Detecting lineage-defining mutations in SARS-CoV-2 using colorimetric RT-LAMP without probes or additional primers.

Despite the advance of vaccination worldwide, epidemic waves caused by more transmissible and immune evasive genetic variants of SARS-CoV-2 have sustained the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. Monitoring such variants is expensive, as it usually relies on whole-genome sequencing methods. Therefore, it is necessary to develop alternatives that could help identify samples from specific variants.

Rapid molecular diagnostics of COVID-19 by RT-LAMP in a centrifugal polystyrene-toner based microdevice with end-point visual detection.

Infection caused by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has become a serious worldwide public health problem, and one of the most important strategies for its control is mass testing. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) has emerged as an important alternative to simplify the diagnostics of infectious diseases. In addition, an advantage of LAMP is that it allows for easy reading of the final result through visual detection.

Ten-minute direct detection of Zika virus in serum samples by RT-LAMP.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a current threat to global health. In most of cases, ZIKV infection has no symptoms; however in some cases, ZIKV can cause paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome), and in pregnant women, it can cause birth defects in infants. Rapid and accurate diagnosis can help improve disease control as well as being vital to prenatal care for women living in endemic areas.

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification in disposable polyester-toner microdevices.

In recent years, isothermal DNA amplification methods have emerged as an alternative in molecular diagnostics due to its ease of operation. The purpose of using isothermal amplification is to simplify the diagnostics work by i) eliminating heating cycles, ii) reducing equipment costs, and iii) providing rapid and accurate results in laboratories with limited resources. Here we show a simple and fast method for E.

[Route taken by families of children hospitalized in a teaching hospital].

Exploratory and descriptive study, of qualitative nature, developed with the purpose of knowing the route of the child's family admitted to the hospital. The data were collected at the pediatric unit of the Regional University Hospital of Maringá (HUM), through semi-structured interviews with the accompanying family members. After analysis of content, two categories emerged: the role of the family in the identification of deviations in the child's health, and the (un)readiness of the health services: impacts on the child health attendance.

[Meaning of the death/dying process for entering nursing students].

This is a qualitative study, based on Heidegger's existential phenomenology, with the purpose of revealing the meaning of death/dying for freshmen students of the nursing program. The study was developed in a public university in the northwest of Paraná, Brazil between August and October 2010, and 33 entering students from a Nursing program were interviewed. The following existential themes emerged from the phenomenological analysis: "Understanding death as a difficult process to be understood"; "Understanding death as a natural process"; and "Perceiving death as a passage to another life".