scholarly journals High-throughput low-cost nl-qPCR for enteropathogen detection: A proof-of-concept among hospitalized patients in Bangladesh

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. e0257708
Author(s):  
Katelyn E. Flaherty ◽  
Jessica A. Grembi ◽  
Vasavi V. Ramachandran ◽  
Farhana Haque ◽  
Selina Khatun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Diarrheal Disease ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Median Number ◽  
Hospitalized Patients ◽  
Attractive Alternative ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Outbreak Period ◽  
Stool Samples

Background Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. High-throughput and low-cost approaches to identify etiologic agents are needed to guide public health mitigation. Nanoliter-qPCR (nl-qPCR) is an attractive alternative to more expensive methods yet is nascent in application and without a proof-of-concept among hospitalized patients. Methods A census-based study was conducted among diarrheal patients admitted at two government hospitals in rural Bangladesh during a diarrheal outbreak period. DNA was extracted from stool samples and assayed by nl-qPCR for common bacterial, protozoan, and helminth enteropathogens as the primary outcome. Results A total of 961 patients were enrolled; stool samples were collected from 827 patients. Enteropathogens were detected in 69% of patient samples; More than one enteropathogen was detected in 32%. Enteropathogens most commonly detected were enteroaggregative Escherichia coli (26.0%), Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (18.3%), enterotoxigenic E. coli (15.5% heat stable toxin positive, 2.2% heat labile toxin positive), Shigella spp. (14.8%), and Vibrio cholerae (9.0%). Geospatial analysis revealed that the median number of pathogens per patient and the proportion of cases presenting with severe dehydration were greatest amongst patients residing closest to the study hospitals.” Conclusions This study demonstrates a proof-of-concept for nl-qPCR as a high-throughput low-cost method for enteropathogen detection among hospitalized patients.

scholarly journals A Low-Cost, Easy-to-Assemble Device to Prevent Infant Hyperthermia under Conditions of High Thermal Stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (24) ◽  
pp. 13382
Author(s):  
Ramon Farré ◽  
Miguel A. Rodríguez-Lázaro ◽  
Anh Tuan Dinh-Xuan ◽  
Martí Pons-Odena ◽  
Daniel Navajas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heat Stress ◽  
Air Conditioning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
High Ambient Temperature ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Climatic Chamber ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Novel Device ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Temperature And Humidity

High ambient temperature and humidity greatly increase the risk of hyperthermia and mortality, particularly in infants, who are especially prone to dehydration. World areas at high risk of heat stress include many of the low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where most of their inhabitants have no access to air conditioning. This study aimed to design, evaluate, and test a novel low-cost and easy-to-assemble device aimed at preventing the risk of infant hyperthermia in LMICs. The device is based on optimizing negative heat transfer from a small amount of ice and transferring it directly to the infant by airflow of refrigerated air. As a proof of concept, a device was assembled mainly using recycled materials, and its performance was assessed under laboratory-controlled conditions in a climatic chamber mimicking realistic stress conditions of high temperature and humidity. The device, which can be assembled by any layperson using easily available materials, provided sufficient refrigerating capacity for several hours from just 1–2 kg of ice obtained from a domestic freezer. Thus, application of this novel device may serve to attenuate the adverse effects of heat stress in infants, particularly in the context of the evolving climatic change trends.

scholarly journals Phenomic Selection Is a Low-Cost and High-Throughput Method Based on Indirect Predictions: Proof of Concept on Wheat and Poplar

2018 ◽  
pp. g3.200760.2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud Rincent ◽  
Jean-Paul Charpentier ◽  
Patricia Faivre-Rampant ◽  
Etienne Paux ◽  
Jacques Le Gouis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
High Throughput Method

scholarly journals Compact Microscope Module for High- Throughput Microscopy

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 530-533
Author(s):  
Max B. Schäfer ◽  
Sophie Weiland ◽  
Kent W. Stewart ◽  
Peter P. Pott
Keyword(s):  
High Throughput ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Imaging Quality ◽  
Microtiter Plates ◽  
Essential Tool ◽  
Good Imaging ◽  
Custom Made

AbstractMicroscopy is an essential tool in research and science. However, it is relatively resource consuming regarding cost, time of usage, and consumable supplies. Current low-cost approaches provide good imaging quality but struggle in terms of versatility or applicability to varying setups. In this paper, a Compact Microscope Module for versatile application in custom-made setups or research projects is presented. As a first application and proof of concept, the use of the module in a High-Throughput Microscope for screening of samples in microtiter plates is shown. The Compact Microscope Module allows for simple and resource-efficient microscopy in various applications while still enabling relatively good imaging qualities.

scholarly journals Short Take: Lowering the Access Barriers to Ethnographic Methodology

Field Methods ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1525822X2097109
Author(s):  
Tony V Pham
Keyword(s):  
Open Access ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Software Tools ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Access Barriers ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Ethnographic Methodology ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Researchers based in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) often cannot access conventional but high-priced ethnographic tools. I developed a low-cost methodology as an exercise in meeting the needs of both LMIC-based researchers and the broader qualitative community. As demonstrated in this proof of concept, ethnographic researchers should strive for a suite of open access software tools and common and affordable hardware to reduce inequities in knowledge generation and dissemination.

scholarly journals Designing a Low-Cost Ceramic Water Filter Press

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Henry ◽  
Siri Maley ◽  
Khanjan Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Diarrheal Disease ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Field Testing ◽  
Filter Press ◽  
Concept Design ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Major Barrier ◽  
Water Filter

Diarrheal disease due to unsanitary water is a leading cause of death in low- and middle- income countries. One potential solution to this problem is widespread access to point-of-use ceramic water filters made from universally-available materials. This increased access can be achieved by empowering local artisans to initiate self-sustaining and scalable entrepreneurial ventures in their communities. However, a major barrier to the start-up of these businesses is the prohibitively expensive press used to form the filters. This article reviews filter press technologies and identifies specific functional requirements for a more suitable and affordable filter press. Early-stage field-testing results of a proof-of-concept design that can be manufactured by two people in two days at one-tenth of the cost of popular filter presses is presented.

scholarly journals Phenomic selection: a low-cost and high-throughput method based on indirect predictions. Proof of concept on wheat and poplar

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renaud Rincent ◽  
Jean-Paul Charpentier ◽  
Patricia Faivre-Rampant ◽  
Etienne Paux ◽  
Jacques Le Gouis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Markers ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Genomic Selection ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
High Throughput ◽  
Complex Traits ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Dna Polymorphisms ◽  
Proof Of Concept

ABSTRACTGenomic selection - the prediction of breeding values using DNA polymorphisms - is a disruptive method that has widely been adopted by animal and plant breeders to increase productivity. It was recently shown that other sources of molecular variations such as those resulting from transcripts or metabolites could be used to accurately predict complex traits. These endophenotypes have the advantage of capturing the expressed genotypes and consequently the complex regulatory networks that occur in the different layers between the genome and the phenotype. However, obtaining such omics data at very large scales, such as those typically experienced in breeding, remains challenging. As an alternative, we proposed using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) as a high-throughput, low cost and non-destructive tool to indirectly capture endophenotypic variants and compute relationship matrices for predicting complex traits and coined this new approach “phenomic selection” (PS). We tested PS on two species of economic interest (Triticum aestivum L. and Populus nigra L.) using NIRS on various tissues (grains, leaves, wood). We showed that one could reach predictions as accurate as with molecular markers, for developmental, tolerance and productivity traits, even in environments radically different from the one in which NIRS were collected. Our work constitutes a proof of concept and provides new perspectives for the breeding community, as PS is theoretically applicable to any organism at low cost and does not require any molecular information.ARTICLE SUMMARYDespite its widely adopted interest in breeding, genomic selection - the prediction of breeding values using DNA polymorphisms - remains difficult to implement for many species because of genotyping costs. As an alternative or complement depending on the context, we propose “phenomic selection” (PS) as the use of low-cost and high-throughput phenotypic records to reconstruct similarities between genotypes and predict their performances. As a proof of concept of PS, we made use of near infrared spectroscopy applied to different tissues in poplar and wheat to predict various key traits and showed that PS could reach predictions as accurate as with molecular markers.

MASALAH DAN ALTERNATIF TEKNOLOGI PENGOLAHAN AIR UNTUK MASYARAKAT MISKIN KOTA

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arie Herlambang
Keyword(s):  
Water Treatment ◽  
Ground Water ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Diarrheal Disease ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Clean Water ◽  
Treatment Technology ◽  
Alternative Technologies ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Daily Water

Clean water to poor communities who live in crowded municipal area is stillexpensive and a luxury. This condition is evidenced by the number of people whouse ground water for their daily water, because water taps still seems expensivefor them. Diarrheal disease is still relatively high for Indonesia, where nearly 16thousand people suffer from diarrhea due to poor sanitation. To help the poor inthe city, there are several alternative technologies that can be applied to publicaccess to clean water and adequate low-cost, including ground water treatmenttechnology with a filter system equipped with an ultraviolet sterilizer, or ozonegenerators, or using ultrafiltration, if possible can also use the reverse osmosismembrane that for fresh water. Arsinum is the best alternative should be chosenfor fulfilled potable water in slump area.Keywords : Sanitation, water treatment technology, portable water, low-cost, slump area

Natural Bioactive Compounds As Adjuvant Therapy For Hepatitis C Infection

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moema S. Santana ◽  
Rute Lopes ◽  
Isabela H. Peron ◽  
Carla R. Cruz ◽  
Ana M. M. Gaspar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Chemical Diversity ◽  
Acute Hepatitis C ◽  
Hepatitis C Infection ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Broad Perspective ◽  
Cost Of Production

Background: Hepatitis C virus infection is a significant global health burden, which causes acute or chronic hepatitis. The acute hepatitis C is generally asymptomatic and progresses to cure, while persistent infection can progress to chronic liver disease and extrahepatic manifestations. Standard treatment is expensive, poorly tolerated, and has variable sustained virologic responses amongst the different viral genotypes. New therapies involve direct acting antivirals; however, it is also very expensive and may not be accessible for all patients worldwide. In order to provide a complementary approach to the already existing therapies, natural bioactive compounds are investigated as to their several biologic activities, such as direct antiviral properties against hepatitis C, and effects on mitigating chronic progression of the disease, which includes hepatoprotective, antioxidant, anticarcinogenic and anti-inflammatory activities; additionally, these compounds present advantages, as chemical diversity, low cost of production and milder or inexistent side effects. Objective: To present a broad perspective on hepatitis C infection, the chronic disease, and natural compounds with promising anti-HCV activity. Methods: This review consists of a systematic review study about the natural bioactive compounds as a potential therapy for hepatitis C infection. Results: The quest for natural products have yielded compounds with biologic activity, including viral replication inhibition in vitro, demonstrating antiviral activity against hepatitis C. Conclusion: One of the greatest advantages of using natural molecules from plant extracts is the low cost of production, not requiring chemical synthesis, which can lead to less expensive therapies available to low and middle-income countries.

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