The need for the early identification of SARS-CoV-2 has let to a quest reliable tests that meet standards polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, on one hand, and are low-cost, easy-to-use, fast, other hand. One such test is Lucira™ Check It COVID-19 Test kit (“Lucira”) (Lucira Health, Inc., Emeryville, CA, USA), which utilizes real-time loop-mediated isothermal amplification technology, developed at-home use. This study evaluated clinical sensitivity specificity Lucira in identifying virus...

The gold standard diagnostic method for gastrointestinal infections is stool culture, which has limited sensitivity and long turnaround time. Infection diagnosis recently shifted to syndrome-based panel assays. This study employed the FilmArray® Gastrointestinal Panel, detects 22 pathogens simultaneously, investigate infection pathogen distribution in 91 samples of patients hospitalized at Tzafon Medical Center, Israel, during 2020, compare clinical demographic data negative vs. positive...

Background: Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a major nosocomial disease. The characteristics of different strains, the disease severity they cause, their susceptibility to antibiotics, and changes inflict on gut microbiome, have not been comprehensively studied in Israel. Methods: A score was calculated for 70 patients. Stool samples were tested toxins presence using special kit. Bacteria isolated, identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time flight (MALDI-TOF)...

Abstract Background One main challenge in Helicobacter pylori ( H. ) eradication is its increasing antibiotic resistance. Additionally, resistance rates vary between geographic areas and periods. However, data are limited since susceptibility testing not routinely performed. Thus, it valuable to gather regarding pylori's Israel that would aid better adjustment of treatment. Materials Methods The study included 540 isolates, recovered from gastric biopsy samples patients who had undergone...

Infectious diseases are one of the world's leading causes morbidity. Their rapid spread emphasizes need for accurate and fast diagnostic methods large-scale screening. Here, we describe a robust method detection pathogens based on microscale thermophoresis (MST). The involves hybridization fluorescently labeled DNA probe to target RNA, assessment thermophoretic migration resulting complex in solution within 2-30 second time window. We found that nucleic acid-based probes is primarily...

Abstract C.coli is a significant cause of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide, with the majority cases attributed to C.jejuni. Although most clinical laboratories do not typically conduct antimicrobial susceptibility testing for , rise in resistant strains has underscored necessity such and epidemiological surveillance. The current study presents isolate characteristics demographics 221 patients ( coli jejuni ) infections Northern Israel, between 2015 2021. Clinical demographic data were...

IntroductionTests for detection of influenza must demonstrate high sensitivity and specificity, affordability, rapidness.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the performance LabOn-Time™ Influenza A + B Rapid test device (BMT Diagnostics, Ltd), as compared Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), in identifying A/B among 183 nasopharyngeal samples collected between February April 2023 from patients with Influenza-like symptoms.ResultsOut 70 participants a positive RT-PCR result, 53 (75.7...

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of fast, sensitive, and efficient methods to test large populations for respiratory viruses. "gold standard" molecular assays detecting viruses, such as quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR), rely on invasive swab samples require time-consuming labor-intensive extraction processes. Moreover, turnaround time RT-qPCR-based is too lengthy rapid screening. Extraction-free saliva-based provide a...

Background The prevalence of community-acquired Clostridioides difficile infection (CA-CDI) has been rising, due to changes in antibiotics prescribing practices, emergence hypervirulent strains and improved diagnostics. This study explored CA-CDI epidemiology by examining strain diversity virulence factors isolates collected across several geographical regions Israel. Methods Stool samples 126 patients were subjected PCR an immunoassay identify toxin genes proteins, respectively. Toxin loci...

In recent years, associations between specific virulence markers of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and gastrointestinal disorders have been suggested.To investigate the presence factors including vacuolating cytotoxin A genotypes (s1m1, s1m2, s2m1, s2m2), cytotoxin-associated gene (CagA), urease activity in H. strains isolated from Arab Jewish populations northern Israel to assess these patients' demographics clinical outcomes.Patients (n = 108) who underwent gastroscopy at Baruch Padeh...

The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the inability of diagnostic laboratories' testing capacity to keep up with surging demand. primary reasons were lack reagents (e.g., viral transport media and nucleic acid extraction kits) low throughput gold-standard molecular detection method (RT-qPCR). While reagent shortages eventually resolved, limited RT-qPCR remains a bottleneck for high-throughput applications even today. Here, we introduce rapid saliva-based extraction-free assay, which utilizes...

This cross-sectional study aimed to compare oral manifestations between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive and SARS-CoV-2-negative patients examine associations symptoms, Ct values of E N SARS-CoV-2 viral genes, the implications low indicating a high load, which is predictive factor for outcome COVID-19.

This study aimed to evaluate the attitudes of Israeli elderly population towards COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, assess factors contributing these attitudes. Four-hundred one participants exhibiting symptoms consistent with or were enrolled filled out a questionnaire. A second questionnaire was for hospitalized patients at discharge. Nasopharyngeal samples collected detected presence by reverse transcription PCR. Participants divided into 3 groups according their attitude vaccine-...

Abstract Background In recent years, the global incidence of Clostridioides difficile infection has increased dramatically, with emergence hyper-virulent strains. The characteristics different strains, severity disease they cause, their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents, and changes inflict on gut microbiome, have not yet been comprehensively studied. Results Using Multilocus Sequencing Typing (MLST) analysis, sequence types (STs) 70 clinical isolates were determined. most frequent...

Rapid, highly sensitive, and high-throughput detection of biomarkers at low concentrations is invaluable for early diagnosis various diseases. In many sensitive immunoassays the protocol time consuming requires a complicated expensive system. Here, we demonstrate optical modulation biosensing (ht-OMB) system, which enables reading 96-well plate within 10 minutes. Using to detect human Interleukin-8, demonstrated limit 0.14 ng/L 4-log dynamic range. Testing 94 RNA extracts from 36 confirmed...