#Blood Test

[reasonsforhope]

"When bloodstream infections set in, fast treatment is crucial — but it can take several days to identify the bacteria responsible. A new, rapid-diagnosis sepsis test could cut down on the wait, reducing testing time from as much as a few days to about 13 hours by cutting out a lengthy blood culturing step, researchers report July 24 [2024] in Nature.

“They are pushing the limits of rapid diagnostics for bloodstream infections,” says Pak Kin Wong, a biomedical engineer at Penn State who was not involved in the research. “They are driving toward a direction that will dramatically improve the clinical management of bloodstream infections and sepsis.”

Sepsis — an immune system overreaction to an infection — is a life-threatening condition that strikes nearly 2 million people per year in the United States, killing more than 250,000 (SN: 5/18/08). The condition can also progress to septic shock, a steep drop in blood pressure that damages the kidneys, lungs, liver and other organs. It can be caused by a broad range of different bacteria, making species identification key for personalized treatment of each patient.

In conventional sepsis testing, the blood collected from the patient must first go through a daylong blood culturing step to grow more bacteria for detection. The sample then goes through a second culture for purification before undergoing testing to find the best treatment. During the two to three days required for testing, patients are placed on broad-spectrum antibiotics — a blunt tool designed to stave off a mystery infection that’s better treated by targeted antibiotics after figuring out the specific bacteria causing the infection.

Nanoengineer Tae Hyun Kim and colleagues found a way around the initial 24-hour blood culture.

The workaround starts by injecting a blood sample with nanoparticles decorated with a peptide designed to bind to a wide range of blood-borne pathogens. Magnets then pull out the nanoparticles, and the bound pathogens come with them. Those bacteria are sent directly to the pure culture. Thanks to this binding and sorting process, the bacteria can grow faster without extraneous components in the sample, like blood cells and the previously given broad-spectrum antibiotics, says Kim, of Seoul National University in South Korea.

Cutting out the initial blood culturing step also relies on a new imaging algorithm, Kim says. To test bacteria’s susceptibility to antibiotics, both are placed in the same environment, and scientists observe if and how the antibiotics stunt the bacteria’s growth or kill them. The team’s image detection algorithm can detect subtler changes than the human eye can. So it can identify the species and antibiotic susceptibility with far fewer bacteria cells than the conventional method, thereby reducing the need for long culture times to produce larger colonies.

Though the new method shows promise, Wong says, any new test carries a risk of false negatives, missing bacteria that are actually present in the bloodstream. That in turn can lead to not treating an active infection, and “undertreatment of bloodstream infection can be fatal,” he says. “While the classical blood culture technique is extremely slow, it is very effective in avoiding false negatives.”

Following their laboratory-based experiments, Kim and colleagues tested their new method clinically, running it in parallel with conventional sepsis testing on 190 hospital patients with suspected infections. The testing obtained a 100 percent match on correct bacterial species identification, the team reports. Though more clinical tests are needed, these accuracy results are encouraging so far, Kim says.

The team is continuing to refine their design in hopes of developing a fully automated sepsis blood test that can quickly produce results, even when hospital laboratories are closed overnight. “We really wanted to commercialize this and really make it happen so that we could make impacts to the patients,” Kim says."

-via Science News, July 24, 2024

[mindblowingscience]

The average glioblastoma patient survives 12-18 months after diagnosis. The crux of the diagnostic is a biochip that uses electrokinetic technology to detect biomarkers, or active Epidermal Growth Factor Receptors (EGFRs), which are overexpressed in certain cancers such as glioblastoma and found in extracellular vesicles. “Extracellular vesicles or exosomes are unique nanoparticles secreted by cells. They are big—10 to 50 times bigger than a molecule—and they have a weak charge. Our technology was specifically designed for these nanoparticles, using their features to our advantage,” says Hsueh-Chia Chang, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of Notre Dame and lead author of the study about the diagnostic published in Communications Biology.

Continue Reading.

[tomorrowusa]

I think that Biden should have accepted the drug test challenge – but with a major twist.

BOTH candidates should have their blood fully analyzed with the results made public.

I'd love to know what's flowing through Trump's bloodstream. Those 12 Diet Cokes® he drinks every day probably send his caffeine levels into the stratosphere. And given that Trump's White House Dr. Ronny Johnson Jackson freely distributed prescription drugs as if they were candy, it would be unusual if Trump himself had not been a recipient.

Trump’s White House Was ‘Awash in Speed’ — and Xanax

Trump bragged about his high testosterone level in an interview with Dr. Oz before he was elected. It would be enlightening to compare that 2016 level to 2024. If it's higher now, that's a sign that he's getting injections.

A Trump blood sample might also contain some interesting surprises. Trump's eating habits are even worse than those of the pre-vegan days of Bill Clinton. And Trump's father Fred had dementia for six years before he died.

Medical analysis may offer an explanation for Trump's wacky and disturbed rantings.

[pandemic-info]

Long Covid blood test shows differences in the immune system, research finds

The research is among the first to prove that "long Covid is, in fact, a biological illness," said David Putrino, principal investigator of the new study and a professor of rehabilitation and human performance at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

This will need to be investigated with more research, but at least it's something because, quite frankly, right now we don't have any blood tests" either to diagnose long Covid or help doctors understand why it's occurring, he said.

[megahorous]

Lammy has a blood test !

[chronicallyillandcoping]

A nurse once called my veins irritating and uncooperative and honestly she wansnt wrong they are difficult to draw blood from but i like to think they were extra difficult because she had a bad attitude. Like i dont know maybe if you were a little bit nicer to them theyd let you stab them.

[thehyperfixationcorner]

Health update: instead of being hospitalised the day before my biopsy, I'll just wake up early and go on Tuesday to have it. It involves another fucking blood test needle (yayyyy), plus a needle and maybe gas to give me partial anesthetic, but once I get through that I'm 66% done. As a needle fearing guy, it's not ideal for my mental health nor stress pains to undergo three in 10 days (not to mention the inevitable one during the operation probably) but I gotta get through this, so I will. But I'm not gonna be happy about it XD

[weireir]

Sonic and Shadow have different ways of reviewing blood test consent forms. 🩸

Sonic: “My gut tells me not to trust these tests. Words on paper don’t mean a thing when our blood is a goldmine.”

Shadow: “I think we need a professional human to help us understand the details.”

[patchworkblankie]

I’ve reorganised my sewing needles using spare blood tubes from the hospital! It is such a great way of storing needles because:

1. I can stab them into the rubber thingy at the top so they stay organised and I don’t need to tip them out into my hand (the rubber is thick enough that they don’t poke out the other side)

2. They stay sealed in the container with anti-moisture beads so that they don’t go rusty

3. I can colour-code the tube lids depending on what is in them

So next time you are in your local emergency department, ask one of the doctors or nurses if you can steal some spare blood tubes!

[1-800-daylon]

doodles

[astrosky33]

K guysss just got my blood drawn my doctor literally had me get tested for EVERYTHING so they took A LOT of blood and I passed out and threw up 😃

Hopefully I am ok though and nothing is wrong except the anemia

[smallest-sunbeam]

Just had a phonecall with doctor 😅 hate talking on the phone & couldn’t get my words out at one point & got really embarrassed… at least it’s over now! Got referred for a blood test next week 😬

[mindblowingscience]

In a study in the journal Science Advances, the researchers validated the accuracy of the blood test that identifies key biomarkers of osteoarthritis. They showed that it predicted development of the disease, as well as its progression, which was demonstrated in their earlier work. The research advances the utility of a blood test that would be superior to current diagnostic tools that often don’t identify the disease until it has caused structural damage to the joint.

Continue Reading.

[willowreader]

COVID has disabled so many with this condition. I had no idea there was a blood test to diagnose CFS.

[franksinatraisdead]

controlled / terra cotta, syringe & needle

© jonah brock 2023

[alberta-sunrise]

So today I got seriously freaked out!

Had my blood drawn… drove home… had a conversation with my neighbour… then about 3 minutes after I walked through my front door, I suddenly felt seriously unwell.

Like… I called 111 unwell (UK Non emergency number)

I felt sick, dizzy and my face went numb. It was really fuckin’ scary. Its taken me almost all day just to feel remotely myself again. After speaking to a medical buddy, they recon it was a ‘vasovagal response’

Basically my blood pressure dropped. Just from them drawing 4 vials of blood.

Like wtf?? I guess my body hates me 😪