Front Cover: Magnetic digital microfluidics on a bioinspired surface for point‐of‐care diagnostics of infectious disease

: Point-of-care (POC) testing decentralizes the diagnostic tests to the sites near the patient. Many POC tests rely microfluidic platforms for sample-to-answer analysis. Compared to other microfluidic systems, magnetic digital microfluidics demonstrate compelling advantages for POC diagnostics. In this review, we have examined the capability of magnetic digital microfluidics-based POC diagnostic platforms. More importantly, we have categorized POC settings into three classes based on “where is the point”, “who to care” and “how to test”, and evaluated the suitability of magnetic digital microfluidics in various POC settings. Furthermore, we have addressed other technical issues associated with POC testing such as controlled environment, sample-system interface, system integration and information connectivity. We hope this review would provide a guideline for the future development of magnetic digital microfluidics-based platforms for POC testing.

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Plastic electronics for point-of-care diagnostics

10.1049/ic.2009.0064 ◽

2009 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

J.C. de Mello

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Plastic Electronics ◽

Point Of Care Diagnostics

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COVID-19 Point-of-Care Diagnostics: Present and Future

ACS Nano ◽

10.1021/acsnano.1c02981 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Enrique Valera ◽

Aaron Jankelow ◽

Jongwon Lim ◽

Victoria Kindratenko ◽

Anurup Ganguli ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Point Of Care Diagnostics

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145 Point of care lung ultrasound in patient triage: integration of ultrasound into a streaming pathway for COVID-19

Emergency Medicine Journal ◽

10.1136/emj-2020-rcemabstracts.27 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 37 (12) ◽

pp. 839.1-839

Author(s):

Dominic Craver ◽

Aminah Ahmad ◽

Anna Colclough

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

District General Hospital ◽

Training Programme ◽

Service Evaluation ◽

University Hospital ◽

Junior Doctors ◽

Point Of Care Ultrasound ◽

Face To Face ◽

Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽

Audit Data

Aims/Objectives/BackgroundRapid risk stratification of patients is vital for Emergency Department (ED) streaming during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ideally, patients should be split into red (suspected/confirmed COVID-19) and green (non COVID-19) zones in order to minimise the risk of patient-to-patient and patient-to-staff transmission. A robust yet rapid streaming system combining clinician impression with point-of-care diagnostics is therefore necessary.Point of care ultrasound (POCUS) findings in COVID-19 have been shown to correlate well with computed tomography (CT) findings, and it therefore has value as a front-door diagnostic tool. At University Hospital Lewisham (a district general hospital in south London), we recognised the value of early POCUS and its potential for use in patient streaming.Methods/DesignWe developed a training programme, ‘POCUS for COVID’ and subsequently integrated POCUS into streaming of our ED patients. The training involved Zoom lectures, a face to face practical, a 10 scan sign off process followed by a final triggered assessment. Patient outcomes were reviewed in conjunction with their scan reports.Results/ConclusionsCurrently, we have 21 ED junior doctors performing ultrasound scans independently, and all patients presenting to our department are scanned either in triage or in the ambulance. A combination of clinical judgement and scan findings are used to stream the patient to an appropriate area.Service evaluation with analysis of audit data has found our streaming to be 94% sensitive and 79% specific as an indicator of COVID 19. Further analysis is ongoing.Here we present both the structure of our training programme and our integrated streaming pathway along with preliminary analysis results.

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Point of Care Diagnostics in the Age of COVID-19

Diagnostics ◽

10.3390/diagnostics11010009 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 9

Author(s):

Meysam Rezaei ◽

Sajad Razavi Bazaz ◽

Sareh Zhand ◽

Nima Sayyadi ◽

Dayong Jin ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Point Of Care ◽

Diagnostic Methods ◽

Global Public Health ◽

Current Standard ◽

Healthcare Facilities ◽

Major Threat ◽

Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽

Recent Outbreak ◽

Control Virus ◽

Biosafety Level

The recent outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its associated serious respiratory disease, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), poses a major threat to global public health. Owing to the lack of vaccine and effective treatments, many countries have been overwhelmed with an exponential spread of the virus and surge in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases. Current standard diagnostic methods are inadequate for widespread testing as they suffer from prolonged turn-around times (>12 h) and mostly rely on high-biosafety-level laboratories and well-trained technicians. Point-of-care (POC) tests have the potential to vastly improve healthcare in several ways, ranging from enabling earlier detection and easier monitoring of disease to reaching remote populations. In recent years, the field of POC diagnostics has improved markedly with the advent of micro- and nanotechnologies. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, POC technologies have been rapidly innovated to address key limitations faced in existing standard diagnostic methods. This review summarizes and compares the latest available POC immunoassay, nucleic acid-based and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats- (CRISPR)-mediated tests for SARS-CoV-2 detection that we anticipate aiding healthcare facilities to control virus infection and prevent subsequent spread.

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Pocket MUSE: an affordable, versatile and high-performance fluorescence microscope using a smartphone

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-021-01860-5 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yehe Liu ◽

Andrew M. Rollins ◽

Richard M. Levenson ◽

Farzad Fereidouni ◽

Michael W. Jenkins

Keyword(s):

High Performance ◽

Point Of Care ◽

Low Cost ◽

Consumer Electronics ◽

Practical Implementation ◽

The Novel ◽

Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽

Optical Module ◽

Optical Configuration ◽

User Friendly

AbstractSmartphone microscopes can be useful tools for a broad range of imaging applications. This manuscript demonstrates the first practical implementation of Microscopy with Ultraviolet Surface Excitation (MUSE) in a compact smartphone microscope called Pocket MUSE, resulting in a remarkably effective design. Fabricated with parts from consumer electronics that are readily available at low cost, the small optical module attaches directly over the rear lens in a smartphone. It enables high-quality multichannel fluorescence microscopy with submicron resolution over a 10× equivalent field of view. In addition to the novel optical configuration, Pocket MUSE is compatible with a series of simple, portable, and user-friendly sample preparation strategies that can be directly implemented for various microscopy applications for point-of-care diagnostics, at-home health monitoring, plant biology, STEM education, environmental studies, etc.

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Contagion Management at the Méditerranée Infection University Hospital Institute

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm10122627 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (12) ◽

pp. 2627

Author(s):

Pierre-Edouard Fournier ◽

Sophie Edouard ◽

Nathalie Wurtz ◽

Justine Raclot ◽

Marion Bechet ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

Early Diagnosis ◽

Personal Protective Equipment ◽

Early Stage ◽

Point Of Care ◽

University Hospital ◽

Protective Equipment ◽

Monitoring Point ◽

Epidemiological Monitoring ◽

Wide Range

The Méditerranée Infection University Hospital Institute (IHU) is located in a recent building, which includes experts on a wide range of infectious disease. The IHU strategy is to develop innovative tools, including epidemiological monitoring, point-of-care laboratories, and the ability to mass screen the population. In this study, we review the strategy and guidelines proposed by the IHU and its application to the COVID-19 pandemic and summarise the various challenges it raises. Early diagnosis enables contagious patients to be isolated and treatment to be initiated at an early stage to reduce the microbial load and contagiousness. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to deal with a shortage of personal protective equipment and reagents and a massive influx of patients. Between 27 January 2020 and 5 January 2021, 434,925 nasopharyngeal samples were tested for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. Of them, 12,055 patients with COVID-19 were followed up in our out-patient clinic, and 1888 patients were hospitalised in the Institute. By constantly adapting our strategy to the ongoing situation, the IHU has succeeded in expanding and upgrading its equipment and improving circuits and flows to better manage infected patients.

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