Use of Self-Collected Saliva Samples for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2.

Objective: Using a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorization (EUA) reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, we examined the analytic performance accuracy of saliva specimens as compared to nasopharyngeal (NP) specimens in symptomatic patients. Correlation between test results and symptoms was also evaluated.

Methods: Over a 5-week period in 2020, 89 matched saliva and nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from individuals exhibiting symptoms consistent with SARS-CoV-2.

Performance Accuracy of a Laboratory-Developed Real-Time RT-PCR Method for Detection of SARS-CoV-2 in Self-Collected Saliva Specimens.

Objective: The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has challenged diagnostic laboratories to re-examine traditional methods for collecting specimens and sample types used in molecular testing. Our goal was to demonstrate that saliva can be used for detecting SARS-CoV-2 and correlates well with established molecular methods using nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs.

Methods: We examined use of a saliva collection device in conjunction with a laboratory-developed real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (LDPCR) method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in a symptomatic population and compared results with 2 US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved methods (emergency use authorization [EUA]) that use specimens from NP swabs.

Paravertebral block for radiologically inserted gastrostomy tube placement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Introduction: Radiologically inserted gastrostomy (RIG) placement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) carries risks related to periprocedural sedation and analgesia. To minimize these risks, we used a paravertebral block (PVB) technique for RIG placement.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients with ALS undergoing RIG placement under PVB between 2013 and 2017.

Conserved DNA methylation combined with differential frontal cortex and cerebellar expression distinguishes C9orf72-associated and sporadic ALS, and implicates SERPINA1 in disease.

We previously found C9orf72-associated (c9ALS) and sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (sALS) brain transcriptomes comprise thousands of defects, among which, some are likely key contributors to ALS pathogenesis. We have now generated complementary methylome data and combine these two data sets to perform a comprehensive "multi-omic" analysis to clarify the molecular mechanisms initiating RNA misregulation in ALS. We found that c9ALS and sALS patients have generally distinct but overlapping methylome profiles, and that the c9ALS- and sALS-affected genes and pathways have similar biological functions, indicating conserved pathobiology in disease.

Poly(GP) proteins are a useful pharmacodynamic marker for -associated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

There is no effective treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a devastating motor neuron disease. However, discovery of a GC repeat expansion in the gene as the most common genetic cause of ALS has opened up new avenues for therapeutic intervention for this form of ALS. GC repeat expansion RNAs and proteins of repeating dipeptides synthesized from these transcripts are believed to play a key role in -associated ALS (c9ALS).