Incidence of and Risk Factors for Acute Kidney Injury During Antituberculosis Treatment: A Prospective Cohort Study and Literature Review.

Introduction: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is occasionally detected in patients receiving anti-tuberculosis (TB) treatment. This prospective cohort study is the first to investigate the incidence, risk factors, and renal outcomes of AKI during anti-TB treatment.

Methods: This study was conducted from January 1, 2016, to May 31, 2018.

Integration of Ni/NiO nanoparticles and a microfluidic ELISA chip to generate a sensing platform for detection.

Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) are tests that uses antibody recognition and enzyme catalytic activity to identify a substance, and they have been widely used as a diagnostic tool in the clinic. However, performing an ELISA requires various liquid handling steps and long binding times. To solve this problem, we developed a magnetic microfluidic ELISA system (MMF-ELISA).

Functional Status After Pulmonary Rehabilitation as a Predictor of Weaning Success and Survival in Patients Requiring Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation.

Comprehensive rehabilitation programs are recommended for patients with prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV) to facilitate functional recovery and ventilator weaning, but whether the functional status after rehabilitation influences outcome has not been clearly evaluated. This study aimed to investigate the association between post-rehabilitation functional status and weaning and survival outcome in PMV patients. We retrospectively enrolled PMV patients admitted to the respiratory care center (RCC), a post-ICU weaning facility with protocolized rehabilitation program, from January 2016 through December 2017.

Exploring Volatile Organic Compounds in Breath for High-Accuracy Prediction of Lung Cancer.

(1) Background: Lung cancer is silent in its early stages and fatal in its advanced stages. The current examinations for lung cancer are usually based on imaging. Conventional chest X-rays lack accuracy, and chest computed tomography (CT) is associated with radiation exposure and cost, limiting screening effectiveness.

Rapid purification of lung cancer cells in pleural effusion through spiral microfluidic channels for diagnosis improvement.

Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Fifteen percent of lung cancer patients will present with malignant pleural effusion initially, and up to 50% will have malignant pleural effusion throughout the course of the disease. In this study, we developed a spiral microfluidic device that can rapidly isolate cancer cells and improve their purity through fluid dynamics.

Rapid and Safe Isolation of Human Peripheral Blood B and T Lymphocytes through Spiral Microfluidic Channels.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) are mature lymphocytes that circulate in the blood rather than being localized to organs. A reliable label-free collection approach that can viably and appropriately isolate PBLs to establish in vitro culture systems is crucial for basic research and clinical requirements. However, isolation of PBLs from whole blood is difficult, and so the development of a rapid and safe method to perform this task is required.

Thermopneumatic suction integrated microfluidic blood analysis system.

Blood tests provide crucial diagnostic information regarding several diseases. A key factor that affects the precision and accuracy of blood tests is the interference of red blood cells; however, the conventional methods of blood separation are often complicated and time consuming. In this study, we devised a simple but high-efficiency blood separation system on a self-strained microfluidic device that separates 99.

Quantiferon TB-Gold conversion can predict active tuberculosis development in elderly nursing home residents.

Aim: The study was carried out on elderly nursing home residents in Taiwan. We assessed whether the serial QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) assay and serial tuberculin skin test (TST) were reliable tools to predict or exclude the development of active tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study involved non-bacillus Calmette-Guérin-vaccinated 259 elderly nursing home residents free of active TB at baseline.