COVID-19 and respiratory tract viral co-infections: Choosing the screening method

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Control of Clinical Laboratory Errors by FMEA Model

Patient safety is an aim for clinical applications and is a fundamental principle of healthcare and quality management. The main global health organizations have incorporated patient safety in their review of work practices. The data provided by the medical laboratories have a direct impact on patient safety and a fault in any of processes such as strategic, operational and support, could affect it. To provide appreciate and reliable data to the physicians, it is important to emphasize the need to design risk management plan in the laboratory. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) is an efficient technique for error detection and reduction. Technical Committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) licensed a technical specification for medical laboratories suggesting FMEA as a method for prospective risk analysis of high-risk processes. FMEA model helps to identify quality failures, their effects and risks with their reduction/elimination, which depends on severity, probability and detection. Applying FMEA in clinical approaches can lead to a significant reduction of the risk priority number (RPN)

Impacts of Bacillus subtilis JQ61816 on lipid panel and expression of genes involved in cholesterol metabolism in hypercholesterolemic rats

Hypercholesterolemia is one of the major risk factors associated with the emergence and development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and atherosclerosis. The hypocholesterolemic effects of probiotics have been indicated by numerous studies. The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) and cytochrome P450 7A1 or cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) are two important genes in choletsterol metabolism. In this study, the effects of Bacillus subtilis JQ61816 on lipid panel, hepatic enzymes and expression levels of HMGCR and CYP7A1 were investigated. Twenty-one male Wistar rats were randomly allotted to 3 experimental groups; a) negative control group (ND) fed with normal diet, b) high-fat diet group (HFD) fed with high cholesterol diet, and c) probiotic group (BS) fed with high cholesterol diet supplemented with probiotic B. subtilis. Serum analysis of treatment groups was performed to measure fasting blood sugar (FBS), lipid profile parameters, hepatic enzymes, urea, and uric acid. Our results showed that B. subtilis could reduce the level of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and LDL and it also could increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL) level. Moreover, alanine transaminase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), and uric acid were significantly lower in BS group compare to HFD group. Furthermore, up-regulation of HMGCR and down-regulation of CYP7A1 were observed in BS group. The results of our study suggest that consumption of probiotic B. subtilis JQ61816 may prevent or decline the development of hypercholesterolemia and other cardiovascular diseases

Detecting of biofilm formation in the clinical isolates of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli: an evaluation of different screening methods

Biofilm producer bacteria cause nosocomial, chronic, and recurrent human infections. It is hard to treat biofilm-embedded bacteria because they are more resistant to antimicrobials than planktonic bacteria. The present study aimed to investigate different methods for detecting biofilms in the clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The study was carried out at the Department of Microbiology, Ardabil Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ardabil, Iran, from January 2019 to June 2019. A total of 320 clinical samples were collected from educational and medical centers in Tehran, Iran which from them 100 isolates of E. coli and P. aeruginosa were identified by standard microbiological procedures and subjected to biofilm detection methods. Biofilm detection was tested by Congo red agar (CRA), tube method (TM), microtiter plate assay (MTPA). The MTPA was considered to be superior to CRA and tube TM. From the total of 100 clinical isolates, MTPA detected 38 (38%) isolates as biofilm-positive phenotype, of which 30 as strong, and 8 as moderate biofilm-forming isolates. It can be concluded from the current study that the MTPA is a more quantitative and dependable assay for the detection of biofilm-forming microorganisms as compared to other methods, and it can be recommended as a general screening method for the detection of biofilm-producing bacteria in laboratories

CIRED Workshop -Lisbon MU UL LT TI IO OB BJ JE EC CT TI IV VE E O OP PT TI IM MI IZ ZA AT TI IO ON N

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A multicenter study of severity and prognosis of symptomatic COVID‐19 in end‐stage renal disease and non‐dialysis patients in East of Iran

Abstract Objectives This study aimed to assess the severity and related factors of symptomatic COVID‐19 in end‐stage renal disease (ESRD) patients from several centers in Eastern Iran. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, after obtaining ethical approval, 410 patients diagnosed with COVID‐19 were included for analysis. Patients were categorized into two groups based on their dialysis status: the dialysis group (ESRD patients undergoing hemodialysis) and the non‐dialysis group (those without chronic dialysis). Demographic information, clinical symptoms, laboratory tests at admission, length of hospitalization, ICU admission, need for mechanical ventilation, and mortality data were extracted from their medical records and entered into researcher‐developed checklists. Results In this multicenter study, 104 dialysis patients with a mean age of 64.81 ± 16.04 were compared to 316 non‐dialysis patients with a mean age of 60.92 ± 17.89. Patients were similar in terms of age and gender, but a higher percentage of the dialysis group was aged over 65 years (p = .008). Altered consciousness, dyspnea, headache, myalgia, anorexia, and cough were statistically significantly more common in the dialysis group when evaluating clinical symptoms (p < .05). The dialysis group had significantly higher levels of white blood cell (WBC), potassium, calcium, urea, creatinine, blood pH, INR, ALT, ESR, and CRP, and lower levels of red blood cell, Hb, platelets, sodium, and LDH compared to the non‐dialysis group. Profoundly altered consciousness was more common among deceased patients (p < .001), and this group had higher WBC counts, urea levels, AST, ALT (p < .05), and lower blood pH (p = .001). Conclusion Based on the results of this study, it is plausible to suggest a hypothesis of greater severity and worse prognosis of COVID‐19 in ESRD patients. Underlying comorbidities, such as liver disorders or more severe clinical symptoms like altered consciousness, may also be indicative of a worse prognosis in dialysis patients with COVID‐19

A comprehensive review of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (nCOVID-19) characteristics, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention

The outbreak of a pandemic that began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 with the new coronavirus 2019 (nCOVID-19) or severe acute coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) syndrome has created a dangerous and deadly public health issue worldwide. The number of infected cases and mortality continued to rise, and many countries have been forced to adhere to social distancing and quarantine. Epidemiological studies have shown that elderly patients with underlying diseases are more prone to severe forms of the disease, while young people and children have milder symptoms. This study looks at some of the challenges in diagnosing, preventing, and treating coronavirus disease 2019 based on virus features