In the lung, the airway epithelium
produces secreted and tethered
mucin biopolymers to form a mucus hydrogel layer and a surface-attached
polymer brush layer. These layers work in concert to facilitate the
cilia-mediated transport of mucus for the capture and clearance of
inhaled materials to prevent lung damage. The mechanisms by which
mucin biopolymers protect the lung from injury have been an intense
area of study in airway biology for the past several decades. In this
feature article, we will discuss how airway mucins achieve these protective
barrier functions. We will present the key findings, rooted in polymer
and surface science, that have aided in understanding mucin barrier
function. In addition, we will describe how this work may influence
the design of nanoparticles to overcome the mucus barrier to effective
drug delivery.
In response to the urgent need of a field-deployable and highly sensitive malaria diagnosis, we developed a standalone, “sample-in-answer-out” molecular diagnostic system (AnyMDx) to enable quantitative molecular analysis of blood-born malaria in low resource areas. The system consists of a durable battery-powered analyzer and a disposable microfluidic compact disc loaded with reagents ready for use. A low power thermal module and a novel fluorescence-sensing module are integrated into the analyzer for real-time monitoring of loop-mediated isothermal nucleic acid amplification (LAMP) of target parasite DNA. With 10 μL of raw blood sample, the AnyMDx system automates the nucleic acid sample preparation and subsequent LAMP and real-time detection. Under the laboratory conditions with whole-blood samples spiked with cultured Plasmodium falciparum, we achieved a detection limit of ∼0.6 parasites/μL, much lower than those for the conventional microscopy and rapid diagnostic tests (∼50-100 parasites/μL). The turnaround time from sample to answer is less than 40 minutes. The AnyMDx is user-friendly requiring minimal technological training. The analyzer and the disposable reagent compact discs are cost-effective, making AnyMDx a potential tool for malaria molecular diagnosis under field settings for malaria elimination.
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