Deposit of Red Blood Cells at low concentrations in evaporating droplets is dominated by a central edge growth.

Evaporation of blood droplets and diluted blood samples is a topic of intensive research, as it is considered a potential low-cost diagnostic tool. So far, samples with a volume fraction down to a few percent of red blood cells have been studied, and these were reportedly dominated by a "coffee-ring" deposit. In this study, samples with lower volume fractions were used to investigate the growth of the evaporative deposit from sessile droplets in more detail.

: A Platform for Clinical-Grade Interpretation of Genetic Variants to Foster Personalized Healthcare in Switzerland.

Large-scale next-generation sequencing (NGS) germline testing is technically feasible today, but variant interpretation represents a major bottleneck in analysis workflows. This includes extensive variant prioritization, annotation, and time-consuming evidence curation. The scale of the interpretation problem is massive, and variants of uncertain significance (VUSs) are a challenge to personalized medicine.

Highly Active Oxidation Catalysts through Confining Pd Clusters on CeO Nano-Islands.

CeO-supported noble metal clusters are attractive catalytic materials for several applications. However, their atomic dispersion under oxidizing reaction conditions often leads to catalyst deactivation. In this study, the noble metal cluster formation threshold is rationally adjusted by using a mixed CeO-AlO support.

Accuracy of cobas MTB and MTB-RIF/INH for Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Drug Resistance.

This study evaluated the performance of cobas MTB and cobas MTB-RIF/INH for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and detection of rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH) resistance. Adults presenting with pulmonary tuberculosis symptoms were recruited in South Africa, Moldova, and India. Performance of cobas MTB was assessed against culture, whereas cobas MTB-RIF/INH was assessed using phenotypic drug susceptibility testing and whole-genome sequencing as composite reference standards.