The objective of this study was to assess the length of time service users were prepared to wait for chlamydia and gonorrhoea (CT/GC) near-patient/point-of-care test (NP-POCT) results and to determine the possible effect on management. Individuals attending two UK clinics from November 2013 to February 2014 were surveyed asking the maximum length of time they would wait for CT/GC NP-POCT results after consultation. Linked CT/GC prevalence and treatment rates were analysed. A total of 1817 participants were surveyed, and 1356 provided CT/GC NAAT samples, in which it was found that 115 (8.5%) could wait over 90 minutes in clinic for their result. 115 received treatment at consultation, of which 50 were CT/GC negative and 12 were treated for urethritis or cervicitis; 38 attended as CT/GC contacts. Six of this population would have waited over 90 minutes were NP-POCTs available. A total of 129 tested CT/GC positive, of whom 65 were treated at their consultation, 61 at a later date, and three were untreated. Twelve of these 129 patients would also have waited over 90 minutes for a NP-POCT result. We conclude that 90-minute NP-POCTs are not acceptable to most clinic attendees and would not have impacted on treatment rates or inappropriate prescribing, and 20-minute NP-POCTs show a marginal benefit in treating CT/GC. While NP-POCTs for CT/GC are promising, they must meet client expectations and enhance disease management in order to be accepted by patients and clinicians.
Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, which is observed in children who have been exposed to alcohol in utero, is a leading cause of neurodevelopmental disability. Studies in rodents have shown that prenatal ethanol exposure results in decreased blood flow from the umbilical artery to the fetal brain, compromising neuron formation and angiogenesis in the maturing brain. Ethanol (EtOH) has shown to disrupt coronary artery formation in the embryonic zebrafish, but the effects of ethanol on the developing cerebral blood vessels and neurogenesis in zebrafish larvae remains poorly understood. We exposed zebrafish larvae to 1.5% ethanol at 4 hours post fertilization (hpf) for 24 hours and imaged the brain at 72 hpf. We used Tg(fli1:EGFP) to image cerebral blood vessels and Tg(ETvmat2:GFP) to visualize monoaminergic neurons using confocal microscopy. Morphological data collected at 72hpf depicted significantly higher rates of craniofacial deformities, pericardial edema, and severe axial malformations in 1.5% EtOH‐treated embryos in comparison to control. Our preliminary results suggest that EtOH at 1.5% leads to reduced number of cranial vessels and altered vessel branching, and decreased density of telencephalic and hindbrain neurons. These findings lead to questions regarding molecular and vascular disparities in affected regions of the developing brain.
Support or Funding Information
I am currently seeking for funds (nonmember student registration fee) for our undergraduate students to attend and present this poster at the conference.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.