate ELISA methods for the detection of HW antigen in determining the occurrence of Dirofilaria immitis in a dog population previously tested by the modified Knott’s test and SNAP 4Dx Plus test. The prevalence of this infection in the sheltered dog population (n = 363) from a high-risk area for HW infection was 44.4% according to the modified Knott’s test and 58.1% according to a point-of-care antigen ELISA. All serum samples were then evaluated by a microtiter plate ELISA test performed with and without immune complex dissociation (ICD). The prevalence increased from 56.5% to 79.6% following ICD, indicating a high proportion of samples with immune complexing. Comparing these results to that of the modified Knott’s test, the samples negative for microfilariae (mfs) and those positive only for D. repens mfs demonstrated the greatest increase in the proportion of positive results for D. immitis by ELISA following ICD. While the ICD method is not recommended for routine screening, it may be a valuable secondary strategy for identifying HW infections in dogs.

scholarly journals Digital immunoassay for biomarker concentration quantification using solid-state nanopores

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Liqun He ◽  
Daniel R. Tessier ◽  
Kyle Briggs ◽  
Matthaios Tsangaris ◽  
Martin Charron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Solid State ◽  
Single Molecule ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Magnetic Bead ◽  
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone ◽  
Target Protein ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Dna Nanostructures ◽  
Serum Samples

ABSTRACTSingle-molecule counting is the most accurate and precise method for determining the concentration of a biomarker in solution and is leading to the emergence of digital diagnostic platforms enabling precision medicine. In principle, solid-state nanopores—fully electronic sensors with single-molecule sensitivity—are well suited to the task. Here we present a digital immunoassay scheme capable of reliably quantifying the concentration of a target protein in complex biofluids that overcomes specificity, sensitivity, and consistency challenges associated with the use of solid-state nanopores for protein sensing. This is achieved by employing easily-identifiable DNA nanostructures as proxies for the presence (“1”) or absence (“0”) of the target protein captured via a magnetic bead-based sandwich immunoassay. As a proof-of-concept, we demonstrate quantification of the concentration of thyroid-stimulating hormone from human serum samples down to the high femtomolar range. Further optimization to the method will push sensitivity and dynamic range, allowing for development of precision diagnostic tools compatible with point-of-care format.

scholarly journals Mosquito-borne infections in Fiji: II. Arthropod-borne virus infections

1971 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-296 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Maguire ◽  
F. N. Macnamara ◽  
J. A. R. Miles ◽  
G. F. S. Spears ◽  
J. U. Mataika
Keyword(s):  
Dengue Virus ◽  
Virus Infections ◽  
Antibody Prevalence ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Human Sera ◽  
Group A ◽  
Group B

SUMMARYSurveys of arbovirus activity in Fiji were conducted over a 10-year period from December 1959 to December 1969. No arboviruses were isolated from over 200,000 mosquitoes, 9000 ticks, or 575 serum samples. Eight thousand human and 1117 bird, bat and animal sera were tested for haemagglutination-inhibiting arbovirus antibody using a variety of group A, group B and Bunyamwera group antigens. Only a small number of low-titre reactions were found among the non-human sera, but 14% of all human sera were found to contain Group B antibody. The antibody prevalence increased with increasing age, from less than 1 % for persons born since 1950, to 70% for persons born before 1900. The age differences in prevalence could be used to estimate the time and size of previous epidemics. Differences were found in antibody prevalence between the sexes, between ethnic groups and between persons from different regions. These differences could be explained in terms of climate, location and custom.Historical and serological evidence both suggest that all the antibody detected was due to past exposure to dengue virus. The very high proportion of the population with no dengue antibody makes Fiji a high-risk area for a further dengue epidemic. Dengue virus is known to be active in the Pacific and South-East Asia.

scholarly journals Selamectin for the prevention of canine Dirofilaria immitis infection: field efficacy in client-owned dogs in a high risk area

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria de Fátima Chicarino Varajão Moraes-da-Silva ◽  
Flavya Mendes-de-Almeida ◽  
Livia Abdalla ◽  
Alexandre Merlo ◽  
Jonimar Pereira Paiva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Dirofilaria Immitis ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
Field Efficacy

scholarly journals Prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis in Dogs from Shelters in Vojvodina, Serbia

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doroteja Marcic ◽  
Aleksandar Potkonjak ◽  
Marina Zekic Stosic ◽  
Ljubica Spasojevic-Kosic ◽  
Ivan Pusic ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dirofilaria Immitis ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Food Type ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Macrocyclic Lactones ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Total Prevalence ◽  
Vector Borne ◽  
Autonomous Province ◽  
Knott’S Test

Background: Dirofilaria immitis is vector borne parasite of carnivores, with zoonotic potential, endemic in many parts of the world, including Europe. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs from shelters, especially compared to their lifestyle. Dogs living in shelters in Serbia may be at high risk of acquiring vector borne pathogens, mainly because most of them live outside in pens and backyards, in contact with vectors. Also, dogs in shelters are not always regularly treated against ectoparasites, thus, representing an easy feeding source for the vectors. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of Dirofilaria immitis infection in dogs from 5 shelters in South Bačka and Central Banat districts, in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Northern part of Serbia. Also, the objective was to compare the relation of infection with Dirofiaria immitis with age, sex, type of keeping the animals and preventive treatment in dogs.Materials, Methods & Results: Between May 2017 and October 2019, blood samples were collected from 336 randomly selected dogs from 5 shelters in 2 districts, South Bačka and Central Banat districts, in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, Northern part of Serbia. The epidemiological survey has been conducted with all of the dogs involved in this research. The survey was designed to collect data about sex, age, lifestyles, food type, treatment against mosquitoes with insecticides and filarioid worms with macrocyclic lactones, regular testing for Dirofilaria infections. The presence of circulating microfilariae was examined using a modified Knott’s test. For the presence of circulating adult female Dirofilaria immitis antigen, serum samples were tested by commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, which reacts to antigen of female Dirofilaria. In total, 336 dogs were examined for the presence of Dirofilaria immitis antigen. For that dog population which came from 5 shelters, total prevalence was 25.30%. Most of the positive findings were observed in a shelter where dogs lived exclusively outdoors in fenced yards in big groups and they were partly tested for heartworm infections from time to time. These dogs were not treated with macrocyclic lactones, against mosquitoes with insecticides or filarioid worms. The prevalence in this shelter was 56.36%. On the contrary to that, the lowest positive findings were detected in the shelter, where dogs were allowed to move freely between outside and indoors and they were also provided with accommodation indoors. These dogs have been regularly tested for Dirofilaria infections and treated against mosquitoes with insecticides and filarioid worms with macrocyclic lactones. In this shelter the seroprevalence was 7.69%. Microfilariae of Dirofilaria immitis were detected, by modified Knott’s test, in all of the antigen positive dog samples; except in 2 dogs from one shelter. Discussion: This study shows persistence of cardiopulmonary dirofiariosis in shelter dogs under different maintaining conditions. By comparing the data during the last 17 years, it can be stated that there is a constant increase of prevalence for Dirofilaria immitis in dogs in northern part of Serbia over the years. The results gained in this study are important from the veterinary point of view, but also from the Public Health point of view.

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Strongyloides Recombinant IgG Immunoreactive Antigen in Detecting IgG and IgG4 Subclass Antibodies for Diagnosis of Human Strongyloidiasis Using Rapid Immunochromatographic Tests

Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 615
Author(s):  
Patcharaporn Boonroumkaew ◽  
Lakkhana Sadaow ◽  
Oranuch Sanpool ◽  
Rutchanee Rodpai ◽  
Tongjit Thanchomnang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Value ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Strongyloides Stercoralis ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Stool Examination ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Diagnostic Efficacy ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Immunosuppressed Patients

Human strongyloidiasis is an important soil-transmitted helminthiasis that affects millions worldwide and can develop into fatal systemic strongyloidiasis in immunosuppressed patients. We have developed two new rapid and simple-to-use immunochromatographic test (ICT) kits for rapid serodiagnosis that support stool examination for clinical diagnosis. Strongyloides stercoralis recombinant IgG immunoreactive antigen (GenBank: AAB97359.1; rSsIR-based ICT kit) was used for detection of IgG and IgG4 antibodies. The diagnostic efficacy of both kits was evaluated using human serum samples from strongyloidiasis patients, healthy individuals, and those with other parasitosis. At a prevalence of infection of 36.4%, the diagnostic sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of the rSsIR-based IgG ICT kit were 91.7%, 83.8%, 76.4%, 94.6%, and 86.7%, respectively, and those of the rSsIR-based IgG4 ICT kit were 78.3%, 84.8%, 74.6%, 87.3%, and 82.4% respectively. The concordance between the two kits was 89.7%. The recombinant antigen can be produced to an unlimited extent and the kits can be used as point-of-care diagnostic tools and in large-scale surveys in endemic areas throughout tropical regions without necessitating additional facilities or ancillary supplies.

scholarly journals “David vs. Goliath”: A simple antigen detection test with potential to change diagnostic strategy for SARS-CoV-2

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (07) ◽  
pp. 904-909
Author(s):  
Jyotsna Agarwal ◽  
Anupam Das ◽  
Pranshu Pandey ◽  
Manodeep Sen ◽  
Jaya Garg
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Respiratory Illness ◽  
Antigen Detection ◽  
North India ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Lower Sensitivity ◽  
Diagnostic Strategy ◽  
Antigen Tests

Introduction: As regard to all pandemics, the current COVID-19 pandemic, could also have been better managed with prudent use of preventive measures coupled with rapid diagnostic tools such as rapid antigen tests, but their efficacy is under question because of projected lower sensitivity as compared to Real Time Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, which although considered gold standard has its own limitations. Methodology: A prospective, single centre study was carried out to evaluate the performance of Standard Q COVID-19 Ag, a rapid immuno-chromatographic assay for antigen detection, against TrueNat, a chip-based, point-of-care, portable, Real-Time PCR analyzer for diagnosis of COVID-19; on 467 nasal swab samples from suspected subjects at a fever clinic in North India in month of July 2020. Results: Of the 467 specimens tested, TrueNat showed positive result in 29 (6.2%), majority of whom were asymptomatic (72.4%) while 4/29 (13.9%) had influenza like illness and 2/29 (6.8%) presented with severe acute respiratory illness. Compared to TrueNat, Rapid antigen test gave concordance for 26 samples, while for 2 samples the result was false positive; giving an overall sensitivity of 89.7% (95% CI = 72.6- 97.8) and a specificity of 99.5%, indicating strong agreement between two methods. Conclusion: Community prevalence plays an important role is choosing the laboratory test and result interpretation. Rapid antigen detection tests definitely have a big role to play, especially in resource limited setting, for early diagnosis as well as for source control to halt the spread.

Periodic monitoring of vampire bats and rabies: a new framework for animal restoration projects in the Neotropics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Gonçalves ◽  
Daniel G. Streicker ◽  
Mauro Galetti
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Multidisciplinary Teams ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
Food Web Structure ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
Restoration Project ◽  
Vampire Bats

Nowadays, restoration project might lead to increased public engagement and enthusiasm for biodiversity and is receiving increased media attention in major newspapers, TED talks and the scientific literature. However, empirical research on restoration project is rare, fragmented, and geographically biased and long-term studies that monitor indirect and unexpected effects are needed to support future management decisions especially in the Neotropical area. Changes in animal population dynamics and community composition following species (re)introduction may have unanticipated consequences for a variety of downstream ecosystem processes, including food web structure, predator-prey systems and infectious disease transmission. Recently, an unprecedented study in Brazil showed changes in vampire bat feeding following a rewilding project and further transformed the land-bridge island into a high-risk area for rabies transmission. Due the lessons learned from ongoing project, we present a novel approach on how to anticipate, monitor, and mitigate the vampire bats and rabies in rewilding projects. We pinpoint a series of precautions and the need for long-term monitoring of vampire bats and rabies responses to rewilding projects and highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary teams of scientist and managers focusing on prevention educational program of rabies risk transmitted by bats. In addition, monitoring the relative abundance of vampire bats, considering reproductive control by sterilization and oral vaccines that autonomously transfer among bats would reduce the probability, size and duration of rabies outbreaks. The rewilding assessment framework presented here responds to calls to better integrate the science and practice of rewilding and also could be used for long-term studying of bat-transmitted pathogen in the Neotropical area as the region is considered a geographic hotspots of “missing bat zoonoses”.

Ferromagnetic Resonance Biosensor for Homogeneous and Volumetric Detection of DNA

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Tian ◽  
Peter Svedlindh ◽  
Mattias Strömberg ◽  
Erik Wetterskog
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Nanoparticles ◽  
Ferromagnetic Resonance ◽  
Limit Of Detection ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Rolling Circle Amplification ◽  
Resonance Field ◽  
Isothermal Amplification ◽  
Detection Sensitivity ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Rolling Circle

In this work, we demonstrate for the first time, a ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) based homogeneous and volumetric biosensor for magnetic label detection. Two different isothermal amplification methods, <i>i.e.</i>, rolling circle amplification (RCA) and loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) are adopted and combined with a standard electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectrometer for FMR biosensing. For RCA-based FMR biosensor, binding of RCA products of a synthetic Vibrio cholerae target DNA sequence gives rise to the formation of aggregates of magnetic nanoparticles. Immobilization of nanoparticles within the aggregates leads to a decrease of the net anisotropy of the system and a concomitant increase of the resonance field. A limit of detection of 1 pM is obtained with an average coefficient of variation of 0.16%, which is superior to the performance of other reported RCA-based magnetic biosensors. For LAMP-based sensing, a synthetic Zika virus target oligonucleotide is amplified and detected in 20% serum samples. Immobilization of magnetic nanoparticles is induced by their co-precipitation with Mg<sub>2</sub>P<sub>2</sub>O<sub>7</sub> (a by-product of LAMP) and provides a detection sensitivity of 100 aM. The fast measurement, high sensitivity and miniaturization potential of the proposed FMR biosensing technology makes it a promising candidate for designing future point-of-care devices.<br>

74 Improving Handover Between Doctors and Nurses on An Elderly Care Ward

2021 ◽  
Vol 50 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i12-i42
Author(s):  
K Suseeharan ◽  
T Vedutla
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Patient Care ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Elderly Care ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Risk Area ◽  
High Risk Area ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Care Ward ◽  
Doctors And Nurses

Abstract Background The Royal College of Physician guidelines (2011) identified handover as a “high risk step” in patient care, especially in recent times within the NHS where shift patterns lead to more disjointed care with a high reliance on effective handover by all staff members. Introduction At Cannock Chase hospital, Fairoak ward is an elderly care rehabilitation ward where there is a large multi-disciplinary team. While working on the ward as doctors we noticed that handover between the MDT was poor. Anecdotal evidence from both doctors and nurses felt that this was a high risk area in need of improvement. Aim to improve handover between doctors and nurses on this elderly care ward. Method To measure the quality of current handover practice we did a questionnaire. A total of 12 questionnaires were completed which showed that 92% of staff felt that handover on the ward was very poor and 50% preferred both written and verbal handover. We measured the number of tasks verbally handed over between doctors and nurses over 3 days. On average 65% of the tasks were completed. We then made the below interventions and re-audited to see if there was any improvement. Interventions over 3 week period: Results Questionnaire: Measuring task completion after interventions; Conclusion This project has made a positive change qualitatively and quantitatively to the ward handover practice. Staff satisfaction regarding handover has improved and the number of “handed over” tasks completed daily has significantly improved. The written handover sheet had poor utilisation by staff but in 4 months we are going to re-audit and trial the handover sheet again to further improve service delivery. We hope this improvement will have a positive impact on patient care on this elderly care ward.

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