On-site quantification of human urinary albumin by a fluorescence immunoassay.

In a SARS outbreak, a diagnostic laboratory might routinely receive hundreds of clinical samples each day for SARS diagnosis. The application of this LAMP test might help to reduce the running cost for SARS diagnosis. From a practical point of view, highly sensitive quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assays should be used to test samples collected from patients within the first week of illness. For samples collected from patients after the first week of disease onset, the LAMP assay might be an inexpensive and accurate alternative for SARS diagnosis. In conclusion, we report a simple LAMP assay for SARS diagnosis. We believe the inexpensive running costs of the assay make this technology very applicable to laboratories for SARS diagnosis in developing countries. The technique might have great potential to be used in field situations or at the bedside as a preliminary screening test. Regardless of the method used, testing in a suitably accredited laboratory is important, especially during an outbreak, when quality-assured diagnoses are essential. We expect that, with this rapid diagnostic method, prompt identification of this pathogen will facilitate control of the disease and provision of prompt treatment of patients. as a possible cause of severe acute respiratory syndrome. Identification of a novel coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome. progression and viral load in a community outbreak of coronavirus-associated SARS pneumonia: a prospective study. Use of loop-mediated isothermal amplification of the IS900 sequence for rapid detection of cultured Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. Rapid diagnosis of a coronavirus associated with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). of SARS coronavirus in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome by conventional and real-time quantitative reverse transcription-PCR assays. A one step quantitative RT-PCR for detection of SARS coronavirus with an internal control for PCR inhibitors. Real-time reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification for rapid detection of West Nile virus. Microalbuminuria (MAU), defined as a urinary albumin excretion of 30 –300 mg/day, indicates a high probability of renal damage and is an accepted predictor for the early diagnosis of nephropathy in diabetic patients (1, 2). In addition, MAU has diagnostic implications in pregnancy as a predictive marker of preeclampsia (3, 4) and may play a role in identifying high risk of developing complications from cardiovascular diseases even in nondiabetic patients (5–7). Dye-binding assays can measure serum albumin but are too insensitive for MAU testing, making immuno-chemical assays the most widely used MAU methods (8). These immunoassays include …