Improving asthma self-management education through inhaler labeling.

Objective: Improper use and poor understanding of asthma medications can lead to poorly controlled asthma, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations for children with asthma. Pharmacists play a critical role in improving asthma medication adherence through education on asthma self-management. The use of color-coded labels applied at pharmacies to help patients differentiate between rescue and maintenance inhalers has not been explored.

Opt-out testing for hepatitis B and C infections in adults attending the emergency department of a large London teaching hospital.

Background: The National Health Service (NHS) in England commissioned opt-out testing in London Emergency Departments (ED) in April 2022 to allow early identification and management of hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in patients unaware of their infection status.

Methods: All adults over the age of 16 undergoing blood tests in the ED at the Royal Free Hospital were tested for HBV surface antigen and anti-HCV IgG unless they opted out. Data was collected between the 12th of April and 22nd of August 2022.

Diagnostic accuracy of Abbott Architect Assay as a screening tool for human T-cell leukaemia virus type-1 and type-2 infection in a London teaching hospital with a large solid organ transplant centre.

Aim: In the United Kingdom, organ donors/recipients are screened for evidence of human T-cell leukaemia virus type-1 and type-2 (HTLV-1/2) infections. Since the United Kingdom is a low prevalence country for HTLV infections, a screening assay with high sensitivity and specificity is required. Samples with repeat reactivity on antibody testing are sent to a reference lab for confirmatory serological and molecular testing.

Hepatitis E infection in stem cell and solid organ transplantpatients: A cross-sectional study: The importance of HEV RNA screening in peri-transplant period.

Background: Hepatitis E Virus (HEV) is a common cause of acute viral hepatitis worldwide. Typically associated with a self-limiting illness, infection may persist in immunosuppressed populations with significant morbidity and mortality. Based on clinical data published world-wide, UK blood safety guidance recommends the universal screening for HEV RNA of blood donors and donors of tissue, organs and stem cells.

Diagnostic utility of hepatitis E virus antigen-specific ELISA versus PCR testing in a cohort of post liver transplant patients in a large university hospital.

Background: Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is an important infectious agent causing acute and chronic disease. Chronic hepatitis E affects immunocompromised people and serological testing is neither reliable nor sufficient to infer whether a patient has infection; therefore HEV RNA testing is the only reliable diagnostic test presently available. An HEV antigen-specific ELISA test is commercially available but is not yet in clinical use.