The Striking Power of Amniotic Fluid and Its Exosomes Collected at the End of a Normal Pregnancy on Severe Inflammation and Tissue Repair.

With this short communication, which contains a new case report on diabetic ulcer, we summarize our research progress in treating several complex conditions at a point where currently available treatments were failing to help the affected patients. We review the first case of lower back pain due to severe spondylitis (T12-L1) treated with intravenous injections of a sterile fraction of human purified amniotic fluid (ViX001) obtained from thoroughly screened volunteers at the time of planned c-section at the term of normal pregnancies. Then, we review the first case of recalcitrant diabetic ulcer treated successfully by twice-daily applications of ViX001 directly on the wound and describe another case of diabetic ulcer treated successfully with ViX001.

A Meta-Analysis of Levofloxacin for Contacts of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis.

Background: Data from randomized trials evaluating the effectiveness of tuberculosis (TB) preventive treatment for contacts of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB are lacking. Two recently published randomized trials that did not achieve statistical significance provide the opportunity for a meta-analysis.

Methods: We conducted combined analyses of two phase 3 trials of levofloxacin MDR-TB preventive treatment - Levofloxacin for the Prevention of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis (VQUIN) trial and the Levofloxacin preventive treatment in children exposed to MDR-TB (TB-CHAMP) trial.

Sample-to-answer detection of miRNA from whole blood using thermally responsive alkane partitions.

Circulating miRNA offers a tremendous opportunity as a biomarker paradigm for many applications in disease diagnostics, including point-of-care diagnostics for global health needs. However, despite the numerous miRNA detection schemes reported, there still does not exist a solution for highly sensitive sample-to-answer detection of miRNA directly from complex samples, such as whole blood. We recently developed thermally responsive alkane partitions (TRAPs), which - when combined with magnetic microbeads - enable the complete assay automation from whole blood.

Is inverse probability of censoring weighting a safer choice than per-protocol analysis in clinical trials?

Deviation from the treatment strategy under investigation occurs in many clinical trials. We term this intervention deviation. Per-protocol analyses are widely adopted to estimate a hypothetical estimand without the occurrence of intervention deviation.