Use of LoopDeelab during the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Innovative Device for Field Diagnosis.

Rapid and accurate diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is essential for the management of the COVID-19 outbreak. RT-LAMP LoopDeetect COVID-19 (LoopDeescience, France) is a rapid molecular diagnostic tool which operates with the LoopDeelab (LoopDeescience, France) device. RAPID COVID is a prospective double-blind research protocol which was conducted to evaluate the concordance between Loopdeetect COVID-19 and RT-PCR Allplex 2019 n-Cov (Seegene, Korea). Between 11 May 2020 and 14 June 2021, a total of 1122 nasopharyngeal swab specimens were collected, of which 741 were finally analysed. There were 32 "positive" and "indeterminate" RT-PCR results. The intrinsic performances of Loopdeetect COVID-19 are equivalent to other commercial RT-LAMP PCR COVID-19 kits, with a sensitivity and specificity of 69.23% [CI 95%: 48.21-85.67] and 100% [CI 95%: 99.58-100.00], respectively. To the best of our knowledge, LoopDeelab is the only LAMP PCR diagnostic device allowing such a fast and reliable analysis with low-cost equipment; this makes it a new and innovative technology, designed for field use. This device being portable, the development of other detection kits will be useful for the management of epidemics with a high attack rate and would facilitate the rapid application of health measures.

Sex-dependent impact of Roundup on the rat gut microbiome.

A growing body of research suggests that dysbiosis of the gut microbiota induced by environmental pollutants, such as pesticides, could have a role in the development of metabolic disorders. We have examined the long-term effects of 3 doses of the Roundup(R) herbicide (made of glyphosate and formulants) on the gut microbiota in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 141 bacteria families were identified by a 16S sequencing analysis approach. An OPLS-DA analysis revealed an increased Bacteroidetes family S24-7 and a decreased Lactobacillaceae in 8 out of the 9 females treated with 3 different doses of R (n = 3, for each dose). These effects were confirmed by repetitive sequence-based PCR fingerprinting showing a clustering of treated females. A culture-based method showed that R had a direct effect on rat gut microbiota. Cultivable species showed different sensitivities to R, including the presence of a high tolerant or resistant strain identified as Escherichia coli by 16S rRNA sequencing. The high tolerance of this E. Coli strain was explained by the absence of the EPSPS gene (coding glyphosate target enzyme) as shown by DNA amplification. Overall, these gut microbiome disturbances showed a substantial overlap with those associated with liver dysfunction in other studies. In conclusion, we revealed that an environmental concentration of R (0.1 ppb) and other two concentrations (400 ppm and 5,000 ppm) have a sex-dependent impact on rat gut microbiome composition and thus warrants further investigation.

Laboratory Rodent Diets Contain Toxic Levels of Environmental Contaminants: Implications for Regulatory Tests.

The quality of diets in rodent feeding trials is crucial. We describe the contamination with environmental pollutants of 13 laboratory rodent diets from 5 continents. Measurements were performed using accredited methodologies. All diets were contaminated with pesticides (1-6 out of 262 measured), heavy metals (2-3 out of 4, mostly lead and cadmium), PCDD/Fs (1-13 out of 17) and PCBs (5-15 out of 18). Out of 22 GMOs tested for, Roundup-tolerant GMOs were the most frequently detected, constituting up to 48% of the diet. The main pesticide detected was Roundup, with residues of glyphosate and AMPA in 9 of the 13 diets, up to 370 ppb. The levels correlated with the amount of Roundup-tolerant GMOs. Toxic effects of these pollutants on liver, neurodevelopment, and reproduction are documented. The sum of the hazard quotients of the pollutants in the diets (an estimator of risk with a threshold of 1) varied from 15.8 to 40.5. Thus the chronic consumption of these diets can be considered at risk. Efforts toward safer diets will improve the reliability of toxicity tests in biomedical research and regulatory toxicology.