Numerous cancer-associated deaths are owing to a lack of effective diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Microfluidic systems for analyzing a low volume of samples offer a precise, quick, and user-friendly technique for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Microfluidic devices can detect many cancer-diagnostic factors from biological fluids and also generate appropriate nanoparticles for drug delivery. Thus, microfluidics may be valuable in the cancer field due to its high sensitivity, high throughput, and low cost. In the present article, we aim to review recent achievements in the application of microfluidic systems for the diagnosis and treatment of various cancers. Although microfluidic platforms are not yet used in the clinic, they are expected to become the main technology for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Microfluidic systems are proving to be more sensitive and accurate for the detection of cancer biomarkers and therapeutic strategies than common assays. Microfluidic lab-on-a-chip platforms have shown remarkable potential in the designing of novel procedures for cancer detection, therapy, and disease follow-up as well as the development of new drug delivery systems for cancer treatment.

Background: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is often the cause of a wide broad of infections ranging from minor skin infections to serious infections such as toxic shock syndrome (TSS) in hospital and community settings. Toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) superantigen is the main cause of TSS. Objectives: The current study aimed to determine the frequency of MRSA carriage and TSST-1 virulence factor among high school students. Methods: A total of 400 nasal swab samples were randomly collected from male and female students of six different high schools in Tabriz, Iran. After confirmation of S. aureus strains by standard biochemical tests, the antibiotic sensitivity pattern of the isolates was determined by the disk diffusion method. The presence of mecA and TSST-1 genes was examined by PCR. Results: From 400 students, 15% (n = 60) were positive for S. aureus. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed using 12 antibiotic disks. Based on the results, 100% of the isolates were resistant to ampicillin while all of them were sensitive to vancomycin. Moreover, 18.34% of the S. aureus isolates were resistant to cefoxitin and 11.67% were resistant to oxacillin. The presence of the mecA gene was confirmed in 54.54% of the cases. These results indicated oxacillin-susceptible mecA-positive S. aureus (OS-MRSA) colonization among students. Based on the PCR results, only one of the MRSA isolates belonging to a female student was positive for the TSST-1 gene. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the spread of OS-MRSA among the healthy population in Tabriz, Northwest of Iran. Nevertheless, a combination of genetic and phenotypic tests is needed to accurately detect MRSA.