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Special Issue "Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings"

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A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Point-of-Care Diagnostics and Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2023 | Viewed by 2511

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Desmond Kuupiel

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Guest Editor

Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Interests: point-of-care testing; critical care nursing; public health; population and reproductive health; general nursing; implementation science

Dr. Paul K. Drain

E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor

Departments of Global Health, Medicine (Infectious Diseases), and Epidemiology, University of Washington, 325 Ninth Ave, UW Box 359927, Seattle, WA 98104, USA
Interests: HIV/AIDS; tuberculosis; point-of-care diagnostics; point-of-care testing; implementation science; global health; resource-limited settings
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Point-of-care diagnostics are crucial in healthcare, but proper use and implementation differ between settings. Emerging high-tech solutions are often either unaffordable or unfit for resource-constrained settings. Low-cost, portable, and user-friendly diagnostics are needed that can withstand high heat, humidity, and dust and are not dependent on a constant power supply. In addition, the diseases to be diagnosed can differ substantially from those in high-resource settings. Adapting existing equipment is often unfeasible or unsuccessful. A prerequisite for developing diagnostics suitable for low-resource settings is proper knowledge of the challenges and needs, which is often lacking in the technology industry. This Special Issue on “Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings” invites manuscripts on processes for designing and developing, evaluating, and implementing tailormade or adapted diagnostics in these demanding settings.

Dr. Desmond Kuupiel
Dr. Paul K. Drain
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

Open AccessArticle

A Scoring Method to Prioritize Fecal Occult Blood Testing as a First Step in Colorectal Cancer Screening in Resource-Limited Settings

Linda-Nicoleta Bărbulescu

Virginia-Maria Rădulescu

Stelian-Ștefăniță Mogoantă

Lucian-Florentin Bărbulescu

Constantin Kamal

Mirela Radu

and

Liana Cismaru

Diagnostics 2023, 13(15), 2556; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13152556 - 01 Aug 2023

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Abstract

This study aims to develop a scoring method that can be used by primary care physicians from remote areas or resource-limited settings to estimate the need for fecal occult blood testing (FOBT) as a first step in colorectal cancer screening. This method relies on several modifiable risk factors that can influence a positive FOBT, an indication of the presence of colorectal polyps, or even colorectal cancer. The scoring method considers, besides the age and gender of the patient, the body mass index (BMI), smoking status, and the diagnoses of diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes), dyslipidemia, and hypertension. It does not need any paraclinical exams, which is an advantage when access or material resources are limited. The retrospective study was spread over forty-three months, respectively, from October 2019 to April 2023, and included 112 patients. The score that we designed is a numerical value between 0 and 7. The values between 0 and 3 represent a smaller risk of a positive FOBT (9.68%), values 4 and 5 represent a medium risk (14.75%), while values 6 and 7 represent a greater risk (40%). Using this score, a physician can determine if a patient has a greater risk and recommend it to prioritize taking a FOB test. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings)

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Open AccessArticle

Preparing of Point-of-Care Reagents for Risk Assessment in the Elderly at Home by a Home-Visit Nurse and Verification of Their Analytical Accuracy

and

Diagnostics 2023, 13(14), 2407; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13142407 - 19 Jul 2023

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Abstract

With the rising number of older adults residing at home, there is a growing need for risk assessment and patient management in home nursing. This study aims to develop point-of-care test (POCT) reagents that can aid in risk assessment and home care, especially in settings with limited resources. Our focus was on creating a C-reactive protein (CRP) POCT, which can accurately diagnose clinically significant judgment values in home nursing. Additionally, we assessed the utility of the HemoCue WBC DIFF system in providing differential counts of white blood cells (WBC). These performances were compared with a laboratory test using blood samples from patients with pneumonia. The CRP POCT showed a comparable result to that of a laboratory method, with an average kappa index of 0.883. The leukocyte count showed good agreement with the reference method. While the correlation coefficients for both neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were deemed acceptable, it was observed that the measured values tended to be smaller in cases where the cell count was higher. This proportional error indicates a weak correlation with the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio. CRP POCT and WBC counts provided reliable and accurate judgments. These tools may benefit risk management for older adults at home, patients with dementia who cannot communicate, and those living in depopulated areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings)

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Open AccessArticle

Application of Hybridization Chain Reaction/CRISPR-Cas12a for the Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

Kate Obaayaa Sagoe

Mutinda Cleophas Kyama

Ernest Apondi Wandera

Davies Ndegwa

Dickson Mwenda Kinyua

and

Jesse Gitaka

Diagnostics 2023, 13(9), 1644; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13091644 - 07 May 2023

Viewed by 1374

Abstract

Globally, the emergence of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had a significant impact on life. The need for ongoing SARS-CoV-2 screening employing inexpensive and quick diagnostic approaches is undeniable, given the ongoing pandemic and variations in vaccine administration in resource-constrained regions. This study presents results as proof of concept to use hybridization chain reaction (HCR) and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas12a complex for detecting SARS-CoV-2. HCR hairpin probes were designed using the NUPACK web-based program and further used to amplify the SARS-CoV-2 N gene in archived nasopharyngeal samples. The results were visualized using agarose gels and CRISPR Cas12a-based lateral flow strips. The assay was evaluated using the gold standard, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). The results show the comparative efficiency of HCR to RT-PCR. This study shows that HCR and CRISPR are viable alternatives for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 in samples. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings)

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Special Issue "Point-of-Care Diagnostics (POCD) in Resource-Limited Settings"

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