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Management of substances that possess high potential for abuse requires a comprehensive understanding of the temporal effects of a corresponding volume of intake. Cannabis is deemed as one of the most widely used drugs in the United States and studies related to the primary psychoactive compound present in it, Δ-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), have revealed that it causes adverse health effects. In this study, we present a field-deployable electrochemical sensing system that can detect THC at the 5 ng mL−1 cut-off level with a dynamic range of 0.1–100 ng mL−1 in human saliva. Considering the complexity of the human saliva matrix, the specificity study demonstrated selectivity towards THC with minimum interactions with ethanol and cannabidiol (CBD). Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) has been implemented to visualize and validate the capture probe as a means for THC detection. A robust, compatible binary classifier model has been shown in this work to effectively group samples into THC+ (high) and THC− (low) groups from human saliva with an accuracy greater than 90% considering a limited dataset. Hence, we demonstrate the potential of an innovative end-to-end system to effectively regulate cannabis use and prevent substance abuse in our surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing upon extant data from existing pediatric cohorts and new follow-up of a diverse set of pediatric cohorts from across the United States, the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program creates the opportunity for novel and innovative investigations of many previously inaccessible scientific questions in the area of child health. We describe how the large sample size, diversity of participants, emphasis on team science, and infrastructure for improving research methodology make the ECHO Program a major research resource for improving our understanding of early life determinants of childhood health and well-being. Pediatric researchers leverage the unique features of the ECHO Program to address research questions with the potential to yield far-reaching and long-term impacts on child health. IMPACT: The ECHO Program unites pediatric cohorts from across the United States, allowing for investigations of compelling research questions that were previously infeasible due to limited sample sizes or lack of participant diversity. The focus of the ECHO Program on team science, solution-oriented research, and methodological innovation propels novel scientific investigations that are responsive to the needs of a wide range of stakeholders. Features of the ECHO program's infrastructure poise its investigators to rapidly launch research endeavors that are responsive to time-sensitive and critical needs within the realm of pediatric research., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

The US National Institutes of Health-funded Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program brings together 69 cohorts and over 57,000 children from across the nation to address five key pediatric outcome areas with high public health impact: pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes; upper and lower airway health; obesity; neurodevelopment; and positive health. We describe (1) the ECHO Program infrastructure that was designed to facilitate collaboration across over 1200 investigators and support the development of a cohort-wide data collection protocol and (2) the many challenges that were overcome in rapidly launching this large-scale program. Guided by a commitment to transparency, team science, and end user stakeholder engagement, ECHO successfully launched a unified study protocol and is working across disciplines to generate high-impact, solution-oriented research to improve children's lives for generations to come. IMPACT: Many children in the United States experience chronic health conditions or do not reach their developmental potential. The Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program brings together 69 existing cohort studies comprising over 57,000 children to identify modifiable aspects of the early environment associated with pediatric outcomes with high public health impact: pre-, peri-, and postnatal outcomes; upper and lower airway health; obesity; neurodevelopment; and positive health. We describe the collaborative, team science-informed approach by which over 1200 investigators convened to form the ECHO Program and foster solution-oriented research to improve the health of children for generations to come., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to the International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

Impact: Institutional racism exists within Academic Pediatrics within the United States, and it affects our work as researchers, clinicians, and educators. Confronting institutional racism is a challenging life-long struggle for people of all races, but it should be part of the professional mission of all who work in Pediatrics. Creating a path to health equity for children in the United States will involve failure. We should not be daunted by that prospect., (© 2020. International Pediatric Research Foundation, Inc.)

Here we describe an industry-wide collaboration aimed at assessing the binding properties of a comprehensive panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1), an important checkpoint protein in cancer immunotherapy and validated therapeutic target, with well over thirty unique mAbs either in clinical development or market-approved in the United States, the European Union or China. The binding kinetics of the PD-1/mAb interactions were measured by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) using a Carterra LSA instrument and the results were compared to data collected on a Biacore 8K. The effect of chip type on the SPR-derived binding rate constants and affinities were explored and the results compared with solution affinities from Meso Scale Discovery (MSD) and Kinetic Exclusion Assay (KinExA) experiments. When using flat chip types, the LSA and 8K platforms yielded near-identical kinetic rate and affinity constants that matched solution phase values more closely than those produced on 3D-hydrogels. Of the anti-PD-1 mAbs tested, which included a portion of those known to be in clinical development or approved, the affinities spanned from single digit picomolar to nearly 425 nM, challenging the dynamic range of our methods. The LSA instrument was also used to perform epitope binning and ligand competition studies which revealed over ten unique competitive binding profiles within this group of mAbs., Competing Interests: MEB, AL, MV, SD, IW-M, LZ, JHN, IB, IC, HL, MS, TS, JB and YX are past or present employees and/or shareholders of Adimab LLC. DB and YNA are currently employed at Carterra. PR is currently an employee at Amgen and a shareholder of Amgen. These commercial affiliations do not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. Adimab collaborated in the discovery of, and filed patents on, sintilimab approved for marketing in China, an analog of which (mAb21) was included in this study.

Histamine is known to be a principal causative agent associated with marine food poisoning outbreaks worldwide, which is typically formed in the contaminated food by decarboxylation of histidine by bacterial histidine decarboxylase. Upon quantification of histamine in different food products, one can comment on the quality of the food and use it as an indicator of the good manufacturing practices and the state of preservation. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established 50 ppm (50 mg/kg) of histamine as the chemical index for fish spoilage. Consumption of foods containing histamine higher than the permissible limit can cause serious health issues. Several methods have been developed for the determination of histamine in a variety of food products. The conventional methods for histamine detection such as thin layer chromatography, capillary zone electrophoresis, gas chromatography, colorimetry, fluorimetry, ion mobility spectrometry, high-performance liquid chromatography, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), are being used for sensitive and selective detection of histamine. However, there are a number of disadvantages associated with the conventional techniques, such as multi-step sample processing and requirement of expensive sophisticated instruments, which restrict their applications at laboratory level only. In order to address the limitations associated with the traditional methods, new approaches have been developed by various research groups. Current advances in nanomaterial-based sensing of histamine in different food products have shown significant measurement accuracy due to their high sensitivity, specificity, field deployability, cost and ease of operation. In this review, we have discussed the development of nanomaterials-based histamine sensing assays/strategies where the detection is based on optical (fluorescence, surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), localized surface plasmon resonance) and electrochemical (impedimetric, voltammetry, potentiometric, etc.). Further, the advantages, disadvantages and future scope of the nanomaterials-based histamine sensor research are highlighted., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The article reports that U.S. researchers have devised a new type of sensor called a plasmonic optical-antenna fiber probe. It can perform in situ chemical and biological detection and surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS). The researchers from Harvard University connect one end of the probe to both a spectrometer and a light source while the other end is inserted into a fluid or biological specimen.