3D-printed swab with cover for precision diagnosis

The collection capacity of common nasopharyngeal swabs and irregularities of medical personnel limit the accuracy of PCR testing. This study describes a newly designed 3D-printed swab that is combined with a 3D-printed cover to prevent the extraction of undesired nasal secretions. This swab improved the accuracy of PCR test results. The results of a series of experiments showed that, because of the mucus extraction effect, 3D-printed swabs can replace ordinary cotton swabs. The crisis of the worldwide medical supply shortage can be ameliorated to a certain extent by applying 3D printing technology.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Healthy Related Issues, A structured Review

Coronavirus: (COVID-19) is a recently discovered viral disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. The majority of patients with corona-virus infections will have a mild-moderate respiratory disease that recovers without special care. Most often, the elderly, and others with chronic medical conditions such as asthma, coronary disease, respiratory illness, and malignancy are seriously ill. COVID-19 is spread mostly by salivary droplets or nasal secretions when an infected person coughs or sneezes. COVID-19 causes severe acute respiratory illness (SARS-COV-2). The first incidence was recorded in Wuhan, China, in 2019. Since then it spreads leading to a pandemic. The typical incubation time for COVID-19 infection is 2-14 days (normally 5). The common features include fever, cough, tiredness, difficulty in breathing, loss of smell or taste. Occasionally, signs are absent. COVID-19 complications include renal failure, syndrome of cytokine release, pneumonia, respiratory failure, lung fibrosis.

Nasal and Salivary Mucosal Humoral Immune Response Elicited by mRNA BNT162b2 COVID-19 Vaccine Compared to SARS-CoV-2 Natural Infection

SARS-CoV-2 antibody assays are crucial in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Approved mRNA COVID-19 vaccines are well known to induce a serum antibody responses against the spike protein and its RBD. Mucosal immunity plays a major role in the fight against COVID-19 directly at the site of virus entry; however, vaccine abilities to elicit mucosal immune responses have not been reported. We detected anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA-S1 and IgG-RBD in three study populations (healthy controls, vaccinated subjects, and subjects recovered from COVID-19 infection) on serum, saliva, and nasal secretions using two commercial immunoassays (ELISA for IgA-S1 and chemiluminescent assay for IgG-RBD). Our results show that the mRNA BNT162b2 vaccine Comirnaty (Pfizer/BioNTech, New York, NY, USA) determines the production of nasal and salivary IgA-S1 and IgG-RBD against SARS-CoV-2. This mucosal humoral immune response is stronger after the injection of the second vaccine dose compared to subjects recovered from COVID-19. Since there is a lack of validated assays on saliva and nasal secretions, this study shows that our pre-analytical and analytical procedures are consistent with the data. Our findings indicate that the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine elicits antigen-specific nasal and salivary immune responses, and that mucosal antibody assays could be used as candidates for non-invasive monitoring of vaccine-induced protection against viral infection.

Parenteral Antioxidant Supplementation at Birth Improves the Response to Intranasal Vaccination in Newborn Dairy Calves

Newborn calves experience oxidative stress throughout the first month of their life, which is known to decrease lymphocyte functions relevant to vaccine responsiveness. Thus, this study aimed to determine the extent to which parenteral antioxidant supplementation given at birth improves the response to an intranasal viral vaccine in the first month of life of newborn dairy calves. For this, 21 calves were randomly assigned at birth to one of two commercially available antioxidant micronutrient supplements or a placebo group receiving 0.9% sterile saline (n = 7/group). Serum and nasal secretion samples were collected before administration of treatments and an intranasal vaccine against respiratory viruses (bovine herpesvirus type 1, bovine syncytial respiratory virus, and parainfluenza 3), and once weekly for the first four weeks of age. Systemic redox balance was determined in serum. Immunoglobulin A specific for bovine herpesvirus 1 and bovine syncytial respiratory virus was quantified in nasal secretions as a proxy to intranasal vaccine responsiveness. Our results showed that parenteral administration of antioxidants at birth improved calves’ redox balance. Additionally, calves receiving antioxidant supplementation had higher concentrations of immunoglobulin A in their nasal secretions than calves in the control group. Thus, we conclude that supplementation of calves with antioxidants at birth could be a practical strategy to improve intranasal vaccine response. Future larger studies should evaluate the extent to which this increased mucosal response to intranasal vaccination could result in decreased calf morbidity and mortality.

Pharmacokinetics of ß-d-N4-hydroxycytidine, the active metabolite of prodrug molnupiravir, in non-plasma compartments of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection

ABSTRACTBackgroundMolnupiravir, an orally administered prodrug of the broadly active, direct-acting antiviral, ribonucleoside analogue ß-d-N4-hydroxycytidine (NHC) is a promising COVID-19 drug candidate. We characterised the pharmacokinetics of NHC in saliva, nasal secretions and tears of patients enrolled in the phase I AGILE trial (NCT04746183) to understand its potential in preventing infection and transmission.MethodsPatients with PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection, within 5 days of symptom onset with mild-to-moderate disease were randomised to oral molnupiravir 300, 600 or 800 mg twice daily or placebo. Plasma and non-plasma (saliva, nasal secretions and tears) samples were collected at pre-dose, 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 hours post-dose on study days 1 and 5 and molnupiravir and NHC measured by LC/MS with a lower limit of quantification of 2.5 ng/mL in all matrices. Pharmacokinetic parameters were determined by noncompartmental methods and non-plasma:plasma ratios (RNP:P; based on AUC0-4) calculated.ResultsTwelve participants (n=4 per dosing arm; 75% female) completed the study. NHC Tmax ranged between 1.00-4.00 hours for saliva (n=21) and nasal swabs (n=22) and 0.50-4.00 hours (n=17) for tears compared to 1.00-2.00 hours for plasma (n=19). Median (range) saliva RNP:P pooled across doses was 0.03 (0.01-0.11); n=16. RNP:P for nasal secretions and tears were 0.21 (0.05-0.73); n=17 and 0.22 (0.09-1.05); n=12, respectively. Non-plasma and plasma concentrations were significantly correlated (p<0.0001).ConclusionThese data provide encouraging information regarding the distribution of NHC at sites of viral transmission and have important implications for prophylactic coverage.

Identification of body fluids—menstrual blood, saliva, and nasal secretions—over different periods of time, using mRNA

Background Forensic examination of biological samples started at the beginning of the twentieth century by applying the ABO blood group system in evidence related to crimes or human identification. In the present study, real-time PCR multiplex was used to identify dried and stored swabs (saliva, nasal secretions, and menstrual blood) through the target genes of saliva (histatin 3 and statherin), nasal secretions (statherin and BPIFA1), and menstrual blood (metalloproteinases 10 and 7). Results The expressions of histatin 3 and statherin in the dried saliva decreased over days of storage with a significant p value of <0.001. BPIFA1 was highly expressed in nasal secretions, and the expression level significantly decreased throughout the study with a significant p value of <0.001. The MMP7 and MMP10 genes were highly expressed in the menstrual blood, and the expression level decreased over days of storage with a significant p value of p<0.001. Conclusions Dried swabs of the saliva, Nasal secretions, Menstrual blood can be identified over the storage duration of the study using mRNA profiling of specific markers.

Evaluation of the Practicability of Biosynex Antigen Self-Test COVID-19 AG+ for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein from Self-Collected Nasal Mid-Turbinate Secretions in the General Public in France

Due to their ease-of-use, lateral flow assay SARS-CoV-2 antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic tests could be suitable candidates for antigen-detecting rapid diagnostic self-test (Ag-RDST). We evaluated the practicability of the Ag-RDST BIOSYNEX Antigen Self-Test COVID-19 Ag+ (Biosynex Swiss SA, Freiburg, Switzerland), using self-collected nasal secretions from the turbinate medium (NMT), in 106 prospectively included adult volunteers living in Paris, France. The majority of the participants correctly understood the instructions for use (94.4%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 88.3–97.4), showing a great ability to perform the entire self-test procedure to obtain a valid and interpretable result (100%; 95% CI: 96.5–100), and demonstrated the ability to correctly interpret test results (96.2%; 95% CI: 94.2–97.5) with a high level of general satisfaction. About one in eight participants (# 15%) needed verbal help to perform or interpret the test, and only 3.8% of test results were misinterpreted. By reference to multiplex real-time RT-PCR, the Ag-RDST showed 90.9% and 100% sensitivity and specificity, respectively, and high agreement (98.1%), reliability (0.94), and accuracy (90.9%) to detect SARS-CoV-2 antigen. Taken together, our study demonstrates the high usability and accuracy of BIOSYNEX Antigen Self-Test COVID-19 Ag+ for supervised self-collected NMT sampling in an unselected adult population living in France.

in NS

BACKGROUND: Characterization of disease endotypes will open a new window for the treatment of allergic rhinitis (AR). Herein we provide the first attempt to identify specific AR phenotypes/endotypes and/or any biomarker/predictor for specific treatment response based on local biological parameters. METHODS: This observational study was carried out in 142 patients with seasonal AR and 20 non-allergic controls. Total IgE levels, specific IgE to 112 allergenic molecules and 92 proinflammatory and immunologic proteins were measured in both serum and nasal secretions (NS). RESULTS: We found increased values of MCPs and MMPs in adults both in NS and serum when compared with pediatric patients (p<.05). MCPs and MMPs might represent two effective predictors of chronic inflammation. CXCL9, CXCL10, CXCL11, MCPs and MMP1 showed an upward trend both in serum and NS for patients with ≥ 3 comorbidities vs non-allergic controls(p<.05). These data suggest the involvement of these chemokines in the late phase of chronic allergic inflammation in the nose. Serum levels of IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 (p<.05) were significantly higher in patients with AR+asthma compared to patients with different comorbidities. Conversely, serum levels of neurotrophin-3 values (p<.05) were significantly higher in those with AR+eczema vs other comorbidities groups. A subgroup of patients with a nasal hypersecretory state,called “hypersecreter endotype” was characterized by paediatric age, male gender, grass pollen sensitization and distributed among persistent, mild or moderate to severe cases of AR. CONCLUSIONS: Our study sets the groundwork for an AR endotypization at molecular level, which is highly desirable to deliver a patient-tailored approach.

Effect of immune drugs to treat acute viral nasopharyngitis

The task in treating acute nasopharyngitis (ANP) deals with reducing the disease symptoms and the risk of complications. The lack of reliable antiviral drugs makes it important to search for appropriate medicines among other pharmacotherapeutic groups.The study involves a comparative analysis of the efficiency and estimates potential: the recombinant interferon α2b and the compound containing fungal β-D-glucans used in treat ANPThe studies involved patients with ANP from 18 to 55 years old. As many as 152 people were examined including the following: 38 were practically healthy people (group 1); and 114 patients wuth ANP: 38 people (group 2) was subject to a standard therapy (vasoconstrictor nasal drops, nasal cavity irrigation using 0.1% Miramistine solution, gargling using the Furacilin solution); forty people (group 3) were administered application of intranasal interferon α2b of 105 IU, it was delivered with a spray into each nasal passage twice a day; 36 people (group 4) were administered an immunotropic drug containing β-D-glucans orally twice a day. The duration of drug administration lasted 7 days. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify the ANP etiological factor. Concentrations of cytokines IL-1β, IL-1ra were estimated using enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) technique. Clinical efficiency was assessed through score approach. The following symptoms were taken into account: general malaise, sore throat, character of nasal discharge, and the difficulty of nasal breathing. The results of the study were analyzed using parametric and nonparametric statistical methods. In 60.0% the nasal secretions of patients revealed RV. The distribution of cytokine concentrations in nasal secretions in group 1 indicated that the concentration of IL-1β was in the range of 20.0-25.0 pg/ml, and the concentration of IL-1ra was about 1250.0-2500.0 pg/ml. Developing ANP stimulated an increase in IL-1β concentration up to 30.0-70.0 pg/ml in nasal secretions of patients without affecting IL-1ra concentrations. On day 7 of treatment, the cytokine concentrations among the patients treated using the immunotropic drugs were the same as in the group of healthy individuals. There were no significant changes in cytokine production on day 7 in the group of patients undergoing the standard treatment. Application of proposed immunobiological medicines to ANP does not result in overproduction of proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β in nasal secretion. This confirms that these drugs are promising in the treating strategy including reduction of the risk of developing complications.

Immune properties of lactoferrin and its protective role in new coronavirus infection COVID-19

Thousands of studies have been conducted to study the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, its infectious properties, transmission routes and all associated with the clinical manifestations and severity of COVID-19, especially with potential treatments. Lactoferrin is a member of the transferrin family, which is synthesized by epithelial cells of mammalian internal glands and is widely present in various secretory fluids such as milk, saliva, tears, and nasal secretions. Lactoferrin is one of the components of the innate humoral immunity, regulates the functions of immunocompetent cells and is a acute phase protein. Lactoferrin has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This review assesses the possibility of using lactoferrin as a supplement in immunocorrective therapy programs for viral diseases, including the novel coronavirus infection COVID-19.