An assessment of a biosensor system for the quantification of microcystins in freshwater cyanobacterial blooms.

Microcystin-producing cyanobacterial blooms are a global issue threatening drinking water supplies and recreation on lakes and beaches. Direct measurement of microcystins is the only way to ensure waters have concentrations below guideline concentrations; however, analyzing water for microcystins takes several hours to days to obtain data. We tested LightDeck Diagnostics' bead beater cell lysis and two versions of the quantification system designed to give microcystin concentrations within 20 min and compared it to the standard freeze-thaw cycle lysis method and ELISA quantification.

[Coagulation diagnostics in the clinical routine-part 2 : Monitoring of anticoagulation treatment, new-onset thrombocytopenia and thrombophilia].

Monitoring of vitamin K antagonist treatment with the international normalized ratio (INR) is obligatory, whereas this only applies to direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) or low molecular weight heparin in the context of selected clinical scenarios. For DOAC the focus is on the determination of trough and peak plasma levels of the drug but for low molecular weight heparins the focus is on anti-Xa activity. The timing of blood sampling in relation to drug intake is essential for the interpretation of the results.

Implementing Remote Collaboration in a Virtual Patient Platform: Usability Study.

Background: Learning with virtual patients is highly popular for fostering clinical reasoning in medical education. However, little learning with virtual patients is done collaboratively, despite the potential learning benefits of collaborative versus individual learning.

Objective: This paper describes the implementation of student collaboration in a virtual patient platform.

Larvicidal Efficacy of Ozone and Ultrasound on (Rat Lungworm) Third-Stage Larvae.

The parasitic nematode (rat lungworm) is the leading cause of human eosinophilic meningitis worldwide. Most human infections occur through the accidental consumption of hidden within produce as infectious third-stage larvae (L3), yet little research has been published addressing possible methods to mitigate this means of transmission. Here, we describe our tests of ozone gas-an oxidizing agent-and ultrasound, both used for disinfection of food and municipal water supplies and in industrial cleaning.