Evaluation of antigen based rapid diagnostic test in comparison to RT PCR in diagnosis of Sars CoV2 with respect to duration of illness and Ct value of corresponding RT PCR

Background: SARS-CoV-2 is the third highly pathogenic corona virus introduced into mankind after Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in twenty-first century for which the development and validation of rapid and easy-to-perform diagnostic methods are of high priority. Objective: In this study we evaluated performance characteristics of RAT, the STANDARD Q COVID19 Ag by SD-Biosensor for rapid detection of SARS CoV 2. Material and methods: Samples were collected from 1168 patients and we performed both RAT and RT PCR and the results of RAT were compared with that of RT PCR as gold standard. Result: Detection rates of SARS CoV-2 by RAT and RT-PCR were 19.17% and 29.53%, respectively; false positivity rate was 2.67%.False positive and false negative rate was 2.6% and 13.45% respectively.RAT sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive values were 63.18%, 99.27%, 97.32% and 86.54% respectively. Statistical analysis considered the calculation of sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value using standard formulae. Conclusion: A high sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and fairly high negative predictive value of RAT might prove to be promising in situations where pre-test probability of having infection is high

Patients' preference for integrating homeopathy (PPIH) within the standard therapy settings in West Bengal, India: The part 1 (PPIH-1) study

There is lack of studies assessing the preference of Indian patients for integration of homeopathy into standard therapy settings. The objectives of this study were to examine the knowledge, attitudes, and practice of homeopathy among Indian patients already availing homeopathy treatment and its integration into mainstream healthcare. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among adult patients attending the out-patients of the four government homeopathic hospitals in West Bengal, India. A self-administered 24-items questionnaire in local vernacular Bengali was developed and administered to the patients. A total of 1352 patients' responses were included in the current analysis. 40% patients thought that homeopathic medicines can be used along with standard therapy. 32.5% thought that homeopathic medicines might cause side effects, while only 13.3% believed that those might interact with other medications. Patients' knowledge ranged between 25.1 and 76.5% regarding regulations of practicing and safety of homeopathic medicine in India and abroad; while positive attitude towards the same ranged between 25.4 and 88.5%. 88.6% of the patients had favorable attitude toward integrated services. 68.2% of the patients used homeopathic medicines in any acute or chronic illness for themselves and 76.6% for their children. Preference for integrated services was significantly associated with better knowledge (P = 0.002), positive attitudes toward safety and regulations (P < 0.0001), and integration (P < 0.0001), but not with the level of practice (P = 0.515). A favorable attitude toward integrating homeopathy into conventional healthcare settings was obtained among the patients attending the homeopathic hospitals in West Bengal, India

International Large Detector: Interim Design Report

The ILD detector is proposed for an electron-positron collider with collision centre-of-mass energies from 90~\GeV~to about 1~\TeV. It has been developed over the last 10 years by an international team of scientists with the goal to design and eventually propose a fully integrated detector, primarily for the International Linear Collider, ILC. In this report the fundamental ideas and concepts behind the ILD detector are discussed and the technologies needed for the realisation of the detector are reviewed. The document starts with a short review of the science goals of the ILC, and how the goals can be achieved today with the detector technologies at hand. After a discussion of the ILC and the environment in which the experiment will take place, the detector is described in more detail, including the status of the development of the technologies foreseen for each subdetector. The integration of the different sub-systems into an integrated detector is discussed, as is the interface between the detector and the collider. This is followed by a concise summary of the benchmarking which has been performed in order to find an optimal balance between performance and cost. To the end the costing methodology used by ILD is presented, and an updated cost estimate for the detector is presented. The report closes with a summary of the current status and of planned future actions