Evaluation of Efficacy of Rapid Antigen Test against RT-PCR and its Correlation with Cycle Threshold (CT) values: an Institutional Experience

Rapidly increasing COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2 in whole world caused a tremendous pressure on existing diagnostic setup to give accurate diagnosis on time by gold standard RT-PCR technique forcing scientist to think beyond RT-PCR which ultimately ended with invent of Rapid antigen test which can give about 100% specific and rapid result but may miss many case due to low sensitivity. So we wanted to evaluate the Rapid antigen test against RT-PCR for its diagnostic accuracy. We followed standard procedure for sample collection, Rapid antigen test and RT-PCR test. In about one and half month span we collected 554 antigen negative samples in our hospital. About 13% sample (74/554) turned out as positive by RT-PCR test. About 40 % (30/74) positive samples had low Ct value (<25) indicating higher viral load present in those patients. Above findings indicate that only antigen test will miss a significant portion of positive cases with higher viral load which may complicate the pandemic by unknowingly spreading the virus within the society. So we should try to improve our infrastructure to carry out more RTPCR test so we can detect more cases to identify and isolate them from others to prevent or slowdown the transmission chain.

Assessing the Grip of Solar Energy Systems on Environmental Sustainability-A Review

: A sustainable energy production system fulfills its goal while being environmentally, socially, and technically sound. The intermittent availability and viability of renewable energy makes this vision a gradual and long-suffering process. In the rapid result-oriented economy, concerns regarding the environment are treated with desperate solutions that may add fuel to the fire. Although substantial research has been going on in the development of emerging technologies and refinement of established systems, we need to be reminded of the larger goal in mind: a benign and sustainable environment. Closing a door on a problem and not opening several new ones is what we must yearn to achieve. Renewable energy systems and their utility may unintentionally harm a different subset of the ecosystem. Solar energy systems are a more recent candidate with a high annual growth rate and thus, are still in the nascent stage to realise the bruised potential of the technology. By 2050, 60 million tons of solar waste will be produced if it is not resolved efficiently. To achieve environmental sustainability, it is imperative to work towards recycling redundant systems, establishing producer responsibility, fulfilling social needs and optimising future technology. By integrating aspects of the research on solar energy systems, their environmental risks, and their potential to create a sustainable ecosystem, this review article attempts to cater to environmental decision making and direct the eventual research and analysis towards their original unified objective.

Designing optimal COVID-19 testing stations locally: A discrete event simulation model applied on a university campus

Providing sufficient testing capacities and accurate results in a time-efficient way are essential to prevent the spread and lower the curve of a health crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. In line with recent research investigating how simulation-based models and tools could contribute to mitigating the impact of COVID-19, a discrete event simulation model is developed to design optimal saliva-based COVID-19 testing stations performing sensitive, non-invasive, and rapid-result RT-qPCR tests processing. This model aims to determine the adequate number of machines and operators required, as well as their allocation at different workstations, according to the resources available and the rate of samples to be tested per day. The model has been built and experienced using actual data and processes implemented on-campus at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where an average of around 10,000 samples needed to be processed on a daily basis, representing at the end of August 2020 more than 2% of all the COVID-19 tests performed per day in the USA. It helped identify specific bottlenecks and associated areas of improvement in the process to save human resources and time. Practically, the overall approach, including the proposed modular discrete event simulation model, can easily be reused or modified to fit other contexts where local COVID-19 testing stations have to be implemented or optimized. It could notably support on-site managers and decision-makers in dimensioning testing stations by allocating the appropriate type and quantity of resources.

Oncology patient and provider preferences regarding rapid radiology result release to online portals.

1544 Background: Spurred by changes in legislation and technology, rapid patient access to medical results has never been higher. Many health systems now release results of radiology tests within 24 hours of completion, meaning patients may see results before being able to discuss them with the ordering provider. Generally, surveys have demonstrated that patients are in favor of rapid result availability, but research on rapid result release to oncology patients with distinct concerns is scant. Methods: Starting in February 2020, oncology providers throughout Sanford Health, a multi-site primarily rural integrated practice in the upper Midwest were invited to complete an online survey regarding their opinions on rapid result release. Starting in February 2020, oncology patients were invited to complete a similar survey. This survey was open until August 2020, when 100 patients had completed the survey; both surveys contained both categorical and narrative results. Results: Oncology providers had a generally more negative opinion of rapid radiology result release to online portals compared to patients. 65% of patients believed radiology results should be released within 24 hours of resulting; only 12% of providers shared this view. 66% of providers shared that they did not feel comfortable with patients’ ability to interpret radiology results and only 13% felt that “normal” results should be released immediately to an online portal; this number decreased to 3% when results were “abnormal”. Patient opinions on appropriate result release were impacted by test results as well. For “normal” radiology results, 50% of patients favored initial communication be via online portal without discussion with a provider; for “abnormal” results, this number decreased to 28%. 43% of patients had learned of an “abnormal” result via online portal before discussion with a provider; 66% of these patients felt that this was a positive which allowed them to process information prior to the visit; 33% felt that it created undue anxiety. 94% of providers reported having a patient contact them regarding a test result prior to a planned visit, with 60% providers sharing this happens at least once weekly. When asked what improvements could be made to the system currently in place at Sanford, 80% of providers suggested holding radiology results until direct communication with the provider can occur; only 8% of patients suggested the same intervention. Conclusions: Rapid result release is generally a patient satisfier, although oncology patients do distinguish abnormal from normal results in terms of rapid release. It is a dissatisfier for providers both due to concerns regarding patients’ ability to interpret results and due to excess work created by rapid release. Ongoing work should focus on ways to allow patients to access resources to make medical results more interpretable if reviewed prior to provider visits.

Recent Advances in Microfluidic Paper-Based Analytical Devices toward High-Throughput Screening

Microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (µPADs) have become promising tools offering various analytical applications for chemical and biological assays at the point-of-care (POC). Compared to traditional microfluidic devices, µPADs offer notable advantages; they are cost-effective, easily fabricated, disposable, and portable. Because of our better understanding and advanced engineering of µPADs, multistep assays, high detection sensitivity, and rapid result readout have become possible, and recently developed µPADs have gained extensive interest in parallel analyses to detect biomarkers of interest. In this review, we focus on recent developments in order to achieve µPADs with high-throughput capability. We discuss existing fabrication techniques and designs, and we introduce and discuss current detection methods and their applications to multiplexed detection assays in relation to clinical diagnosis, drug analysis and screening, environmental monitoring, and food and beverage quality control. A summary with future perspectives for µPADs is also presented.

Diagnosis of paediatric tuberculosis by cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test and its effectiveness as compared to the other conventional diagnostic methods

Background: Childhood TB constitutes 10-20% of all TB cases in high burden countries like India and accounting for 8-20% of TB related deaths. Diagnosis of TB in children is difficult. One test, CBNAAT which was recently endorsed by WHO has the potential to lead a revolution in diagnosis of active TB disease.Methods: A cross sectional study in SCB MCH and SVPPGIP, Cuttack in all the suspected TB patients admitted during the period from January 2016 to October 2017.Results: A total of 100 suspicious patients admitted to the Department of Pediatrics in SCB MCH and SVPPGIP during the study period. Of these 45 were diagnosed TB and rest others were diagnosed otherwise than TB. Diagnosis of TB was established on basis of Microscopy, CBNAAT, culture, biochemistry, cytology, clinical findings, neuroimaging, FNAC/biopsy, USG abdomen. Out of 45 TB patients 30 were CBNAAT positive taking the body fluid samples other than blood, urine and stool with a sensitivity of 66.7% and specificity of 100%. Out of 45 TB patients 14 were having ZN Smear positive taking the same fluid sample with a sensitivity of 31.1% and specificity of 100%. Whereas out of these 45 TB patients 32 were MGIT culture positive taking the same sample with a sensitivity of 71.1% and specificity of 100%. When diagnostic performances of CBNAAT and MGIT culture were compared, it was found to be statistically insignificant with a P value 0.54.Conclusions: The CBNAAT is able to confirm a diagnosis of TB with 66.7% sensitivity and 100% specificity within 2 hours. We can use CBNAAT as a diagnostic method as it provides rapid result and simultaneous better sensitive result, it can be helpful in starting ATT in sick patients and also in outdoor patients.

P097: Making emergency room crash carts useful

Introduction: Human factors are a neglected when it comes to crash cart design and function. Using observational assessments and in-house surveys, the process improvement team found that staff use of the crash carts in the University of Alberta ED had significate redundancy, inefficiency and often leading to confusion during use. The process improvement team assessed the layout of the adult crash cart and redesigned the cart format based on observational problems/inefficiencies staff had during resuscitations. It was hoped that staff found the new design more efficient and effective during resuscitations when compared to the old cart. Methods: To effect change, the Rapid result change theory method was utilized to implement the new crash cart prototype. The model was used to evoke excitement and staff participation in front line process improvement. With input from senior staff, the cart was redesigned and placed in resus area where it stood the greatest chance of being used frequently. Once a prototype crash cart had gone live, surveys, based on a 7 point Likert scale compared the old and new cart systems. The resus area housed both old and new carts to facilitate the comparison. The survey assessed 6 domains; visibility of the medications, locating medications, overall organization, time savings, mixing medications and comfort level of using each cart. Results: After the trial, the surveys were collected and analyzed using T-test; the results were significant. There was an overwhelming positive result within all domains when comparing the two carts. There was mean difference ranging from 1.7 to 3.5 comparing when comparing the two carts to each domain. Conclusion: The results were so positive; all seven carts were changed to the same format. The overall impact of the new cart design saved time in both application and turnaround time in restocking.

RESEARCH ON THE INTENSITY ANALYSIS AND RESULT VISUALIZATION OF CONSTRUCTION LAND IN URBAN PLANNING

As a fundamental work of urban planning, the intensity analysis of construction land involves many repetitive data processing works that are prone to cause errors or data precision loss, and the lack of efficient methods and tools to visualizing the analysis results in current urban planning. In the research a portable tool is developed by using the Model Builder technique embedded in ArcGIS to provide automatic data processing and rapid result visualization for the works. A series of basic modules provided by ArcGIS are linked together to shape a whole data processing chain in the tool. Once the required data is imported, the analysis results and related maps and graphs including the intensity values and zoning map, the skyline analysis map etc. are produced automatically. Finally the tool is installation-free and can be dispatched quickly between planning teams.