scholarly journals COVID-19: molecular and serological detection methods

PeerJ ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. e10180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed E. Dhamad ◽  
Muna A. Abdal Rhida

Since COVID-19, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), was declared as a pandemic disease by the World Health Organization in early 2020, many countries, organizations and companies have tried to find the best way to diagnose the virus and contain its spreading. SARS-CoV-2 is a positive-sense single RNA (+ssRNA) coronavirus and mainly spreads through droplets, respiratory secretions, and direct contact. The early detection of the virus plays a central role in lowering COVID19 incidents and mortality rates. Thus, finding a simple, accurate, cheap and quick detection approach for SARS-CoV-2 at early stage of the viral infection is urgent and at high demand all around the world. The Food and Drug Administration and other health agencies have declared Emergency Use Authorization to develop diagnostic methods for COVID-19 and fulfill the demand. However, not all developed methods are appropriate and selecting a suitable method is challenging. Among all detection methods, rRT-PCR is the gold standard method. Unlike molecular methods, serological methods lack the ability of early detection with low accuracy. In this review, we summarized the current knowledge about COVID-19 detection methods aiming to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of molecular and serological methods.

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (S1) ◽  
pp. 121-121
Author(s):  
Catarina Pedro ◽  
Beatriz Jorge ◽  
Mariana Duarte

Introduction:Dementia has become a worldwide concern. According to the World Health Organization, there are 50 million individuals suffering from dementia across the world and approximately 20 million new cases are diagnosed each year. The efficacy of medications in controlling agitation and psychotic symptoms is modest and may cause serious adverse effects, outlining the urge for new treatment methods for patients with dementia. Music therapy (MT) is a nonpharmacologic strategy that is used in patients with early-to-late stages of dementia with promising results.Objectives:The aim of this presentation is to evaluate the benefits of music therapy in cognitive functioning and neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients diagnosed with dementia. We also summarize the current knowledge about this topic.Methods:A non-systematic review of the literature was performed on PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of science using selected keywords.Results:MT sustains its benefit because musical memory regions in the brain are relatively spared compared to cognitive function. “Musical memories” can, thus, be stored longer than non-musical memories, allowing to recall associated life events and emotions. Systematic reviews suggest that MT seem to have a positive effect on symptoms such as depression, anxiety and behavioral problems while the findings concerning agitation/aggression are inconsistent. No large differences were found between studies using live or recorded music although the latter reported more of a consistently positive impact on behavioral and psychological outcomes. The studies using live music, however, reported specific benefits to relationships and interactions.Conclusions:The majority of the studies have methodological limitations, making it difficult to offer firm conclusions. Despite this, there were positive results on aspects of quality of life, cognitive function, behavioral, psychological, physiological and communication outcomes.


Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 3423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shrikant Warkad ◽  
Satish Nimse ◽  
Keum-Soo Song ◽  
Taisun Kim

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 71 million people were living with Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection worldwide in 2015. Each year, about 399,000 HCV-infected people succumb to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and liver failure. Therefore, screening of HCV infection with simple, rapid, but highly sensitive and specific methods can help to curb the global burden on HCV healthcare. Apart from the determination of viral load/viral clearance, the identification of specific HCV genotype is also critical for successful treatment of hepatitis C. This critical review focuses on the technologies used for the detection, discrimination, and genotyping of HCV in clinical samples. This article also focuses on advantages and disadvantages of the reported methods used for HCV detection, quantification, and genotyping.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-91
Author(s):  
Tri Nugraha Susilawati ◽  
Riska Larasati

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global problem, especially with the high prevalence of HIV-TB co-infection. Delayed diagnosis and continual transmission contribute to high mortality in Indonesia, which has the third highest incidence of TB in the world, after China and India. Therefore, early diagnosis is needed to reduce the number of cases and to administer therapy to prevent the transmission of bacteria. The diagnosis of TB remains a challenge in clinical practice due to poor sensitivity and the requirement of skilled staff in microscopic tests, the slow growth Mycobacterium in culture, and the low number of bacilli present in extrapulmonary TB. Despite being the golden standard for TB diagnosis, cultures require 2–8 weeks to grow. Other methods for diagnosing TB include interferon-gamma release assays and serologic tests such as the tuberculin skin test. Recently, the World Health Organization recommended the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay for diagnosing TB. This review presents the current state of TB epidemiology and various methods for TB diagnosis. In particular, the paper provides an in-depth discussion about the GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay that has been made available recently in selected tertiary hospitals in Indonesia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rejane Maria Tommasini Grotto ◽  
Rodrigo Santos Lima ◽  
Gabriel Berg de Almeida ◽  
Claudia Pio Ferreira ◽  
Raul Borges Guimarães ◽  
...  

Abstract Different countries have adopted strategies for the early detection of SARS-CoV-2 since the declaration of community transmission by the World Health Organization (WHO) and timely diagnosis has been considered one of the major obstacles for surveillance and healthcare. Here, we report the increase of the number of laboratories to COVID-19 diagnosis in Brazil. Our results demonstrate an increase and decentralisation of certified laboratories, which does not match the much higher increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. Also, it becomes clear that laboratories are irregularly distributed over the country, with a concentration in the most developed state, São Paulo.


Author(s):  
A S Fedorenko ◽  
A T Burbello ◽  
M V Pokladova ◽  
M A Ivanova

The article presents possible approaches to assessing the financial costs of medicines. The results of the ABC/VEN and ATC DDD analyzes recommended by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and the World Health Organization (WHO) in assessing the financial costs of medicines in a large multidisciplinary hospital are described. The evaluation of ABC/VEN and ATC/DDD analyzes, their advantages and disadvantages is given. It is shown that the ABC/VEN analysis gives only a general idea of planning financial expenditures and ATC/DDD about real drug consumption in the treatment of one patient. The financial costs of treating one patient vary significantly and depend on many factors: disease nosology, severity, division profile, etc. It was determined which factors should be taken into account both in estimating the cost of medicines and in planning financial expenditures for the next year. (For citation: Fedorenko AS, Burbello AT, Pokladova MV, Ivanova MA. What factors need to be considered when assessing the financial costs of medicines. Herald of North-Western State Medical University named after I.I. Mechnikov. 2018;10(2):64-72. doi: 10.17816/mechnikov201810264-72).


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2536
Author(s):  
Sophie M. Briffa

Plastics are considered one of the most serious environmental global concerns as they are ubiquitous and contribute to the build-up of pollution. In August 2020, the BBC reported that scientists found 12–21 million tonnes of tiny plastic fragments floating in the Atlantic Ocean. After release into the environment, plastics from consumer items, such as cosmetics and biomedical products, are subject to degradation and break down into microplastics (<5 mm in diameter) and eventually into nanoplastics (<100 nm in at least one dimension). Given their global abundance and environmental persistence, exposure of humans and animals to these micro- and nano- plastics is unavoidable. “We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere”, says Dr Maria Neira, Director at the World Health Organization. Nanoplastics are also an emerging environmental concern as little is known about their generation, degradation, transformation, ageing, and transportation. Owing to their small size, nanoplastics can be trapped by filter-feeding organisms and can enter the food chain at an early stage. Therefore, there is a gap in the knowledge that vitally needs to be addressed. This minireview considers how nanoplastic research can be made more quantifiable through traceable and trackable plastic particles and more environmentally realistic by considering the changes over time. It considers how nanoplastic research can use industrially realistic samples and be more impactful by incorporating the ecological impact.


2021 ◽  
pp. 2740-2747
Author(s):  
Ehsan Ali Al-Zubaidi ◽  
Maad M. Mijwil

     The coronavirus is a family of viruses that cause different dangerous diseases that lead to death. Two types of this virus have been previously found: SARS-CoV, which causes a severe respiratory syndrome, and MERS-CoV, which causes a respiratory syndrome in the Middle East. The latest coronavirus, originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, is known as the COVID-19 pandemic. It is a new kind of coronavirus that can harm people and was first discovered in Dec. 2019. According to the statistics of the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people infected with this serious disease has reached more than seven million people from all over the world. In Iraq, the number of people infected has reached more than twenty-two thousand people until April 2020. In this article, we have applied convolutional neural networks (ConvNets) for the detection of the accuracy of computed tomography (CT) coronavirus images that assist medical staffs in hospitals on categorization chest CT-coronavirus images at an early stage. The ConvNets are able to automatically learn and extract features from the medical image dataset. The objective of this study is to train the GoogleNet ConvNet architecture, using the COVID-CT dataset, to classify 425 CT-coronavirus images. The experimental results show that the validation accuracy of GoogleNet in training the dataset is 82.14% with an elapsed time of 74 minutes and 37 seconds.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Xiao ◽  
Zhou Wang

Oral cancer is a frequent head and neck cancer in developing countries and some developed world. According to the World Health Organization classification 2017, oral cancer influences the anatomical subsites including buccal mucosa, the anterior two-third of the tongue, lip, palate, vestibule, alveolus, floor of the mouth, and gingivae. A variety of premalignant lesions are related with the development of oral cancer, such as leukoplakia, erythroplakia, et al. The predominant histological type of oral cancer is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Tobacco and alcohol consumption are regarded as critical etiological factors. Due to the unspecific symptoms in early stage, the majority are diagnosed in advanced stages. Despite the development of medicine over decades, the mortality rate of oral cancer remains high, indicating the importance of optimized treatment and screening strategies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (7) ◽  
pp. 498-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huda Fatima Rajani ◽  
Fatima Ahmed Alshaikh ◽  
Amir Anushiravani

A recent outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has affected more than 1100000 (April 5, 2020) individuals worldwide and is spreading rapidly. The virus is reported to be derived from bats and the infection was first reported in China. Similar to the severe acute respiratory syndrome and the Middle East respiratory syndrome coronaviruses, it is responsible for respiratory tract infection. Real time polymerase chain reaction and radiography are the two main diagnostic methods. Guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization (WHO) should be followed for diagnostic and precautionary measures. Treatment of the infection is still not available; however, antivirals are under clinical trials.


Author(s):  
KRISHNANJANA S. NAIR ◽  
SHIVALI KAMATH ◽  
ARYA RAJAN ◽  
SACHIN THOMAS ◽  
ASWIN D. ◽  
...  

In December 2019, a rare case of pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, China. This was later analyzed and known to have similar characteristics as viral pneumonia caused by a novel coronavirus. Later, on 11 February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially named the disease as COVID19. The Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) ought to taint both the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract. This COVID-19 is spreading quickly with an immense rise in cases around the world. This infection's mechanism stays obscure, and the medications explicit for the infection were not grown at this point. Infection is highly contagious. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(SARS-CoV-2) is one of seven kinds of crown infection, including the one which causes severe maladies like Middle East respiratory disorder (MERS) and abrupt, intense respiratory syndrome(SARS). Since its revelation, the infection has spread and has caused anxiety and fear among people. Recent vaccines are tracked, and clinical trials can bring an immediate protocol on a medication approach. By including different therapeutic approaches, it is easier to combat the disease quickly. With very low mortality and high transmission rate, new approaches to vaccines and nanomedicines bring down the spread. Controlled patient care is also crucial. On 11 March, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the disease as 'global pandemic’. COVID-19, therefore, poses a significant threat to global public health. This article reviews the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and diagnostic methods. The review also focuses on repurposed drugs, traced vaccines, and a quick view of prophylactic nanomedicines as an alternative for COVID 19. For this review, the complete database has been collected from various search engines such as PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier, etc., from the year 2001-2020 using the following keywords.


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