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Global Health & Medicine Dec 2021In Japan, HIV testing has been offered anonymously and free-of-charge at local public health centers, together with pre- and post-test counseling since 1993. Since then,...
In Japan, HIV testing has been offered anonymously and free-of-charge at local public health centers, together with pre- and post-test counseling since 1993. Since then, the number of HIV tests increased steadily to reach a peak in 2008 but has since decreased by 30% during the last decade. The number of tests further decreased in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and steeply by 50% this year compared with the previous year, mostly due to a shift in the workload at these centers to COVID-19-related services. To deal with this decline and thinking beyond the current pandemic, more options for HIV testing are needed, such as self-testing/postal delivery of dried blood spot specimen, a method that is yet to be approved in Japan, in addition to the conventional plasma/serum-based HIV testing.
PubMed: 35036615
DOI: 10.35772/ghm.2021.01103 -
Bioanalysis Feb 2019
Topics: Blood Specimen Collection; Doping in Sports; Dried Blood Spot Testing; Humans; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Substance Abuse Detection
PubMed: 30663332
DOI: 10.4155/bio-2018-0290 -
Bioanalysis Sep 2023A sensitive and selective method for the determination of PF-07059013 in dried blood collected by Mitra™ tips was developed and qualified from 50 to 50,000 ng/ml.... (Review)
Review
A sensitive and selective method for the determination of PF-07059013 in dried blood collected by Mitra™ tips was developed and qualified from 50 to 50,000 ng/ml. PF-07059013 is isolated from 10 μl of human dried blood by extraction with methanol and analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS. In addition to routine validation elements, impact of hematocrit and Mitra tip's lot-to-lot variation on assay accuracy were evaluated. The qualified method was used in one clinical study with excellent performance. Correlation coefficient between blood concentrations obtained from liquid-incurred blood samples and dried-incurred blood samples is 0.95. NCT04323124 (ClinicalTrials.gov).
Topics: Humans; Tandem Mass Spectrometry; Dried Blood Spot Testing; Specimen Handling; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Hematocrit
PubMed: 37584365
DOI: 10.4155/bio-2023-0066 -
Applied Microscopy May 2020Plant specimens for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are commonly treated using standard protocols. Conventional fixatives consist of toxic chemicals such as... (Review)
Review
Plant specimens for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are commonly treated using standard protocols. Conventional fixatives consist of toxic chemicals such as glutaraldehyde, paraformaldehyde, and osmium tetroxide. In 1996, methanol fixation was reported as a rapid alternative to the standard protocols. If specimens are immersed in methanol for 30 s or longer and critical-point dried, they appear to be comparable in preservation quality to those treated with the chemical fixatives. A modified version that consists of methanol fixation and ethanol dehydration was effective at preserving the tissue morphology and dimensions. These solvent-based fixation and dehydration protocols are regarded as rapid and simple alternatives to standard protocols for SEM of plants.
PubMed: 33580311
DOI: 10.1186/s42649-020-00028-5 -
Current Environmental Health Reports Sep 2020The advent of low-volume biosampling and novel biomarker matrices offers non- or minimally invasive approaches to sampling in children. These new technologies, combined... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE OF REVIEW
The advent of low-volume biosampling and novel biomarker matrices offers non- or minimally invasive approaches to sampling in children. These new technologies, combined with advancements in mass spectrometry that provide high sensitivity, robust measurements of low-concentration exposures, facilitate the application of untargeted metabolomics in children's exposome research. Here, we review emerging sampling technologies for alternative biomatrices-dried capillary blood, interstitial fluid, saliva, teeth, and hair-and highlight recent applications of these samplers to drive discovery in population-based exposure research.
RECENT FINDINGS
Biosampling and biomarker technologies demonstrate potential to directly measure exposures during key developmental time periods. While saliva is the most traditional of the reported biomatrices, each technology has key advantages and disadvantages. For example, hair and teeth provide retrospective analysis of past exposures, and dried capillary blood provides quantitative measurements of systemic exposures that can be more readily compared with traditional venous blood measurements. Importantly, all technologies can or have the potential to be used at home, increasing the convenience and parental support for children's biosampling. This review describes emerging sample collection technologies that hold promise for children's exposome studies. While applications in metabolomics are still limited, these novel matrices are poised to facilitate longitudinal exposome studies to discover key exposures and windows of susceptibility affecting children's health.
Topics: Biomarkers; Child; Child Health; Environmental Exposure; Exposome; Female; Humans; Male; Mass Spectrometry; Metabolomics; Research Design; Specimen Handling
PubMed: 32535858
DOI: 10.1007/s40572-020-00277-2 -
Pediatrics International : Official... Jan 2022Newborn screening of inborn errors of metabolism using tandem mass spectrometry has become a public health strategy in many developed countries. Retrospective analyses...
BACKGROUND
Newborn screening of inborn errors of metabolism using tandem mass spectrometry has become a public health strategy in many developed countries. Retrospective analyses using stored dried blood specimens have been limited, mainly due to a lack of biochemical information on the long-term stability of acylcarnitines and amino acids in stored specimens. We studied the characteristic profiles of the stability of amino acid, free carnitine, and acyl carnitines in dried blood specimens stored in a refrigerator after newborn screening.
METHODS
Dried blood specimens from 198 healthy newborns, which had been stored in a refrigerator at 5 °C after newborn screening, were prospectively subjected to tandem mass spectrometry analyses after 1, 3, 6 months, 1 and 2 years of storage. We also retrospectively re-analyzed the stored samples from 90 newborns, which had been analyzed and stored at 5 °C for 4 years.
RESULTS
We found that proline (Pro) and tyrosine (Tyr) were stable for 2 years, and that alanine (Ala), arginine (Arg), and phenylalanine (Phe) decayed with linear regression. The C0 increased during the time-course of 2 years, whereas most acylcarnitines gradually decayed and some showed a linear correlation. The retrospective analysis of samples stored for 4 years revealed that Ala, Phe, Pro and Tyr were almost stable, leucine (Leu), valine (Val) decayed with linear regression, C0 increased, and C10, C12, C14, C14:1, C16, C18, C18:1 decreased, while maintaining a linear correlation.
CONCLUSIONS
These data suggested that some metabolic parameters from refrigerator-stored dried blood specimens were applicable for the detection of inborn errors of metabolism.
Topics: Amino Acids; Carnitine; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Neonatal Screening; Retrospective Studies; Tandem Mass Spectrometry
PubMed: 34817917
DOI: 10.1111/ped.15072 -
Veterinary Research Communications Sep 2022Dried Blood Spots (DBS) technology has become a valuable tool in medical studies, however, in veterinary and biological research DBS technology applications are still... (Review)
Review
Dried Blood Spots (DBS) technology has become a valuable tool in medical studies, however, in veterinary and biological research DBS technology applications are still limited. Up-to-date no review has comprehensively integrated all the evidence existing across the fields, technologies and animal species. In this paper we summarize the current applications of DBS technology in the mentioned areas, and provide a scope of different types of dried sample carriers (cellulose and non-cellulose), sampling devices, applicable methods for analyte extraction and detection. Mammals, birds, insects and other species are represented as the study objects. Besides the blood, the review considers a variety of specimens, such as milk, saliva, tissue samples and others. The main applications of dried samples highlighted in the review include epidemiological surveys and monitoring for infections agents or specific antibodies for disease/vaccination control in households and wildlife. Besides the genetic investigations, the paper describes detection of environmental contaminants, pregnancy diagnosis and many other useful applications of animal dried samples. The paper also analyses dried sample stability and storage conditions for antibodies, viruses and other substances. Finally, recent developments and future research for DBS technology in veterinary medicine and biological sciences are discussed.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Wild; Mammals; Retrospective Studies; Technology
PubMed: 35771305
DOI: 10.1007/s11259-022-09957-w -
The American Journal of Tropical... Aug 2018There is increasing interest in using dried blood spot (DBS) cards to extend the reach of global health and disease surveillance programs to hard-to-reach populations.... (Review)
Review
There is increasing interest in using dried blood spot (DBS) cards to extend the reach of global health and disease surveillance programs to hard-to-reach populations. Conceptually, DBS offers a cost-effective solution for multiple use cases by simplifying logistics for collecting, preserving, and transporting blood specimens in settings with minimal infrastructure. This review describes methods to determine both the reliability of DBS-based bioanalysis for a defined use case and the optimal conditions that minimize pre-analytical sources of data variability. Examples by the newborn screening, drug development, and global health communities are provided in this review of published literature. Sources of variability are linked in most cases, emphasizing the importance of field-to-laboratory standard operating procedures that are evidence based and consider both stability and efficiency of recovery for a specified analyte in defining the type of DBS card, accessories, handling procedures, and storage conditions. Also included in this review are reports where DBS was determined to not be feasible because of technology limitations or physiological properties of a targeted analyte.
Topics: Diagnostic Tests, Routine; Dried Blood Spot Testing; Drug Development; Global Health; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Neonatal Screening; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Specimen Handling
PubMed: 29968557
DOI: 10.4269/ajtmh.17-0889 -
Botanical Studies Jul 2021Hedychium gardnerianum Sheph. ex Ker Gawl. is one of the 100 world's worst invasive alien species and the research target in areas as diverse as biological control,... (Review)
Review
Hedychium gardnerianum Sheph. ex Ker Gawl. is one of the 100 world's worst invasive alien species and the research target in areas as diverse as biological control, natural fibres uses, taxonomy or the biological activity of its compounds. This review aimed to clarify the taxonomic status and the native range of H. gardnerianum and bring accuracy to the history of its introduction and escape from cultivation through the analysis of the increasing number of accessible digitalized dry specimens and grey literature. The analysis of the available information allowed to conclude that: (a) Hedychium gardnerianum is a validly published name, the authority of the name is Sheph. ex Ker Gawl., the species holotype is the illustration published along with the species name, and the Natural History Museum BM000574691 specimen collected in 1815 is the first dried specimen of H. gardnerianum; (b) This species is native to the Central and Eastern Nepal, Bhutan, Northeast India and North Myanmar; (c) The species was cultivated at Cambridge Botanical Garden since 1818 and the first known herbarium specimen collected in Europe dates back to 1821; (d) Kathmandu (Nepal) and Khasi Hills (India) specimens are considered two varieties of the same species and the BM000574691 specimen is the lectotype of H. gardnerianum var. speciosum; (e) Specimens, references, and/or pictures support that H. gardnerianum escaped from cultivation at Galicia (Spain), Azores archipelago, Madeira, Tenerife, Cuba, Jamaica, Martinique, Trinidad, Ascension, Mexico, Honduras, Brazil, South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Réunion, Mauritius, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, and Vietnam; and (f) H. gardnerianum is a serious pest in Azores, Madeira, Jamaica, Réunion, New Zealand and Hawaii and continues to expand its distribution area in South and Central America, Australia and Southern Africa. This review presents linear raw information compiled with precision, allowing the world databases updating their data but also gives the most detailed information possible to each country/region identifying new regions of concern and updating the invasiveness status in each region.
PubMed: 34292423
DOI: 10.1186/s40529-021-00318-5 -
Frontiers in Microbiology 2020Blood collected and dried on a paper card - dried blood spot (DBS) - knows a growing interest as a sampling method that can be performed outside care facilities by... (Review)
Review
Blood collected and dried on a paper card - dried blood spot (DBS) - knows a growing interest as a sampling method that can be performed outside care facilities by capillary puncture, and transported in a simple and safe manner by mail. The benefits of this method for blood collection and transport has recently led the World Health Organization to recommend DBS for HIV and hepatitis B and C diagnosis. The clinical utility of DBS sampling to improve diagnostics and care of HIV and hepatitis B and C infection in hard to reach populations, key populations and people living in low-income settings was highlighted. Literature about usefulness of DBS specimens in the therapeutic cascade of care - screening, confirmation, quantification of nucleic acids, and resistance genotyping -, was reviewed. DBS samples are suitable for testing antibodies, antigens, or nucleic acids using most laboratory methods. Good sensibility and specificity have been reported for infant HIV diagnosis and diagnosis of hepatitis B and C. The performance of HIV RNA testing on DBS to identified virological failure on antiretroviral therapy is also high but not optimal because of the dilution of dried blood in the elution buffer, reducing the analytical sensitivity, and because of the contamination by intracellular HIV DNA. Standardized protocols are needed for inter-laboratory comparisons, and manufacturers should pursue regulatory approval for diagnostics using DBS specimens. Despite these limitations, DBS sampling is a clinically relevant tool to improve access to infectious disease diagnosis worldwide.
PubMed: 32210946
DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00373