Predictive biomarkers for the early detection and management of heart failure.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a serious public health concern whose incidence has been on a rise and is projected by the World Health Organization to be the leading global cause of mortality by 2030. Heart failure (HF) is a complicated syndrome resulting from various CVDs of heterogeneous etiologies and exhibits varying pathophysiology, including activation of inflammatory signaling cascade, apoptosis, fibrotic pathway, and neuro-humoral system, thereby leading to compromised cardiac function. During this process, several biomolecules involved in the onset and progression of HF are released into circulation.

Rapid diagnosis of malaria using a point-of-care loop-mediated isothermal amplification device.

LAMP diagnosis of malaria is simple and cost-effective with acceptable sensitivity and specificity as compared to standard diagnostic modules such as microscopy, RDTs and nested PCR, and thus its deployment for onsite screening of malaria in resource-limited regions is under consideration. However, the requirement of an electricity-operated dry bath and bulky read-out unit is still a major concern. In an effort to simplify this limitation, we have developed a portable LAMP device and fluorescence readout unit which can be used in the rapid point-of-care diagnosis of malaria.

Optical absorbance-based rapid test for the detection of sickle cell trait and sickle cell disease at the point-of-care.

People afflicted with sickle cell disease (SCD) experience severe deterioration in quality of life. The disease is characterized by debilitating pain, anemia, and increased susceptibility to life threatening infections. This genetic disorder is endemic to many parts of the world.

Rapid diagnosis of infection with a portable loopmediated isothermal amplification device.

is an intracellular protozoan parasite, that causes visceral leishmaniasis (VL), and consequently, post-kala azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). Diagnosis and treatment of leishmaniasis is crucial for decreasing its transmission. Various diagnostic techniques like microscopy, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and PCR-based methods are used to detect leishmaniasis infection.

SARS-CoV-2 Infection Hospitalization Rate and Infection Fatality Rate Among the Non-Congregate Population in Connecticut.

Background: Infection fatality rate and infection hospitalization rate, defined as the proportion of deaths and hospitalizations, respectively, of the total infected individuals, can estimate the actual toll of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on a community, as the denominator is ideally based on a representative sample of a population, which captures the full spectrum of illness, including asymptomatic and untested individuals.

Objective: To determine the COVID-19 infection hospitalization rate and infection fatality rate among the non-congregate population in Connecticut between March 1 and June 1, 2020.

Methods: The infection hospitalization rate and infection fatality rate were calculated for adults residing in non-congregate settings in Connecticut prior to June 2020.

Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2-Specific IgG Antibodies Among Adults Living in Connecticut: Post-Infection Prevalence (PIP) Study.

Background: A seroprevalence study can estimate the percentage of people with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in the general population; however, most existing reports have used a convenience sample, which may bias their estimates.

Methods: We sought a representative sample of Connecticut residents, ages ≥18 years and residing in noncongregate settings, who completed a survey between June 4 and June 23, 2020, and underwent serology testing for SARS-CoV-2-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies between June 10 and July 29, 2020. We also oversampled non-Hispanic black and Hispanic subpopulations.

Bare fiber Bragg grating immunosensor for real-time detection of Escherichia coli bacteria.

Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria have been identified to be the cause of variety of health outbreaks resulting from contamination of food and water. Timely and rapid detection of the bacteria is thus crucial to maintain desired quality of food products and water resources.

Automated quantitative cytological analysis using portable microfluidic microscopy.

In this article, a portable microfluidic microscopy based approach for automated cytological investigations is presented. Inexpensive optical and electronic components have been used to construct a simple microfluidic microscopy system. In contrast to the conventional slide-based methods, the presented method employs microfluidics to enable automated sample handling and image acquisition.