scholarly journals Current role of ultrasound in hemodialysis access evaluation

2021 ◽  
pp. 112972982110346
Author(s):  
Meola Mario ◽  
Jose Ibeas ◽  
Jan Malik
Keyword(s):  
Turning Point ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Wireless Systems ◽  
Future Perspectives ◽  
Maturation Period ◽  
Surveillance Programs ◽  
Dialysis Nurses

Physical examination (PE) is considered the backbone before vascular access (VA) placement, during maturation period and for follow-up. However, it may be inadequate in identifying suitable vasculature, mainly in comorbid patients, or in detecting complications. This review highlights the advantages of ultrasound imaging to manage VA before placement, during maturation and follow-up. Furthermore, it analyses the future perspectives in evaluating early and late VA complications thank to the availability of multiparametric platforms, point of care of ultrasound, and portable/wireless systems. Technical improvements and low-cost systems should favor the widespread ultrasound-based VA surveillance programs. This significant turning point needs an adequate training of nephrologists and dialysis nurses and the standardization of exams, parameters, and procedures.

Nanosensors for therapeutic drug monitoring: implications for transplantation

Nanomedicine ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 2735-2747 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashkan Shafiee ◽  
Elham Ghadiri ◽  
Jareer Kassis ◽  
Anthony Atala
Keyword(s):  
State Of The Art ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Therapeutic Drug ◽  
Organ Rejection ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
Deceased Donors ◽  
Transplanted Organs ◽  
Further Development

The number of patients requiring organ transplantations is exponentially increasing. New organs are either provided by healthy or deceased donors, or are grown in laboratories by tissue engineers. Post-surgical follow-up is vital for preventing any complications that can cause organ rejection. Physiological monitoring of a patient who receives newly transplanted organs is crucial. Many efforts are being made to enhance follow-up technologies for monitoring organ recipients, and point-of-care devices are beginning to emerge. Here, we describe the role of biosensors and nanosensors in improving organ transplantation efficiency, managing post-surgical follow-up and reducing overall costs. We provide an overview of the state-of-the-art biosensing technologies and offer some perspectives related to their further development.

scholarly journals Nutritional and Gastroenterological Monitoring of Patients With Celiac Disease During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Emerging Role of Telemedicine and Point-of-Care Gluten Detection Tests

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Costantino ◽  
Leda Roncoroni ◽  
Daniele Noviello ◽  
Nicoletta Nandi ◽  
Vincenza Lombardo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Celiac Disease ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Phone Call ◽  
Patient Trust ◽  
Telemedicine Service ◽  
Adherence Test ◽  
Nutritional Monitoring

Background and Aims: Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, telemedicine has been supporting many patients with chronic diseases worldwide. However, data on celiac disease (CeD) nutritional and gastroenterological remote monitoring are scanty. The aims of our study were to verify patients' trust in telemedicine and to evaluate the feasibility of telemedicine in nutritional monitoring.Material and Methods: We used telemedicine in place of the scheduled but not provided follow-up visits during the first lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients received a phone call, and televisits were conducted for CeD patients with mild or moderate symptoms and/or with blood alterations. The patient's adherence to the gluten-free diet (GFD) was evaluated according to the Celiac Dietary Adherence Test (CDAT). When gluten contamination was suspected, a point-of-care gluten detection test was prescribed. The patient's trust in telemedicine was assessed, through an adapted version of the Patient Trust Assessment Tool (PATAT) questionnaire, as the percentage of patients giving a score of at least 4 out of 5 on a Likert scale for three selected key statements: “I can trust televisit,” “I can trust that possible problems with the telemedicine service will be solved properly,” and “I feel at ease when working with this website.”Results: One hundred and twelve CeD patients were phone called; among symptomatic patients, 39 out of the 42 scheduled (92.9%) televisits were performed. Among the 39 visits, 34 (87.2%) questionnaires were compiled. The patients included in the study obtained a CDAT score from 7 to 13 (11 ± 2). Gluten detection tests were prescribed to 11 patients, resulting positive in 2. Trust in the telemedicine service was achieved in 94.1, 88.2, and 97.1% for the three selected key statements of the PATAT questionnaire.Conclusion: During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine showed to be feasible and the majority of patients trusted the combined gastroenterological and nutritional televisits. Gluten detection tests demonstrated to be useful tools for the patient and for the caregiver to confirm adherence to the GFD remotely.

scholarly journals Molecularly Imprinted Polymer-Based Microfluidic Systems for Point-of-Care Applications

Micromachines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeşeren Saylan ◽  
Adil Denizli
Keyword(s):  
Molecularly Imprinted Polymer ◽  
High Stability ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Future Perspectives ◽  
Imprinted Polymer ◽  
Microfluidic Systems ◽  
Molecularly Imprinted ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Physical And Chemical

Fast progress has been witnessed in the field of microfluidic systems and allowed outstanding approaches to portable, disposable, low-cost, and easy-to-operate platforms especially for monitoring health status and point-of-care applications. For this purpose, molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-based microfluidics systems can be synthesized using desired templates to create specific and selective cavities for interaction. This technique guarantees a wide range of versatility to imprint diverse sets of biomolecules with different structures, sizes, and physical and chemical features. Owing to their physical and chemical robustness, cost-friendliness, high stability, and reusability, MIP-based microfluidics systems have become very attractive modalities. This review is structured according to the principles of MIPs and microfluidic systems, the integration of MIPs with microfluidic systems, the latest strategies and uses for point-of-care applications and, finally, conclusions and future perspectives.

scholarly journals Nanozymes in Point-of-Care Diagnosis: An Emerging Futuristic Approach for Biosensing

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhaskar Das ◽  
Javier Lou Franco ◽  
Natasha Logan ◽  
Paramasivan Balasubramanian ◽  
Moon Il Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Chemistry ◽  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Metal Organic Framework ◽  
World Health ◽  
Point Of Care Diagnostics ◽  
Enzyme Mimicking ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Metal Metal

AbstractNanomaterial-based artificial enzymes (or nanozymes) have attracted great attention in the past few years owing to their capability not only to mimic functionality but also to overcome the inherent drawbacks of the natural enzymes. Numerous advantages of nanozymes such as diverse enzyme-mimicking activities, low cost, high stability, robustness, unique surface chemistry, and ease of surface tunability and biocompatibility have allowed their integration in a wide range of biosensing applications. Several metal, metal oxide, metal–organic framework-based nanozymes have been exploited for the development of biosensing systems, which present the potential for point-of-care analysis. To highlight recent progress in the field, in this review, more than 260 research articles are discussed systematically with suitable recent examples, elucidating the role of nanozymes to reinforce, miniaturize, and improve the performance of point-of-care diagnostics addressing the ASSURED (affordable, sensitive, specific, user-friendly, rapid and robust, equipment-free and deliverable to the end user) criteria formulated by World Health Organization. The review reveals that many biosensing strategies such as electrochemical, colorimetric, fluorescent, and immunological sensors required to achieve the ASSURED standards can be implemented by using enzyme-mimicking activities of nanomaterials as signal producing components. However, basic system functionality is still lacking. Since the enzyme-mimicking properties of the nanomaterials are dictated by their size, shape, composition, surface charge, surface chemistry as well as external parameters such as pH or temperature, these factors play a crucial role in the design and function of nanozyme-based point-of-care diagnostics. Therefore, it requires a deliberate exertion to integrate various parameters for truly ASSURED solutions to be realized. This review also discusses possible limitations and research gaps to provide readers a brief scenario of the emerging role of nanozymes in state-of-the-art POC diagnosis system development for futuristic biosensing applications.

scholarly journals Differential Microwave Imaging for Brain Stroke Followup

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Scapaticci ◽  
O. M. Bucci ◽  
I. Catapano ◽  
L. Crocco
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Synthetic Data ◽  
Measurement Procedure ◽  
Microwave Imaging ◽  
Patient Specific ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Anthropomorphic Phantoms ◽  
Brain Stroke

This paper deals with the possibility of adopting microwave imaging to continuously monitor a patient after the onset of a brain stroke, with the aim to follow the evolution of the disease, promptly counteract its uncontrolled growth, and possibly support decisions in the clinical treatment. In such a framework, the assessed techniques for brain stroke diagnosis are indeed not suitable to pursue this goal. Conversely, microwave imaging can provide a diagnostic tool able to follow up the disease’s evolution, while relying on a relatively low cost and portable apparatus. The proposed imaging procedure is based on a differential approach which requires the processing of scattered field data measured at different time instants. By means of a numerical analysis dealing with synthetic data generated for realistic anthropomorphic phantoms, we address some crucial issues for the method’s effectiveness. In particular, we discuss the role of patient-specific information and the effect of inaccuracies in the measurement procedure, such as an incorrect positioning of the probes between two different examinations. The observed results show that the proposed technique is indeed feasible, even when a simple, nonspecific model of the head is exploited and is robust against the above mentioned inaccuracies.

scholarly journals Designing an Independent Kit as an Early Detection Tool for Covid-19 Symptoms

2021 ◽  
pp. 147-151
Author(s):  
Vasanthalakshmi U ◽  
Shanmugam V ◽  
Sneka K ◽  
Yashika J ◽  
Suvetha S
Keyword(s):  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Smart Phone ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Detection Tool ◽  
The World ◽  
Causes Of Mortality ◽  
Isolation Ward ◽  
Summary Data

COVID-19 disease is one of the leading causes of mortality over the world. Continuous passive monitoring of subjects using mobile sensors can help detect disease, estimate severity, track progression over time, and predict adverse exacerbation events. The high demand for point-of-care devices for the convenient detection and follow-up of chronic diseases is posing demands to the development of novel low-cost sensors. Over the world the COVID-19 disease is one of the most worldwide spread diseases. Now a day’s doctors/nurse is in a COVID-19 relief, they need to cover their body for safety. Producing such datasets requires devices that can withstand real-world use and yet are unobtrusive enough to yield high doctors adherence. In this system, we describe a set of necessary characteristics for a device to address these issues, informed by stakeholders in pulmonary health monitoring and produce required mixture of oxygen air to doctor/nurses while working in the covid-19 isolation ward. There in, the app displays real-time and summary data such as respiration rate, heart rate, SPO2 respiratory rate, body temperature, cough, & PPG values detected. Each wearable device contains a 4.5AH lithium ion battery rated at approximately 1,600 hours (over 60 days) of active use when worn on-body and paired with a smart phone.

scholarly journals Imaging the tarsal plate: A Mini-Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Alberto Recchioni
Keyword(s):  
Dry Eye ◽  
Ocular Surface ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Common Cause ◽  
Tarsal Plate ◽  
Fundamental Part ◽  
Evaporative Dry Eye ◽  
Active Shield

Imaging the tarsal plate and the meibomian glands (MG) grants new opportunities for ophthalmic practitioners who work in the field of the ocular surface and dry eye across the globe. The secretory role of MG plays a fundamental part in protecting the moisture in front of the eye surface by creating an active shield made of meibum (lipid) which prevents tear evaporation and causes dry eye. Evidence from the most popular Dry Eye Workshop reports (2007 and 2016) demonstrate that MG dysfunction is the first cause of evaporative dry eye which is also the most common cause of dry eye and ocular surface discomfort. Fortunately, during the last years, a plethora of new devices for MG observation, diagnosis and follow-up have been made available in the market. These devices range from invasive to minimally invasive, high to low-tech and from being expensive to low-cost. The objective of this mini-review is to condense the latest evidence in MG imaging by providing a narrative overview on the most common technologies plus some other newer aspects which might guide clinicians and researchers in the field of the ocular surface and dry eye.

scholarly journals Emerging Role of Ultrasound in Dysphagia Assessment and Intervention: A Narrative Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ming-Yen Hsiao ◽  
Chueh-Hung Wu ◽  
Tyng-Guey Wang
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Tongue Movement ◽  
First Line ◽  
Swallowing Function ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pixel Analysis ◽  
Management Of Dysphagia

Ultrasonography has gained increasing attention as a non-invasive and radiation-free instrument for the assessment of swallowing function. In the past decades, an extensive repertoire of ultrasonographic techniques, such as, B-mode dynamic scanning, pixel analysis, M-mode, Doppler, 3D reconstruction, and sonoelastography, has been applied in the evaluation of oropharyngeal structures and movement. Yet, a universal consensus on the examination protocols and clinical implications remains to be established. This review aimed to provide a brief introduction of the application of ultrasound in dysphagia assessment and intervention, encompassing the ultrasonography of swallowing-related muscles, tongue movement, and hyolaryngeal excursion, as well as ultrasound-guided interventions in the management of dysphagia. In addition to non-invasiveness, ultrasonography, a portable, easy to use, and low-cost technique, could compliment videofluoroscopic swallowing study as a first-line screening and follow-up tool for the evaluation of swallowing function, although further study is warranted to provide quantitative diagnostic and prognostic values. Finally, ultrasonography aids in the precisely targeted injection of botulinum toxin in patients exhibiting oropharyngeal muscle spasticity.

scholarly journals The Main Molecular and Serological Methods for Diagnosing COVID-19: An Overview Based on the Literature

Viruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Bruna Aparecida Souza Machado ◽  
Katharine Valéria Saraiva Hodel ◽  
Valdir Gomes Barbosa-Júnior ◽  
Milena Botelho Pereira Soares ◽  
Roberto Badaró
Keyword(s):  
Point Of Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Correct Diagnosis ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Diagnostic Methods ◽  
Serological Tests ◽  
Diagnostic Approaches ◽  
Therapeutic Protocols ◽  
Diagnostic Technologies

Diagnostic tests have been considered as the main alternative for the control of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as a correct diagnosis allows for decision making when facing the disease, particularly as there is a lack of effective therapeutic protocols and vaccines. Thus, in this review, we summarized the main diagnostic approaches currently available for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in humans based on studies available in article databases. The tests can be organized into two main categories: nucleic acid-based tests, recommended for the initial detection of the virus, and serological tests, recommended for assessing the disease progression. The studies have shown that the performance of diagnostic methods depends on different factors, such as the type of samples and the characteristics of each assay. It was identified that the positivity of the tests is mainly related to the onset of symptoms. We also observed that point-of-care diagnoses are considered as one of the main trends in this area, due to the low-cost and simplicity of the assay; however, the analytical performance must be critically analyzed. Thus, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the critical role of diagnostic technologies in the control of infectious diseases.

Psychological Resilience Provides No Independent Protection From Suicidal Risk

Crisis ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danica W. Y. Liu ◽  
A. Kate Fairweather-Schmidt ◽  
Richard Burns ◽  
Rachel M. Roberts ◽  
Kaarin J. Anstey
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Psychological Resilience ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Life Project ◽  
Resilience Factors ◽  
First Time

Abstract. Background: Little is known about the role of resilience in the likelihood of suicidal ideation (SI) over time. Aims: We examined the association between resilience and SI in a young-adult cohort over 4 years. Our objectives were to determine whether resilience was associated with SI at follow-up or, conversely, whether SI was associated with lowered resilience at follow-up. Method: Participants were selected from the Personality and Total Health (PATH) Through Life Project from Canberra and Queanbeyan, Australia, aged 28–32 years at the first time point and 32–36 at the second. Multinomial, linear, and binary regression analyses explored the association between resilience and SI over two time points. Models were adjusted for suicidality risk factors. Results: While unadjusted analyses identified associations between resilience and SI, these effects were fully explained by the inclusion of other suicidality risk factors. Conclusion: Despite strong cross-sectional associations, resilience and SI appear to be unrelated in a longitudinal context, once risk/resilience factors are controlled for. As independent indicators of psychological well-being, suicidality and resilience are essential if current status is to be captured. However, the addition of other factors (e.g., support, mastery) makes this association tenuous. Consequently, resilience per se may not be protective of SI.

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