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This mini review presents the standard methods for the analytical identification of virus species. These methods have been trusted and known as accredited methods. The development of new and improved analytical techniques is important to overcome the lack and the drawbacks of the well-known methods. Due to the uncertain and unprecedented time of pandemic, new approaches with high performance in the analysis are needed to retain the required and growing diagnostic tools complementary to real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for COVID-19 diagnosis. The researchers are still developing direct methods for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in a short turnaround time. The process of analytical validation is an important part of experimentation that is needed for the developed methods to be trusted. This review presents the major standard, commercial and designed methods for detecting SARS-CoV-2 and their analytical performance. Also, chromatographic techniques have been introduced as a rapid examination for SARS-CoV-2 identification, and the newly developed assays have been addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tricaine (TMS) is usually used as an anesthetic in the transportation of aquatic animals. However, when consumed, the numerous residual drug residues found in fish can cause a high risk to human health. Therefore, it is important to develop a rapid and sensitive method for the detection of this drug in food. Here we have developed a novel lateral-flow immunochromatographic strip (LF-ICS) method for the detection of TMS in fish samples, using a very effective anti-TMS monoclonal antibody with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration value of 31.79 ng/mL. After the K2CO3 and coating antigen concentrations were optimized in phosphate buffered saline (pH 7.4), the LF-ICS was used to determine TMS levels in fish samples spiked with varying concentrations of the drug. Following this, the values for the visual limit of detection and the cut-off for TMS were found to be less than 0.1 and 1 μg/mL, respectively. These results indicated that our developed LF-ICS is applicable for on-site screening of TMS in fish samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recent studies suggest that celiac disease (CD) is common in many developing countries. Because the disease may be under diagnosed in Cuba, we studied the presence of the disease in a group of apparently healthy adult. Aims/hypothesis: It was to assess for the first time, the presence of silent CD in a cohort of healthy Cuban adults individuals and to evaluate the tools for diagnosis of CD in this group. Methods: A total of 200 healthy Cuban adult from Havana City were evaluated. Tissue transglutaminase antibodies (tTGA) were determined by one-step immunochromatographic assay and by commercial ELISA kit. CD specific human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing was performed by polymerase chain reaction amplification, using sequence-specific primers. In the subject positive for tTGA, the CD was confirmed by intestinal biopsy. Results: From the 200 studied individuals, only one subject was identified as positive by both assays, being submitted to duodenal biopsy. Morphological changes consistent with CD were found and also supported by HLA-DQ2 ( HLA-DQA1*0501-DQB1*02). In the follow-up after one year, histological recovery was assessed by a second intestinal biopsy and the serological marker became negative. Conclusions: This study confirms the existence of silent CD among healthy adult in Cuba and highlights the importance of mass screening for this disease among them. The one-step immunochromatographic assay is a good tool for this purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]