PPE decontamination to overcome PPE shortage in rural area during pandemic.

Despite remarkable developments in healthcare, the world was not ready to stop the spread of the novel COVID-19 pandemic almost a century after the great influenza pandemic. The explosive increase in the number of patients stalled the healthcare system, and the first and apparent issue was the shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE). Our group established a system using a hydrogen peroxide vaporization method to decontaminate and reuse N95 respirators for healthcare workers. The system decontaminated over 12,000 units of PPE to cover institutions in West Texas. This service provided support at the most needed time during the pandemic.

Consideration of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases during Differential Diagnosis.

OBJECTIVE: Recognition and reporting of vector-borne and zoonotic disease (VBZD) cases is largely dependent upon the consideration of such diseases by healthcare practitioners during the initial diagnosis and ordering of specific confirmative diagnostic tests. This study was conducted to assess the general knowledge and understanding of VBZD transmission and clinical presentation. METHODS: Healthcare practitioners were surveyed to determine the extent of training and educational experiences they received relative to VBZDs, and their likelihood to consider such diseases during differential diagnoses. In addition, an assessment of their knowledge of arthropod species that may transmit VBZD pathogens was conducted. RESULTS: Having postprofessional school training relevant to VBZDs significantly influenced diagnostic accuracy for such disease cases based on the presented clinical signs and symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of VBZDs in the United States likely is significantly underestimated. The authors suggest the enhancement of VBZD-focused education as an important initiative that would significantly improve timely diagnosis, treatment, and, ultimately, prevention of these diseases.

Use of Humanized Mice to Study the Pathogenesis of Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases.

Animal models of disease have been used extensively by the research community for the past several decades to better understand the pathogenesis of different diseases and assess the efficacy and toxicity of different therapeutic agents. Retrospective analyses of numerous preclinical intervention studies using mouse models of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases reveal a generalized failure to translate promising interventions or therapeutics into clinically effective treatments in patients. Although several possible reasons have been suggested to account for this generalized failure to translate therapeutic efficacy from the laboratory bench to the patient's bedside, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the mouse immune system is substantially different from the human. Indeed, it is well known that >80 major differences exist between mouse and human immunology; all of which contribute to significant differences in immune system development, activation, and responses to challenges in innate and adaptive immunity. This inconvenient reality has prompted investigators to attempt to humanize the mouse immune system to address important human-specific questions that are impossible to study in patients. The successful long-term engraftment of human hematolymphoid cells in mice would provide investigators with a relatively inexpensive small animal model to study clinically relevant mechanisms and facilitate the evaluation of human-specific therapies in vivo. The discovery that targeted mutation of the IL-2 receptor common gamma chain in lymphopenic mice allows for the long-term engraftment of functional human immune cells has advanced greatly our ability to humanize the mouse immune system. The objective of this review is to present a brief overview of the recent advances that have been made in the development and use of humanized mice with special emphasis on autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. In addition, we discuss the use of these unique mouse models to define the human-specific immunopathological mechanisms responsible for the induction and perpetuation of chronic gut inflammation.