Author Interviews, COVID -19 Coronavirus / 26.07.2020
Sputum Sampling Most Sensitive For COVID, the Earlier the Better
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
[caption id="attachment_54955" align="alignleft" width="142"] Dr. Jonathan Li[/caption]
Jonathan Li, MD MMSc
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Division of Infectious Diseases
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: Why did you do this study?
Response: The accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 is critical for our patients in order to receive appropriate care, and for infection control and public health. In the US, the gold standard for COVID diagnosis is sampling through a nasopharyngeal swab (NP) but is that really the best way to diagnose COVID? As many of your viewers may have experienced first hand, nasopharyngeal swabs require inserting a long swab into the back of the nose, which is incredibly uncomfortable for the patient, technically-challenging for the health care worker, and requires equipment and reagents that are in short supply. There are also alternative sampling methods for COVID diagnosis.
In Asia, oropharyngeal sampling(OP), or swabbing the back of the mouth, are commonly used and in my hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we frequently test sputum as well for inpatients. But there’s a lot of confusion in the field about which of these methods is the most sensitive?
We undertook this study to try to bring some clarity to this question of what is the most sensitive way to diagnose COVID and detect SARS-CoV-2?
Dr. Jonathan Li[/caption]
Jonathan Li, MD MMSc
Assistant Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School
Division of Infectious Diseases
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
MedicalResearch.com: Why did you do this study?
Response: The accurate diagnosis of COVID-19 is critical for our patients in order to receive appropriate care, and for infection control and public health. In the US, the gold standard for COVID diagnosis is sampling through a nasopharyngeal swab (NP) but is that really the best way to diagnose COVID? As many of your viewers may have experienced first hand, nasopharyngeal swabs require inserting a long swab into the back of the nose, which is incredibly uncomfortable for the patient, technically-challenging for the health care worker, and requires equipment and reagents that are in short supply. There are also alternative sampling methods for COVID diagnosis.
In Asia, oropharyngeal sampling(OP), or swabbing the back of the mouth, are commonly used and in my hospital, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we frequently test sputum as well for inpatients. But there’s a lot of confusion in the field about which of these methods is the most sensitive?
We undertook this study to try to bring some clarity to this question of what is the most sensitive way to diagnose COVID and detect SARS-CoV-2?
Alyssa M. Thompson[/caption]
Alyssa M. Thompson is currently a 2nd year medical student at the UA-COM Tucson. She graduated from the University of Arizona, Summa Cum Laude in 2018 as the athletic department's Valedictorian with a degree in Physiology and an Entrepreneurship certificate. Her passion for research and dermatology stems from her innovative and integrative mindset with specific interest in inflammatory skin disease.
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Eczema is very common in children. Prescription medications are important for managing eczema flares, but a lot of the work in treating eczema is preventative, done by consistently moisturizing the skin at home with drug store products. Allergic contact dermatitis occurs more commonly in people with eczema. A previous study was done in characterizing the allergenic potential of drug-store moisturizers and found that 88% of moisturizers contain at least one common allergen. Many moisturizers are marketed specifically to eczema, but the allergen content of these products are unknown.
Dr. Schoch[/caption]
Jennifer Schoch, MD
Dr. Schoch is a pediatric dermatologist and
Associate Professor of Dermatology at the University of Florida.
Her research focuses on the infantile skin microbiome and its role in pediatric skin disease.
She is a member of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology.
[caption id="attachment_54942" align="alignleft" width="144"]
Dr. Shoichet[/caption]
Brian Shoichet, Professor
UCSF
http://www.bkslab.org/contact.php
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Excipients are ubiquitous in drug formulations. What most people consider "drugs" are formulations of active and "inactive" ingredients--the excipients. These "inactive" ingredients, which you can find on the label of all of the drugs you use, play crucial roles in drug stability, as antioxidants, as colorants to help patients distinguish among them, as anti-microbials to keep them from getting infected with bacteria, helping to make the soluble in the patient, among other functions.
They are considered "inactive" because they do not have observable toxicity in animal and sometimes histological studies, but few of them have been evaluated in a modern way. This would involve testing the excipients for activity on individual receptors and enzymes that are involved in biological responses, which is what happens for drugs. Doing this was the focus of this study
Dr. Perrett[/caption]
Kirsten P Perrett MD PhD
Group Leader/Clinician Scientist Fellow
Population Allergy Research Group and
Melbourne Children's Trial Centre
Murdoch Children's Research Institute
Rachel L Peters PhD
Murdoch Children’s Research Institute
Department of Paediatrics
The University of Melbourne
Parkville, Australia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Prof. Garnier[/caption]
Gil Garnier PhD
Director and Professor
Bioresource Processing Research Institute of Australia (BioPRIA)
PALS ARC Industry Transformation Research Hub
Department of Chemical Engineering
Monash University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: We wanted to develop a test that would be:
1) Reliable and fast to perform,
2) Easy and fast to manufacture,
3) Easy and fast to distribute and be adopted by the Health care community.
We also wanted to capitalize on our vast expertise and experience from developing novel blood typing tests. Our strategy was to develop a serology COVID test using the current Gel card technology available in most hospital and blood laboratories throughout the world. Equipment and expertise are already available from point of care setting to high throughput/automated systems measuring 100-200 test/ h. Also, these cards are currently produced by many companies all over and these can be shipped all international.
Dr. Green[/caption]
Dr. Todd Green
Vice President of Clinical Development and Medical Affairs
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: The PEOPLE study is an open-label extension of the Phase III PEPITES trial designed to evaluate the long-term safety, tolerability and efficacy of Viaskin Peanut 250 μg (DBV712). Participants who completed the 12-month study period of PEPITES were eligible to enroll in PEOPLE, which evaluates the eliciting dose (ED) after three years (Month 36) of active treatment using a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge (DBPCFC). 
Dr. Pasini[/caption]
Giacomo Pasini, PhD
Professor of Econometrics - Professore ordinario
Economics PhD program Director - Coordinatore dottorato in Economia
Rector's delegate for Cooperation and Development - Delegato alla Cooperzione per lo sviluppo
Economics Department - Dipartimento di Economia
Universita' Ca' Foscari - Venezia
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Kidney transplantation carries several advantages over dialysis treatment for patients with end-stage renal dis-ease (ESRD). Nevertheless, the disparity between the large number of transplant candidates and the scarcity of organs available continues to increase.
In order to close this gap selection criteria for donor appropriateness have been widened significantly in recent years to include older persons and those with co-morbidities that could potentially increase the risk of infectious disease transmission (the so-called Expanded Criteria Donors, ECD). The result of kidney transplantation from marginal donors is one of the most topical issues in the transplant literature.
Dr. Ghaffari[/caption]
Abdi Ghaffari, Ph.D.
Associate Professor (adjunct)
Dept. of Pathology and Molecular Medicine
Queen’s University
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: SARS-CoV-2 virus has infected millions and changed our way of life by placing nearly 3 billion people under lockdown or some form of physical isolation. In the absence of a vaccine or reliable treatment, diagnostic testing must be a pillar of public health policy to control further spread of the virus and to guide gradual removal of lockdown measures.
COVID-19 antibody diagnostic tests are being increasingly used to assess the protective immunity status in the population. There are over 100 different COVID-19 antibody tests developed by companies worldwide in an effort to address this need. However, companies’ reported performance data are not always in line with the actual performance of these diagnostic tests in the real-world. In this work, we conducted a systemic review of independent studies (sponsored by academic or government institutions) that aimed to validate the performance of currently available COVID-19 antibody tests on the market. 
Dr. Jensen[/caption]
Majken K. Jensen, Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor of Nutrition
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health &
Professor in the Department of Public Health
University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias are highly prevalent conditions. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 50 million people are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias worldwide. Lower apolipoprotein E in plasma is a risk factor for dementia, but the underlying biological mechanisms are not fully understood. Thus, we investigated the role of apolipoprotein E overall and in lipoproteins with distinct metabolic functions in relation to cognitive function and dementia risk..
Prof.l Tower[/caption]
John Gerard Tower
Professor of biological sciences
University of Southern California
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: Mifepristone is a synthetic steroid drug that is used in humans for birth control and as a treatment for Cushing’s disease, and is currently in clinical trials as an anti-cancer treatment.
We have previously shown that mifepristone dramatically increases the life span of mated female Drosophila flies.
Dr. Dixon[/caption]
Cinnamon A. Dixon, DO, MPH
Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Colorado School of Medicine
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Senior Investigator | Center for Global Health
Colorado School of Public Health
Aurora, CO
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this commentary?
Response: Dog bites are a long-standing public health problem. Each year there are approximately 4.5 million dog bites across the Unites States (US),1 and global estimates suggest tens of millions of these injuries worldwide.2 Children are the most vulnerable population with nearly 1 million annual dog bites in the US and more severe injury outcomes.1
National organizations espouse consistent strategies on how to prevent dog bites to children, however studies reveal that most children have never received dog bite prevention education.3,4 Furthermore, children lack critical knowledge of how to prevent dog bites in high-risk “resource guarding” situations (such as when a dog is eating or chewing on toys).4
During the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of US households are experiencing restrictions in activities. Children now spend more time in the home environment and presumably have increased exposure to their pet dogs. Parents and caregivers likely experience greater stress with more potential for competing interests and resultant decreased supervision of their children and dogs. Finally, pet dogs may be affected by the increased tension of their environment and be more likely to mirror the emotions of their human caregivers.
We hypothesized that these combined elements compound the risk of dog bites to children during the COVID-19 pandemic.
