Automated liquid handling robot for rapid lateral flow assay development.

The lateral flow assay (LFA) is one of the most popular technologies on the point-of-care diagnostics market due to its low cost and ease of use, with applications ranging from pregnancy to environmental toxins to infectious disease. While the use of these tests is relatively straightforward, significant development time and effort are required to create tests that are both sensitive and specific. Workflows to guide the LFA development process exist but moving from target selection to an LFA that is ready for field testing can be labor intensive, resource heavy, and time consuming.

A SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus nucleocapsid protein antigen-detecting lateral flow assay.

Inexpensive, simple, rapid diagnostics are necessary for efficient detection, treatment, and mitigation of COVID-19. Assays for SARS-CoV2 using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) offer good sensitivity and excellent specificity, but are expensive, slowed by transport to centralized testing laboratories, and often unavailable. Antigen-based assays are inexpensive and can be rapidly mass-produced and deployed at point-of-care, with lateral flow assays (LFAs) being the most common format.

Antibody Screening Results for Anti-Nucleocapsid Antibodies Toward the Development of a Lateral Flow Assay to Detect SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent demand for large numbers of inexpensive, accurate, rapid, point-of-care diagnostic tests. Analyte-based assays are suitably rapid and inexpensive and can be rapidly mass-produced, but for sufficiently accurate performance, they require highly optimized antibodies and assay conditions. We used an automated liquid handling system, customized to handle arrays of lateral flow (immuno)assays (LFAs) in a high-throughput screen, to identify anti-nucleocapsid antibodies that will perform optimally in an LFA.

Screening Antibodies Raised against the Spike Glycoprotein of SARS-CoV-2 to Support the Development of Rapid Antigen Assays.

Severe acute respiratory coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a novel viral pathogen and therefore a challenge to accurately diagnose infection. Asymptomatic cases are common and so it is difficult to accurately identify infected cases to support surveillance and case detection. Diagnostic test developers are working to meet the global demand for accurate and rapid diagnostic tests to support disease management.

SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Nucleocapsid Antigen-Detecting Half-Strip Lateral Flow Assay Toward the Development of Point of Care Tests Using Commercially Available Reagents.

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has created an unprecedented need for rapid diagnostic testing to enable the efficient treatment and mitigation of COVID-19. The primary diagnostic tool currently employed is reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), which can have good sensitivity and excellent specificity. Unfortunately, implementation costs and logistical problems with reagents during the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic have hindered its universal on demand adoption.

Children's Creativity and Personal Adaptation Resources.

The study provides insights into the aspects of creativity, the structure of psychometric intelligence, and personal adaptation resources of senior preschool children. Creativity and intelligence are presented as general adaptation resources. Existing studies of creative ability and creativity as integral individual characteristics in the context of adaptation are analyzed.

Deficient Follistatin-like 3 Secretion by Asthmatic Airway Epithelium Impairs Fibroblast Regulation and Fibroblast-to-Myofibroblast Transition.

Bronchial epithelial cells (BECs) from healthy children inhibit human lung fibroblast (HLF) expression of collagen and fibroblast-to-myofibroblast transition (FMT), whereas asthmatic BECs do so less effectively, suggesting that diminished epithelial-derived regulatory factors contribute to airway remodeling. Preliminary data demonstrated that secretion of the activin A inhibitor follistatin-like 3 (FSTL3) by healthy BECs was greater than that by asthmatic BECs. We sought to determine the relative secretion of FSTL3 and activin A by asthmatic and healthy BECs, and whether FSTL3 inhibits FMT.

The BANK1 SLE-risk variants are associated with alterations in peripheral B cell signaling and development in humans.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by the development of autoantibodies that drive disease pathogenesis. Genetic studies have associated nonsynonymous variants in the BANK1 B cell scaffolding gene with susceptibility to SLE and autoantibodies in lupus. To determine how the BANK1 SLE-risk variants contribute to the dysregulated B cell program in lupus, we performed genotype/phenotype studies in human B cells.

[Long-term results of radiofrequency catheter ablation of long-lasting persistent atrial fibrillation: five years of follow-up].

Aim: To evaluate long-term results of radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFA) vs. rate-control strategy in patients with long-lasting persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) METHODS: We assessed 5-years results in 66 patients (53.3+/-12.

Rapid assessment of RNAi-mediated protein depletion by selected reaction monitoring mass spectrometry.

We describe the use of a targeted proteomics approach, selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mass spectrometry, to detect and assess RNAi-mediated depletion or "knockdown" of specific proteins from human cells and from Drosophila flies. This label-free approach does not require any specific reagents to confirm the depletion of RNAi target protein(s) in unfractionated cell or whole organism extracts. The protocol described here is general, can be developed rapidly, and can be multiplexed to detect and measure multiple proteins at once.

[Heart rate variability in the prognosis of tilt-testing results].

Study aim was assessment of dynamics of spectral parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) during the Westminster and Italian protocols of tilt-test (TT). We included in this study 114 patients with recurrent vasovagal syncope (VVS). Basing on TT results we distinguished 4 groups of patients: with positive result of the Westminster protocol (WPTT) (group 1, n=30); with negative result of WPTT (group 2, n=23); with positive result of the Italian protocol (IPTT) (group 3, n=44); with negative result of IPTT (group 4, n=11).

[Assessment of vasovagal origin of syncope based on history features].

Study aim was to elaborate questionnaire for diagnostics of vasovagal syncope (VVS) based on data of anamnesis. We examined 182 patients (mean age 37.1+/-14.

[Clinical features and history of vasovagal syncope].

Aim of this investigation was to study special characteristics of natural course of vasovagal syncope (VVS). During 3 years we examined 212 patients (44% men) in accordance with recommendations of European Society of Cardiology using tilt tests according to Westminster or Italian protocols for confirmation of vasovagal genesis. Depending on results of initial investigation patients were divided into 2 groups: group 1 comprised 144 patients (68%) satisfying criteria of VVS; group 2 comprised other patients (n=41, 19%) with transitory loss of consciousness of unclear origin.

A mouse to human search for plasma proteome changes associated with pancreatic tumor development.

Background: The complexity and heterogeneity of the human plasma proteome have presented significant challenges in the identification of protein changes associated with tumor development. Refined genetically engineered mouse (GEM) models of human cancer have been shown to faithfully recapitulate the molecular, biological, and clinical features of human disease. Here, we sought to exploit the merits of a well-characterized GEM model of pancreatic cancer to determine whether proteomics technologies allow identification of protein changes associated with tumor development and whether such changes are relevant to human pancreatic cancer.

[Frequency of detection the of Brugada syndrome signs in the course of ECG registration].

The aim of the study was to assess prevalence of the Brugada syndrome during carrying out ECG in the conditions of medico-sanitary division of a large industrial enterprise. Signs of the Brugada syndrome were found on 20 of 42779 ECGs (0.047%) registered during 1 year in patients aged 22-68 years.

Contribution of protein fractionation to depth of analysis of the serum and plasma proteomes.

In-depth analysis of the serum and plasma proteomes by mass spectrometry is challenged by the vast dynamic range of protein abundance and substantial complexity. There is merit in reducing complexity through fractionation to facilitate mass spectrometry analysis of low-abundance proteins. However, fractionation reduces throughput and has the potential of diluting individual proteins or inducing their loss.

[Cardioselective beta-adrenoblockers in patients with stable angina pectoris. Comparison of efficacy and safety].

Aim: To compare efficacy and safety of cardioselectivc beta-blockers (BB) in patients with stable angina.

Material And Methods: An open comparative randomized trial with participation of 40 patients suffering from stable angina (NYHA FC II-III) was made. All the patients were divided into two groups.

Quantitative analysis of acrylamide labeled serum proteins by LC-MS/MS.

Isotopic labeling of cysteine residues with acrylamide was previously utilized for relative quantitation of proteins by MALDI-TOF. Here, we explored and compared the application of deuterated and (13)C isotopes of acrylamide for quantitative proteomic analysis using LC-MS/MS and high-resolution FTICR mass spectrometry. The method was applied to human serum samples that were immunodepleted of abundant proteins.

Review of the palearctic desert biting midges Culicoides langeroni group, with a description of a new species (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae).

The biting midges of the Culicoides langeroni group, which consists of 4 species: C. langeroni Kieffer, C. judaeae Macfie, C.

[The mass development of biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) on the littoral of the White Sea].

The biting midges larvae fauna of the intertidal and supralittoral zones in Sel'dianaia small bay (Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea) is studied. It is represented by Stilobezzia sp., Dasyhelea sp.

[Mechano-chemical properties of actomyosin-ADP complexes in rabbit psoas muscle fibers].

The relaxing effect of vanadate on active contractile system is found to be completely absent from rigor skinned fibres with ADP even on their stretching up to the forces comparable with the active ones, though vanadate is likely to bind not very firmly with crossbridges not containing inorganic phosphate. Probable reasons of such distinction are considered. The complex actomyosin-ADP in the rigor fibres is supposed to have significantly lower free energy independently of its deformation than the one of the same composition in the active ones.