PATIENT PRESENTATION AND DIAGNOSIS: A 78-year-old female was referred to our department in April 2011 with shortness of breath. Clinical examination revealed bilateral limited crackles but no signs of finger clubbing. Lung function evaluation showed a percent predicted FVC of 78 and DLco of 67. The patient underwent HRCT imaging which showed cardinal features of a UIP pattern enabling a rapid d...

Bronchiectasis is a chronic lung disorder and a number of bacterial pathogens are involved. However, 30%-40% of sputum and purulent samples in good quality failed to grow any pathogenic bacteria, making it difficult to confirm the pathogen. In this study, we collected bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from a bronchiectasis patient undergoing acute exacerbation, and sent for 16S rDNA pyrosequencing b...

A colorimetric sensing strategy employing gold nanoparticles and a paper assay platform has been developed for tuberculosis diagnosis. Unmodified gold nanoparticles and single-stranded detection oligonucleotides are used to achieve rapid diagnosis without complicated and time-consuming thiolated or other surface-modified probe preparation processes. To eliminate the use of sophisticated equipme...

A multimodal multiphoton nonlinear optical (NLO) microspectroscopy imaging system was developed using a femtosecond laser and a photonic crystal fiber. Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microspectroscopy was combined with two-photon excitation fluorescence and second-harmonic generation microscopy in one platform and the system was applied to diagnose liver fibrosis. Normal and liver...

A global reemergence of human enterovirus 68 (EV-D68) associated with severe respiratory illness occurred in 2014. We developed and validated an EV-D68-specific real-time reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) for the detection of EV-D68 in respiratory samples. The rapid diagnosis of EV-D68 may contribute to better management of EV-D68 infections.

From CAD and Virtual Prototyping, there are already available many Rapid Prototyping (RP) techniques to produce physical, hand hold able parts. A brief overview is presented of some important aspects regarding how to get a good 3D solid model, how to transfer it to RP machines and how to produce quickly a physical prototype. The RP models could be used for different downstream applications. The...

We report the first case of a pregnant renal transplant patient with H1N1/09 infection. The woman showed a mild clinical course after diagnosis of H1N1/09 infection and therapy with oseltamivir (2 × 45 mg per day). After delivery by cesarean section, the neonate exhibited moderate respiratory and circulatory dysregulation, which spontaneously normalised a few days postpartum. In conclusion, rap...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Tuberculosis kills more people than any other infection. Despite advances in diagnostic methods and greater understanding of the reasons for treatment failure, tuberculosis remains common throughout Latin America. RECENT FINDINGS The impact of HIV and multidrug resistance on tuberculosis control has been enormous. HIV-positive patients may be at 10 times greater risk of mult...