Developing Medication Reviews to Improve the Aruban Healthcare System: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.

This study investigated whether and how medication reviews (MRs) conducted by pharmacists and general practitioners (GPs) with patient involvement can be performed on the island of Aruba (Dutch Caribbean). In this mixed-methods pilot study (both qualitative and quantitative), constructive and observational methodologies were combined. Healthcare providers' and patients' views on MRs and aspects of Aruban healthcare and culture relevant to MRs were examined.

Optimization of the STARlet workflow for semi-automatic SARS-CoV-2 screening of swabs and deep respiratory materials using the RealAccurate Quadruplex SARS-CoV-2 PCR kit and Allplex SARS-CoV-2 PCR kit.

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic triggered the implementation of large-scale screenings in the health care and in the general population. Consequently, medical laboratories have to apply lean laboratory management to design workflows that are able to process large batches within short turnaround times while maintaining flexibility to use different SARS-CoV-2 reverse transcription polymerase chain reactions (RT-PCRs) and to be able to process a variety of clinical samples. We validated two SARS-CoV-2 PCR assays on the STARlet workflow: Allplex SARS-CoV-2 PCR kit and RealAccurate Quadruplex SARS-CoV-2 PCR kit.

Optimising the zebrafish Cre/Lox toolbox. Codon improved iCre, new gateway tools, Cre protein and guidelines.

We recently introduced the Cre/Lox technology in our laboratory for both transient (mRNA injections) and stable/transgenic experiments. We experienced significant issues such as silencing, mosaicism, and partial recombination using both approaches. Reviewing the literature gave us the impression that these issues are common among the zebrafish community using the Cre/Lox system.

Pseudo-Outbreak of Bordetella parapertussis Caused by Contaminated Swabs in the Netherlands.

An increase in positive Bordetella parapertussis tests among patients in a teaching hospital in the Netherlands resulted in enhanced infection control and microbiological surveillance. Further analysis revealed that batches of contaminated nasopharyngeal swabs were associated with a pseudo-outbreak, resulting in incorrect diagnoses, antimicrobial treatments, isolation precautions, and public health notifications.

Pipeline for generating stable large genomic deletions in zebrafish, from small domains to whole gene excisions.

Here we describe a short feasibility study and methodological framework for the production of stable, CRISPR/Cas9-based, large genomic deletions in zebrafish, ranging from several base pairs (bp) to hundreds of kilobases (kb). Using a cocktail of four single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) targeting a single genomic region mixed with a marker-sgRNA against the pigmentation gene tyrosinase, we demonstrate that one can easily and accurately excise genomic regions such as promoters, protein domains, specific exons, or whole genes. We exemplify this technique with a complex gene family, neurexins, composed of three duplicated genes with multiple promoters and intricate splicing processes leading to thousands of isoforms.