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This paper aims to review the potential application of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in diagnosis of dengue virus (DENV-2) E-protein and the development of SPR to become an alternative DENV sensor.

In this review, the existing standard laboratory techniques to diagnosis of DENV are discussed, together with their drawbacks. To overcome these drawbacks, SPR has been aimed to be a valuable optical biosensor for identification of antibodies to the DENV antigen. The review also includes the future studies on three-dimensional poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimer-surface-assembled monolayer (SAM)-Au multilayer thin films, which are envisaged to have high potential sensitive and selective detection ability toward target E-proteins.

Application of SPR in diagnosis of DENV emerged over recent years. A wide range of immobilized biorecognition molecules have been developed to combine with SPR as an effective sensor. The detection limit, sensitivity and selectivity of SPR sensing in DENV have been enhanced from time to time, until the present.

The main purpose of this review is to provide authors with up-to-date and useful information on sensing DENV using SPR and to introduce a novel three-dimensional PAMAM-SAM-Au multilayer thin films for future research on SPR sensing applications.

This study aims to estimate the overall SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and evaluate the accuracy of an antibody rapid test compared to a reference serological assay during a COVID-19 outbreak in a prison complex housing over 13,000 prisoners in Brasília.

The authors obtained a randomized, stratified representative sample of each prison unit and conducted a repeated serosurvey among prisoners between June and July 2020, using a lateral-flow immunochromatographic assay (LFIA). Samples were also retested using a chemiluminescence enzyme immunoassay (CLIA) to compare SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence and 21-days incidence, as well as to estimate the overall infection fatality rate (IFR) and determine the diagnostic accuracy of the LFIA test.

This study identified 485 eligible individuals and enrolled 460 participants. Baseline and 21-days follow-up seroprevalence were estimated at 52.0% (95% CI 44.9–59.0) and 56.7% (95% CI 48.2–65.3) with LFIA; and 80.7% (95% CI 74.1–87.3) and 81.1% (95% CI 74.4–87.8) with CLIA, with an overall IFR of 0.02%. There were 78.2% (95% CI 66.7–89.7) symptomatic individuals among the positive cases. Sensitivity and specificity of LFIA were estimated at 43.4% and 83.3% for IgM; 46.5% and 91.5% for IgG; and 59.1% and 77.3% for combined tests.

The authors found high seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies within the prison complex. The occurrence of asymptomatic infection highlights the importance of periodic mass testing in addition to case-finding of symptomatic individuals; however, the field performance of LFIA tests should be validated. This study recommends that vaccination strategies consider the inclusion of prisoners and prison staff in priority groups.

There are several infectious agents in the environment that can cause persistent infections in the host. They usually cause their symptoms shortly after first infection and later persist as silent viruses and bacteria within the body. However, these chronic infections may play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and Tourette's syndrome (TS). We investigated the distribution of different neurotrophic infectious agents in TS, schizophrenia and controls. A total of 93 individuals were included (schizophrenic patients, Tourette patients and controls). We evaluated antibodies against cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes-simplex virus (HSV), Epstein-Barr virus, Toxoplasma, Mycoplasma and Chlamydia trachomatis/pneumoniae. By comparing schizophrenia and TS, we found a higher prevalence of HSV (P=0.017) and CMV (P=0.017) antibodies in schizophrenic patients. Considering the relationship between schizophrenia, TS and healthy controls, we showed that there are associations for Chlamydia trachomatis (P=0.007), HSV (P=0.027) and CMV (P=0.029). When all measured viruses, bacteria and protozoa were combined, schizophrenic patients had a higher rate of antibodies to infectious agents than TS patients (P=0.049). Tourette and schizophrenic patients show a different vulnerability to infectious agents. Schizophrenic patients were found to have a higher susceptibility to viral infections than individuals with TS. This finding might point to a modification in special immune parameters in these diseases.

The paper is targeted to health service management teams as an aid to understanding the relationship between investment in process redesign in a clinical laboratory environment and improved quality of service/increased clinical activity.

An audit of the unit's serum screening capability was performed against the standards of the current UK allocation scheme for cadaveric kidneys. Based on findings of this audit the laboratory's serum screening protocol was redesigned involving development of a new testing strategy and introduction of novel methods. A concurrent review of the effects of this initiative in terms of cadaveric kidney offers received/transplant numbers was undertaken and a cost‐benefit analysis made.

An improved eligibility of the patient cohort for cadaveric kidney offers was obtained together with a reduced unexpected positive crossmatch rate. These factors have together contributed to an increase in transplant numbers at the centre. Significant cost benefits have been achieved

The relevance of the findings relating to patient eligibility for available cadaveric grafts is limited to organ‐sharing schemes in which recipient sensitisation is considered as part of the allocation process.

The experience reported demonstrates the necessity of assessing the clinical impact of changes in practice when judgements are being made regarding the costs of laboratory services. In this respect the paper is the first from within this discipline to make this association.

Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a public health threat whose significance in the UK has only been generally appreciated over the last 12–18 months. The size of the problem (both current and potential) is difficult to assess, but epidemiological data would suggest that for an urban health district (outside London) one or two residents would have developed Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in 1986, four will do so in 1987 and six in 1988. The incidence of HIV infections during the same period might be as high as 200, 400 and 600 respectively. This may seem a small number in comparison with overall morbidity and mortality; but between September 1990 and June 1991 the same health district might expect 48 AIDS cases to present if the epidemiological patterns remain constant (ie a doubling time for cases of 10 months).

Covid-19 has caused many businesses to rethink their short- and potentially long-term workforce operations. The use of lateral flow serology can provide a clinically convenient approach for the assessment of prior infection with Covid-19. However, its widespread adoption in organisations seeking to use it to test for workforce immunity is controversial and confusing. This paper aims to explore the paradoxical dilemmas and dialectics immunity workforce testing creates.

This study involved capturing the ethnographical participation of a chief executive officer (CEO) dealing with the experience of managing the outcomes of Covid-19 workforce immunity testing. The aim was to take a snapshot in time of the CEO's empirical world, capturing their lived experiences to explore how management actions resulting from Covid-19 immunity testing can played out.

Providing staff with immunity tests at first glance appears sensible, decent and a caring action to take. Nevertheless, once such knowledge is personalised by employees, they can, through dialectic dialogue, feel disadvantaged and harbour feelings of unfairness. Subsequently, this paper suggests that immunity testing may only serve to raise awareness and deepen the original management dilemma of whether testing is a worthwhile activity.

This paper aims to be amongst the first works to empirically explore the workforce management challenges that arise within small businesses within the service sector following the completion of Covid-19 immunity testing of their staff. It seeks to achieve this via utilising the robust theoretical framework of the paradox theory to examine Covid-19's impact upon small business workforce management thinking and practice.

This purpose of this study is to perfrom the analysis of COVID-19 with the help of blood samples. The blood samples used in the study consist of more than 100 features. So to process high dimensional data, feature reduction has been performed by using the genetic algorithm.

In this study, the authors will implement the genetic algorithm for the prediction of COVID-19 from the blood test sample. The sample contains records of around 5,644 patients with 111 attributes. The genetic algorithm such as relief with ant colony optimization algorithm will be used for dimensionality reduction approach.

The implementation of this study is done through python programming language and the performance evaluation of the model is done through various parameters such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and area under curve (AUC).

The implemented model has achieved an accuracy of 98.7%, sensitivity of 96.76%, specificity of 98.80% and AUC of 92%. The results have shown that the implemented algorithm has performed better than other states of the art algorithms.

Increased evidence for the health benefits of probiotics for health restoration coupled with the consumer's inclination towards a safe, natural and cost-effective substitute for drugs have led application of probiotics as a pharmaceutical agent and are rapidly moving in clinical usage. In this context, this article attempts to highlight the potential of probiotics as a pharmaceutical agent.

Endeavor has been made to explore the significance of probiotics for the modulation of gut ecology and their action. Potentiality of probiotics for their exploitation as a pharmaceutical agent has also been justified. Limitations of probiotic therapy and the various considerations for probiotic therapy have also been delineated.

Probiotic organisms influence the physiological and pathological process of the host by modifying the intestinal microbiota, thereby affecting human health. Beneficial effects of probiotics as a pharmaceutical agent seem to be strain and dose dependent and more efficacious with their early introduction. Combination of various probiotics proved to be more efficacious than single strain for exhibiting prophylactic activities.

Reviewed literature indicated that it is difficult to generalize for the beneficial effect of all probiotics for all types of diseases as efficacy of probiotics is strain-dependent and dose-dependent and its clinical application needs long-term investigations.

Clinical trials have displayed that probiotics may alleviate certain disorders or diseases in humans especially those related to gastro-intestinal tract.

Ingestion of fermented dairy products containing probiotic cultures may provide health benefits in certain clinical conditions such as antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, rotavirus-associated diarrhoea, inflammatory bowel disease, inflammatory bowel syndrome, allergenic diseases, cancer, Helicobacter pylori infection and lactose-intolerance. Application of probiotics as a pharmaceutical agent is recommended.

Human diet consists of an enormous variety of both plants and animal proteins, many of which are potentially immunogenic. Industrial processing of foods and digestion in the gastrointestinal tract causes changes and breakdown of proteins into peptides, which are also potential immunogens. Foods commonly known to cause allergic reactions are fish, milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, nuts, legumes and meat. Once sensitised to a particular antigen, subsequent exposure may result in a marked and immediate reaction characterised by vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal cramps, itching and swelling of the mouth and skin, dizziness and occasionally systemic anaphylaxis. Allergic reactions involve complex processes and interactions between the allergen and immunological components in the digestive tract such as antigen absorption, processing and presentation, T cell and B cell activation, development of oral tolerance or allergic sensitivity, antigen‐specific IgE antibody synthesis. Allergen binding to allergen‐specific mast cell membrane‐bound IgE antibodies triggers mast cell degranulation. This results in the release of histamine and other chemotactic mediators responsible for clinical symptoms.

This paper highlights defects in the UK measles control programme, and identifies possible reasons for this. The consequences of continuing low uptake rates are predicted on the basis of modelling theory. Proposals that could be implemented by district and regional health authorities are made.