No abstract

With an exponential rise in antimicrobial resistance and stagnant antibiotic development pipeline, there is, more than ever, a crucial need to optimize current infection therapy approaches. One of the most important stages in this process requires rapid and effective identification of pathogenic bacteria responsible for diseases. Current gold standard techniques of bacterial detection include culture methods, polymerase chain reactions, and immunoassays. However, their use is fraught with downsides with high turnaround time and low accuracy being the most prominent. This imposes great limitations on their eventual application as point-of-care devices. Over time, innovative detection techniques have been proposed and developed to curb these drawbacks. In this review, a systematic summary of a range of biosensing platforms is provided with a strong focus on technologies conferring high detection sensitivity and specificity. A thorough analysis is performed and the benefits and drawbacks of each type of biosensor are highlighted, the factors influencing their potential as point-of-care devices are discussed, and the authors' insights for their translation from proof-of-concept systems into commercial medical devices are provided.

Catatonia is a condition in which patients manifest with a complex of symptoms of behavioral and motor abnormalities. This condition can present with schizophrenia, bipolar, depression, and certain neurological illnesses. In this article, we analyze the coincidence of deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in schizophrenia with catatonia patients managed with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and the possible outcome of complications as an adverse event. The conclusion drawn from this traditional review reveals the importance of early diagnosis and treatment intervention of catatonia patients with ECT. No bleedingrelated complications occurred with the use of anticoagulants by catatonic patients managed with ECT and having underlying thrombosis. Literature also indicates that ECT can be safely administered for patients with distal deep venous thrombosis (DVT) treated with anticoagulants, while those with proximal DVT, ECT should be halted and anticoagulation treatment should be continued until the resolution of DVT to safely resume the ECT sessions. A possible alternative to ECT therapy for the patients with refractory schizophrenia with catatonia (who have safety concerns) is recombinant transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Nonetheless, more studies are needed to support our assertion.

No abstract

Pathological online gaming is a relatively newer psychiatric disorder. It is the second behavioral addiction (after internet gambling disorder) included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatric Disorders (DSM), 5 th edition as "Internet Gaming Disorder" (IGD). Recent research is showing high morbidity associated with IGD, thus encouraging researchers to find valid and reliable biomarkers of IGD. So that, early diagnosis and proper treatment could limit the high disability level accompanying excessive online gaming. As electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive and relatively easily available diagnostic technique, we aimed at collecting EEG studies that investigated EEG changes associated with IGD, with a specific focus on finding diagnostic and predictive neurophysiological biomarkers of IGD. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar for EEG studies of IGD. We eliminated those EEG studies that were not focused on finding biomarkers. Scale for the Assessment of Narrative Review Articles (SANRA) is followed in the writing of this review article. Our results showed that increased slow-wave resting-state activity and reduced P300 and N100 can serve as useful IGD diagnostic markers of IGD. Moreover, increased resting-state theta activity can be a predictive biomarker of IGD. Lastly, increased late low potentials (LLPs) can be specific trait markers of cue-induced cravings in IGD.