scholarly journals In-house Reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction for detection of SARS-CoV2 with increased Sensitivity

Author(s):  
Manash Jyoti Kalita ◽  
Kalpajit Dutta ◽  
Gautam Hazarika ◽  
Ridip Dutta ◽  
Simanta Kalita ◽  
...  

Abstract Background:With the increasing COVID-19 infection worldwide, economization of the existing RT-PCR based detection assay becomes the need of the hour. Methods: An assessment of optimal PCR conditions for simultaneous amplification for E, S and RdRp gene of SARS-CoV-2 has been made using both fast traditional and multiplex real time PCR using same primer sets. All variables of practical value were studied by amplifying known target-sequences from ten-fold dilutions of archived positive samples of COVID-19. Results: The designed primers for amplification of E, S and RdRp gene of SARS-Cov-2 in single tube Multiplex PCR amplifications have shown efficient amplification of the target region in 37 minutes using thermal cyclers and 169 minutes with HRM based Real time detection using SYBR green master mix, over a wide range of template concentration, and the results were in good concordance with the commercially available detection kits. Conclusion: This fast HRM based Real time multiplex PCR with SYBR green approach offers rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a cost effective manner apart from the added advantage of primer pair’s compatibility for use in Traditional multiplex PCR, which offers extended applicability of the assay protocol in resource limited setting.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manash Jyoti Kalita ◽  
Kalpajit Dutta ◽  
Gautam Hazarika ◽  
Ridip Dutta ◽  
Simanta Kalita ◽  
...  

AbstractAs the COVID-19 infection continues to ravage the world, the advent of an efficient as well as the economization of the existing RT-PCR based detection assay essentially can become a blessing in these testing times and significantly help in the management of the pandemic. This study demonstrated an innovative and rapid corroboration of COVID-19 test based on innovative multiplex PCR. An assessment of optimal PCR conditions to simultaneously amplify the SARS-CoV-2 genes E, S and RdRp has been made by fast-conventional and HRM coupled multiplex real-time PCR using the same sets of primers. All variables of practical value were studied by amplifying known target-sequences from ten-fold dilutions of archived positive samples of COVID-19 disease. The multiplexing with newly designed E, S and RdRp primers have shown an efficient amplification of the target region of SARS-CoV-2. A distinct amplification was observed in 37 min using thermal cycler while it took 96 min in HRM coupled real time detection using SYBR green over a wide range of template concentrations. Our findings revealed decent concordance with other commercially available detection kits. This fast HRM coupled multiplex real-time PCR with SYBR green approach offers rapid and sensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a cost-effective manner apart from the added advantage of primer compatibility for use in conventional multiplex PCR. The highly reproducible novel approach can propel extended applicability for developing sustainable commercial product besides providing relief to a resource limited setting.


Author(s):  
Thomas E. Grissom ◽  
Andrew DuKatz ◽  
Hubert A. Kordylewski ◽  
Richard P. Dutton

Recent healthcare legislation, financial pressures, and regulatory oversight have increased the need to create improved mechanisms for performance measurement, quality management tracking, and outcomes-based research. The Anesthesia Quality Institute (AQI) has established the National Anesthesia Clinical Outcomes Registry (NACOR) to support these requirements for a wide-range of customers including individual anesthesiologists, anesthesia practices, hospitals, and credentialing agencies. Concurrently, the availability of increased digital sources of healthcare data make it possible to capture massive quantities of data in a more efficient and cost-effective manner than ever before. With NACOR, AQI has established a user-friendly, automated process to effectively and efficiently collect a wide-range of anesthesia-related data directly from anesthesia practices. This review will examine the issues guiding the evolution of NACOR as well as some potential pitfalls in its growth and usage.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhagya Deepachandi ◽  
Sudath Weerasinghe ◽  
Thisira Priyantha Andrahennadi ◽  
Nadira D. Karunaweera ◽  
Nadeeja Wickramarachchi ◽  
...  

Protein quantification is often an essential step in any research field that involves proteins. Although the standard Lowry assay and its modifications are most abundantly used in protein quantification, the existing methods are rigid or often demonstrate nonlinearity between protein concentration and color intensity. A method for fast and accurate qualitative and/or quantitative determination of total soluble/insoluble proteins or micro-well plate immobilized proteins isolated from Leishmania parasites in microvolumes was described in the current study. Improvements in cost-effective techniques are necessary to increase the research outputs in resource-limited settings. This method is a modification to the established Lowry assay for protein quantification. Concentrations of unknown samples were calculated using a standard curve prepared using a standard series of bovine serum albumin (BSA). The optimized reagents were 2 N NaOH (sodium hydroxide), 2% Na2CO3 (sodium carbonate), 1% CuSO4 (copper sulfate), 2% KNaC4H4O6 (potassium sodium tartrate), and 2 N Folin and Ciocalteu’s phenol. This modified protein assay was sensitive for quantifying Leishmania proteins in a total crude extract or in a soluble fraction within the approximate range of 10–500 μg/ml (1–50 μg/assay) and showed a linearity between color intensity and concentration of the protein. This is an easier, fast, and accurate method for quantifying proteins with microvolumes in a cost-effective manner for routine use in research laboratories in resource-limited settings.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (13) ◽  
pp. 2951 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Carreres-Prieto ◽  
Juan T. García ◽  
Fernando Cerdán-Cartagena ◽  
Juan Suardiaz-Muro

Local administrations demand real-time and continuous pollution monitoring in sewer networks. Spectroscopy is a non-destructive technique that can be used to continuously monitor quality in sewers. Covering a wide range of wavelengths can be useful for improving pollution characterization in wastewater. Cost-effective and in-sewer spectrophotometers would contribute to accomplishing discharge requirements. Nevertheless, most available spectrometers are based on incandescent lamps, which makes it unfeasible to place them in a sewerage network for real-time monitoring. This research work shows an innovative calibration procedure that allows (Light-Emitting Diode) LED technology to be used as a replacement for traditional incandescent lamps in the development of spectrophotometry equipment. This involves firstly obtaining transmittance values similar to those provided by incandescent lamps, without using any optical components. Secondly, this calibration process enables an increase in the range of wavelengths available (working range) through a better use of the LED’s spectral width, resulting in a significant reduction in the number of LEDs required. Thirdly, this method allows important reductions in costs, dimensions and consumptions to be achieved, making its implementation in a wide variety of environments possible.


Author(s):  
Deepak T. Mohan ◽  
Jeffrey Birt ◽  
Can Saygin ◽  
Jaganathan Sarangapani

Fastening operations are extensively used in the aerospace industry and constitute for more than a quarter of the total cost. Inspection of fasteners is another factor that adds cost and complexity to the overall process. Inspection is usually carried out on a sampling-basis as a stand-alone process after the fastening process is completed. Lack of capability to inspect all fasteners in a cost effective manner and the need to remove non-value added activities, such as inspection by itself, in order to reduce the manufacturing lead time have been the motivation behind this study. This paper presents a novel diagnostics scheme based on Mahalanobis-Taguchi System (MTS) for monitoring the quality of rotary-type fastening operations in real-time. This approach encompasses (1) integrating a torque sensor, a pressure sensor, and an optical encoder on a hand-held rotary-type fastening tool; (2) obtaining process parameters via the embedded sensors and generating process signatures in real-time; and (3) detecting anomalies on the tool using a wireless mote that communicates the decision with a base station. The anomalies investigated in this study are the grip length variations as under grip and normal grip, and presence of re-used fasteners. The proposed scheme has been implemented on prototype rotary tool for bolt-nut type of fasteners and tested under a variety of experimental settings. The experimental results have shown that the proposed approach is successful, with an accuracy of over 95% in detecting grip lengths of fasteners in real-time during the process.


2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray Berkelmans ◽  
Jim C. Hendee ◽  
Paul A. Marshall ◽  
Peter V. Ridd ◽  
Alan R. Orpin ◽  
...  

With recent technological advances and a reduction in the cost of automatic weather stations and data buoys, the potential exists for significant advancement in science and environmental management using near real-time, high-resolution data to predict biological and/or physical events. However, real-world examples of how this potential wealth of data has been used in environmental management are few and far between. We describe in detail two examples where near real-time data are being used for the benefit of science and management. These include a prediction of coral bleaching events using temperature, light and wind as primary predictor variables, and the management of a coastal development where dynamic discharge quality limits are maintained with the aid of wind data as a proxy for turbidity in receiving waters. We argue that the limiting factors for the use of near real-time environmental data in management is frequently not the availability of the data, but the lack of knowledge of the quantitative relationships between biological/physical processes or events and environmental variables. We advocate renewed research into this area and an integrated approach to the use of a wide range of data types to deal with management issues in an innovative, cost-effective manner.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lavinia Tunini ◽  
David Zuliani ◽  
Paolo Fabris ◽  
Marco Severin

<p>The Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) provide a globally extended dataset of primordial importance for a wide range of applications, such as crustal deformation, topographic measurements, or near surface processes studies. However, the high costs of GNSS receivers and the supporting software can represent a strong limitation for the applicability to landslide monitoring. Low-cost tools and techniques are strongly required to face the plausible risk of losing the equipment during a landslide event.</p><p>Centro di Ricerche Sismologiche (CRS) of Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale OGS in collaboration with SoluTOP, in the last years, has developed a cost-effective GNSS device, called LZER0, both for post-processing and real-time applications. The aim is to satisfy the needs of both scientific and professional communities which require low-cost equipment to increase and improve the measurements on structures at risk, such as landslides or buildings, without losing precision.</p><p>The landslide monitoring system implements single-frequency GNSS devices and open source software packages for GNSS positioning, dialoguing through Linux shell scripts. Furthermore a front-end web page has been developed to show real-time tracks. The system allows measuring real-time surface displacements with a centimetre precision and with a cost ten times minor than a standard RTK GPS operational system.</p><p>This monitoring system has been tested and now applied to two landslides in NE- Italy: one near Tolmezzo municipality and one near Brugnera village. Part of the device development has been included inside the project CLARA 'CLoud plAtform and smart underground imaging for natural Risk Assessment' funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).</p>


Author(s):  
G. Zuev

Crowdsourcing technologies may solve a wide range of business issues: improve efficiency of HR management, increase customer loyalty and maximize economic efficiency of whole enterprise. The recent years best practice has shown how crowdsourcing is gaining particular relevance of human resource management, allowing HR managers to resolve organization relevant problems in quick and cost-effective manner. Important advantage of crowdsourcing сomes from his main ability: decomposition of tasks into small parts and the ability to perform it’s remotely, via Internet. Thanks to this, not only large corporations, but also small and medium-sized businesses can execute a large-scale projects in a short time. This article discusses the main approaches and principles of practical project management via crowdsourcing platforms, using as the example “Beorg Smart Vision” solution.


2010 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 1220-1228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey G. Marblestone ◽  
K. G. Suresh Kumar ◽  
Michael J. Eddins ◽  
Craig A. Leach ◽  
David E. Sterner ◽  
...  

The ubiquitin-proteasome system is central to the regulation of numerous cellular events, and dysregulation may lead to disease pathogenesis. E3 ubiquitin ligases typically function in concert with E1 and E2 enzymes to recruit specific substrates, thereby coordinating their ubiquitylation and subsequent proteasomal degradation or cellular activity. E3 ligases have been implicated in a wide range of pathologies, and monitoring their activity in a rapid and cost-effective manner would be advantageous in drug discovery. The relative lack of high-throughput screening (HTS)–compliant E3 ligase assays has significantly hindered the discovery of E3 inhibitors. Herein, the authors describe a novel HTS-compliant E3 ligase assay platform that takes advantage of a ubiquitin binding domain’s inherent affinity for polyubiquitin chains, permitting the analysis of ubiquitin chain formation in an E3 ligase-dependent manner. This assay has been used successfully with members of both the RING and HECT families, demonstrating the platform’s broad utility for analyzing a wide range of E3 ligases. The utility of the assay platform is demonstrated by the identification of inhibitors of the E3 ligase CARP2. As the number of E3 ligases associated with various disease states increases, the ability to quantitate the activity of these enzymes in an expeditious manner becomes imperative in drug discovery.


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