COVID-19: Rapid antigen detection for SARS-CoV-2 by lateral flow assay: A national systematic evaluation of sensitivity and specificity for mass-testing

Background Lateral flow device (LFD) viral antigen immunoassays have been developed around the world as diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection. They have been proposed to deliver an infrastructure-light, cost-economical solution giving results within half an hour. Methods LFDs were initially reviewed by a Department of Health and Social Care team, part of the UK government, from which 64 were selected for further evaluation from 1st August to 15th December 2020. Standardised laboratory evaluations, and for those that met the published criteria, field testing in the Falcon-C19 research study and UK pilots were performed (UK COVID-19 testing centres, hospital, schools, armed forces). Findings 4/64 LFDs so far have desirable performance characteristics (orient Gene, Deepblue, Abbott and Innova SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Qualitative Test). All these LFDs have a viral antigen detection of >90% at 100,000 RNA copies/ml. 8951 Innova LFD tests were performed with a kit failure rate of 5.6% (502/8951, 95% CI: 5.1–6.1), false positive rate of 0.32% (22/6954, 95% CI: 0.20–0.48). Viral antigen detection/sensitivity across the sampling cohort when performed by laboratory scientists was 78.8% (156/198, 95% CI 72.4–84.3). Interpretation Our results suggest LFDs have promising performance characteristics for mass population testing and can be used to identify infectious positive individuals. The Innova LFD shows good viral antigen detection/sensitivity with excellent specificity, although kit failure rates and the impact of training are potential issues. These results support the expanded evaluation of LFDs, and assessment of greater access to testing on COVID-19 transmission. Funding Department of Health and Social Care. University of Oxford. Public Health England Porton Down, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, National Institute of Health Research

New regime of Thomson scattering : Probing dense plasmas with X-ray lasers

In this paper we demonstrate through calculations and theoretical analysis the first application of a x-ray laser for probing hot, high-density plasmas ([MATH]) using a Ni-like transient collisional excitation x-ray laser as a probe. Theoretical predictions are used to diagnose the electron temperature in short pulse (500 fs) laser produced plasmas. The threshold power of the x-ray probe is estimated by comparing theoretical scattering levels with plasma thermal emission. The necessary spectral resolution of the instrument sufficient for resolving electron temperature is given

Spectroscopic investigations of hard x-ray emission from 120 ps laser-produced plasmas at intensities near 10{sup 17} W cm{sup {minus}2}

Spectroscopic investigations of the x-ray emission of plasmas heated by 120 ps, frequency doubled pulses from the JANUS Nd: glass laser are presented. High Z K-shell spectra emitted from slab targets heated to near 10{sup 17} W cm{sup {minus}2} intensity are investigated. High resolution ({gamma}/{Delta}{gamma}>5000) x-ray spectra of multicharged ions of H-like Ti, Co, Ni, Cu, and also H-like Sc in the spectral range 1.5--3.0 {angstrom} are obtained in single laser shots using a spherically bent Mica crystal spectrograph with a 186 mm radius of curvature. The spectra- have one dimensional spatial resolution of about 25{mu}m and indicate that the size of the emission zone of the resonance, transitions is 2 keV and density{approximately}10{sup 22} cm{sup {minus}3}. These experiments demonstrate that with modest laser energy, plasmas heated by high-intensity 120 ps lasers provide a very bright source of hard {approximately}8 keV x-ray emission

Inner-shell photoexcitation of Fe XV and Fe XVI

The configuration-interaction method as implemented in the computer code CIV3 is used to determine energy levels, electric dipole radiative transition wavelengths, oscillator strengths and transition probabilities for inner-shell excitation of transitions in Fe XV and Fe XVI. Specifically, transitions are considered of the type 1s22s22p63s2–1s22s22p53l3l′3l′′ (l, l′ and l′′= s, p or d) in Fe XV and 1s22s22p63s–1s22s22p53l3l′ (l and l′= s, p or d) in Fe XVI, using the relativistic Breit-Pauli approach. An assessment of the accuracy of the derived atomic data is performed