Rapid Equipment-Free Nucleic Acid Extraction Using a Silica-Based Pipet Tip Column.

Nucleic acid extraction from clinical specimens is essential for accurate molecular diagnostic assays. However, conventional extraction methods are often slow, equipment-dependent, and require trained personnel, limiting the point-of-care applicability. We introduce a novel silica-based pipet tip column that enables rapid nucleic acid extraction from clinical samples in less than 3 min.

Lateral flow immunoassay using plasmonic scattering.

The lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is one of the most successful sensing platforms for real-world point-of-care (POC) testing. However, achieving PCR-level sensitivity without compromising the inherent advantages of LFIA, such as rapid and robust operation, affordability, and naked-eye detection, has remained a primary challenge. In this study, a plasmonic scattering-utilising LFIA was proposed, created by transparentising a nitrocellulose membrane and placing a light-absorbing backing card under the membrane.

Plasmonic Approach to Fluorescence Enhancement of Mesoporous Silica-Coated Gold Nanorods for Highly Sensitive Influenza A Virus Detection Using Lateral Flow Immunosensor.

Rapid diagnostic tests based on the lateral flow immunoassay (LFI) enable early identification of viral infection, owing to simple interpretation, short turnaround time, and timely isolation of patients to minimize viral transmission among communities. However, the LFI system requires improvement in the detection sensitivity to match the accuracy of nucleic acid amplification tests. Fluorescence-based LFIs are more sensitive and specific than absorption-based LFIs, but their performance is significantly affected by fundamental issues related to the quantum yield and photobleaching of fluorophores.

Direct Use of a Saliva-Collected Cotton Swab in Lateral Flow Immunoassay for the Detection of Cotinine.

The detection of salivary cotinine is useful for convenient smoking tests in spite of the high background effect of saliva. For precise results, the conventional salivary cotinine analysis for smoking detection requires complex pretreatment processes. Hence, in this study, we developed a modified paper-based lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA), termed "gap-LFIA", for the direct application of saliva collected using cotton swabs for on-site detection.

Enhancement of the catalytic activity of ferulic acid decarboxylase from Enterobacter sp. Px6-4 through random and site-directed mutagenesis.

The enzyme ferulic acid decarboxylase (FADase) from Enterobacter sp. Px6-4 catalyzes the decarboxylation reaction of lignin monomers and phenolic compounds such as p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and ferulic acid into their corresponding 4-vinyl derivatives, that is, 4-vinylphenol, 4-vinylcatechol, and 4-vinylguaiacol, respectively. Among various ferulic acid decarboxylase enzymes, we chose the FADase from Enterobacter sp.

National pertussis surveillance in South Korea 1955-2011: epidemiological and clinical trends.

Background: Although there has been substantial progress in controlling pertussis in South Korea, the reported number of pertussis case-patients has gradually been increasing during the last decade. To address this, we summarized the surveillance data on pertussis collected during the period 1955-2011. Detailed epidemiologic and clinical data were determined, primarily using data from recent years.