Lab test

White blood cells (WBCs) are robust defenders during antigenic challenges and prime immune cell functioning indicators. High-purity WBC separation is vital for various clinical assays and disease diagnosis. Red blood cells (RBCs) are a major hindrance in WBC separation, constituting 1000 times the WBC population. The study showcases a low-cost micropump integrated microfluidic platform to provide highly purified WBCs for point-of-care testing. An integrated user-friendly microfluidic platform was designed to separate WBCs from finger-prick blood (⁓5 μL), employing an inertial focusing technique...

UNLABELLED: Variants in cis-regulatory elements link the noncoding genome to human brain pathology; however, detailed analytic tools for understanding the association between cell-level brain pathology and noncoding variants are lacking. CWAS-Plus, adapted from a Python package for category-wide association testing (CWAS) employs both whole-genome sequencing and user-provided functional data to enhance noncoding variant analysis, with a faster and more efficient execution of the CWAS workflow...

BACKGROUND: Self-scheduling of medical visits is becoming available at many medical institutions. We aimed to examine the self-scheduled visit counts and rate of growth of self-scheduled visits in a multispecialty practice. METHODS: For 85 weeks extending from January 1, 2022 through August 24, 2023, we examined self-scheduled visit counts for over 1500 self-scheduled visit types. We compared completed self-scheduled visit counts to all scheduled completed visit counts for the same visit types...

Metabolic syndrome is one of the most common health problems for people around the world. The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among adults without prior diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease. We also plan to assess the influence of certain lifestyle components on prevalence of metabolic syndrome. The study involved cardiovascularly healthy patients undergoing lab tests, measurements, and the HLPCQ questionnaire (The Healthy Lifestyle and Personal Control Questionnaire)...

Given its presence in a wide spectrum of soils relevant to food process hygiene, the biological metabolite adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is used as a target for surface hygiene assessments in food processing facilities. Yet, ample evidence demonstrates that ATP is depleted into adenosine di- (ADP) and monophosphate (AMP) homologues resulting in a loss of sensitivity for ATP-based hygiene assays. Yet, there are few studies that denote the degree of these shifts under routine processing conditions such as those encountered during various meat processing steps that may likely alter redox potential and adenosine profiles (e...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to follow long-term changes in the concentration of thyroid hormones in dogs with subclinical thyroiditis. SAMPLES: Samples were obtained from 125 dogs with subclinical thyroiditis. The study population included 70 female and 55 male dogs. The mean testing interval was 3.9 years from initial testing (SD, 2.3 years; range, 1 to 9 years). METHODS: Dogs with subclinical thyroiditis were identified retrospectively using results from the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals Canine Thyroid Profile performed by the Endocrinology Section of the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab...

BACKGROUND: Ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs) are commonly used to overcome mobility limitations related to lower limb musculoskeletal injury. Despite a multitude of AFOs to choose from, there is scant evidence to guide AFO prescription and limited opportunities for AFO users to provide experiential input during the process. To address these limitations in the current prescription process, this study evaluates a novel, user-centered and personalized 'test-drive' strategy using a robotic exoskeleton ('AFO emulator') to emulate commercial AFO mechanical properties (i...

Static three-dimensional (3D) cell culture has been demonstrated in ultralow attachment well plates, hanging droplet plates, and microtiter well plates with hydrogels or magnetic nanoparticles. Although it is simple, reproducible, and relatively inexpensive, thus potentially used for high-throughput screening, statically cultured 3D cells often suffer from a necrotic core due to limited nutrient and oxygen diffusion and waste removal and have a limited in vivo -like tissue structure. Here, we overcome these challenges by developing a pillar/perfusion plate platform and demonstrating high-throughput, dynamic 3D cell culture...

INTRODUCTION: The authors identify two patterns of inheritance in a Syrian child from consanguineous parents. The membrane-bound O-acyltranferase domain-containing7 (MBOAT7) gene encodes Lysophosphatidylinositol acyltranferase (LPIAT1), which is responsible for the neurodevelopment of the brain cortex. Patients with MBOAT7 variants exhibit pathogenic nervous manifestations such as global developmental delays affecting speech and motor function, intellectual disability (ID), poor coordination, and seizures, with or without MRI abnormalities...

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia Type 2 (MEN2) is a rare autosomal dominant neoplastic syndrome resulting from RET gene mutations, marked by medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) and increased risk of other endocrine tumors. MEN2 includes subtypes MEN2A, MEN2B, and familial MTC. Prophylactic thyroidectomy is recommended for MEN2A due to high MTC risk. CASE PRESENTATION: A 38-year-old woman with a family history of thyroid cancer presented with headaches, sweating, and palpable breast mass...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a growing problem with a significant burden. Lifestyle modification is the recommended treatment, but researchers are exploring other options. This study focused on the effects of Fumaria parviflora (FP) extracts on NAFLD induced by a high-fat diet in rats. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Thirty-five 10-week-old male Wister-Albino rats were divided into seven groups: normal diet control, high fat diet control, high fat diet with oral normal saline gavage, high fat diet with oral Atorvastatin gavage, and three groups receiving high fat diet with FP extract in 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg, and 700 mg/kg...

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is estimated to comprise about 290,560 new cases in 2022. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are recommended as adjuvant treatment for estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast carcinoma in postmenopausal women, which includes approximately two-thirds of all women with breast cancer. AIs inhibit the peripheral conversion of androgens to estrogen by deactivation of the aromatase enzyme, leading to a reduction in serum estrogen level in postmenopausal women with ER+ breast carcinoma...

PURPOSE: To explore whether it is necessary to put drain tubes after posterior pedicle screw fixation of thoracolumbar fractures. METHODS: From April 2020 to January 2023, a total of 291 patients with recent thoracolumbar fractures (AO type-A or type-B) who received the pedicle screw fixation operation were enrolled retrospectively. In 77 patients, drain tubes were used in the pedicle screw fixation surgery, while no drain tubes were placed in the other group. After gleaning demographic information and results of lab examination and imageology examination, all data were put into a database...

This study assessed the bacterioplankton community and its relationship with environmental variables, including total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) concentration, in the Yucatan shelf area of the Southern Gulf of Mexico. Beta diversity analyses based on 16S rRNA sequences indicated variations in the bacterioplankton community structure among sampling sites. PERMANOVA indicated that these variations could be mainly related to changes in depth (5 to 180 m), dissolved oxygen concentration (2.06 to 5.93 mg L-1 ), and chlorophyll-a concentration (0...

BACKGROUND: Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have realized the potential of revolutionizing healthcare, such as predicting disease progression via longitudinal inspection of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and lab tests from patients admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU). Although substantial literature exists addressing broad subjects, including the prediction of mortality, length-of-stay, and readmission, studies focusing on forecasting Acute Kidney Injury (AKI), specifically dialysis anticipation like Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) are scarce...

Dilution is a standard fluid operation widely employed in the sample preparation process of many bio(chemical) assays. It serves multiple essential functions such as sample mixing with certain reagents at specific dilution ratios, reducing sample matrix effects, bringing target analytes within the linear assay detection range, among many others. Traditionally, sample processing is performed in laboratory settings through manual or automated pipetting. When working in resource-limited settings, however, neither trained personnel nor proper laboratory equipment are available limiting the accessibility to high-quality diagnostic tests...

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tears are not as frequent as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears. They are rare as an isolated injury and more commonly occur in a multi-ligament-injured knee. We reported a case of rupture of PCL in monozygotic twins. CASE PRESENTATION: A 19-year-old female presented with giving away of her left knee since 4 months ago. She fell from stairs previously. Physical examination demonstrated positive posterior drawer test...

Following the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions, other respiratory viruses such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), whose transmission were decreased due to COVID-19 precautions, are rising again. Because of similar clinical features and reported co-infections, multiplex detection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A/B, and RSV is required to use specific treatments. This study assessed an extraction-free sample preparation (heat treatment at 95°C for 3 minutes) for multiplex detection using rRT-PCR...

Shear stress during bioreactor cultivation has significant impact on cell health, growth, and fate. Mammalian cells, such as T cells and stem cells, in next-generation cell therapies are especially more sensitive to shear stress present in their culture environment than bacteria. Therefore, a base knowledge about the shear stress imposed by the bioprocesses is needed to optimize the process parameters and enhance cell growth and yield. However, typical computational flow dynamics modeling or PCR-based assays have several limitations...

BACKGROUND: Many Gram -negative bacteria other than Pseudomonas aeruginosa have been implicated in waterborne outbreaks but standardised laboratory detection methods for these organisms have not been established. AIM: We aimed to establish laboratory testing methodologies for six waterborne pathogens; Acinetobacter spp, Burkholderia spp, Cupriavidus spp, Delftia acidovorans, Elizabethkingia spp and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. METHODS: Water samples were spiked by UK Health Security Agency labs and sent to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary lab for analysis...