Laboratory Tests for COVID-19: A Review of Peer-Reviewed Publications and Implications for Clinical Use.

Diagnostic tests for the coronavirus infection 2019 (COVID-19) are critical for prompt diagnosis, treatment and isolation to break the cycle of transmission. A positive real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in conjunction with clinical and epidemiologic data, is the current standard for diagnosis, but several challenges still exist. Serological assays help to understand epidemiology better and to evaluate vaccine responses but they are unreliable for diagnosis in the acute phase of illness or assuming protective immunity.

Developing a Multi-Disciplinary Team for Infective Endocarditis.

Background: As guidelines do not describe how to develop a multi-disciplinary team(MDT), we provide a model using quality improvement tools to design a MDT for infective endocarditis (IE).

Methods: Primary service, specialty teams and whether they had surgery or not (indications, reasons, outcomes and complications) were recorded for IE patients for January-December 2016. Criteria: age >18years and definite IE per modified Duke criteria.

A 360° Rotational Positioning Protocol of Organ Donors May Increase Lungs Available for Transplantation.

Objectives: To evaluate the improvement in lung donation and immediate lung function after the implementation of a 360° rotational positioning protocol within an organ procurement organization in the Midwest.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Setting: The Midwest Transplant Network from 2005 to 2017.

Permeability response of the rat mesenteric microvasculature to insulin.

Whether insulin influences microvascular exchange is important in understanding its specific role in insulin resistance and the treatment of diabetes. We investigated whether insulin could induce changes in the microvascular flux of albumin from the mesenteric venules of anesthetized male and female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 11). After catheterization for monitoring of mean arterial pressure (MAP), a loop of small intestine was exteriorized.

Differential coronary microvascular exchange responses to adenosine: roles of receptor and microvessel subtypes.

Objective: To assess the role of adenosine receptors in the regulation of coronary microvascular permeability to porcine serum albumin (P(s)(PSA)).

Methods: Solute flux was measured in single perfused arterioles and venules isolated from pig hearts using fluorescent dye-labeled probes by microspectro-fluorometry. Messenger RNA, protein, and cellular distribution of adenosine receptors in arterioles and venules were analyzed by RT-PCR, immunoblot, and immunofluorescence.

Sexual dimorphism in the permeability response of coronary microvessels to adenosine.

Gender influences volume regulation via several mechanisms; whether these include microvascular exchange, especially in the heart, is not known. In response to adenosine (Ado), permeability (P(s)) to protein of coronary arterioles of female pigs decreases acutely. Whether Ado induces similar P(s) changes in arterioles from males or whether equivalent responses occur in coronary venules of either sex has not been determined.

Histoplasmosis in pregnancy: case series and report of transplacental transmission.

Although a healthy pregnancy seems to confer an increased susceptibility to systemic fungal infections, to our knowledge, no known association exists in the case of Histoplasma capsulatum. In addition, to our knowledge, transplacental transmission of H capsulatum has not been previously described. We describe a series of patients treated at our institutions between 1997 and 2000 with evidence of transplacental transmission of H capsulatum.

Extravascular transport of fluorescently labeled albumins in the rat mesentery.

Objective: Fluorescently labeled albumin is used frequently as a tracer when monitoring microvascular permeability. Several fluorescent dyes are available for labeling protein, including fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and Texas Red (TR). Because differences in leakage of dye-labeled proteins have been reported, the objective of the present study was to compare the accumulation of these two tracers in interstitium and lymph after the inflammatory event of ischemia-reperfusion.