Dipping my toes into quantum computing 🌊 — circuits, gates, superposition. Still very much a beginner, but hands-on experiments with qiskit + R’s reticulate made it click a little more. Baby steps!
🧬 Back to basics! Learning non-polar amino acids, what zwitterions actually are, and dipping into the applied math — Rodrigues rotation and Lennard-Jones potential. Slowly building toward optimal phi/psi!
Exploring the CovR/S two-component system in Group A Strep 🧫 — from genome annotation with #Bakta & #BaktFold, to #AlphaFold confidence metrics, and a first attempt at protein docking with #Haddock3. Learning as we go! 🙌
A note to myself on survival analysis — KM curves, log-rank tests & Cox models 🧮 If I wrote it the way I understood it, maybe I’ll actually remember it 🤞
#rstats
Lyme borreliosis testing among facial palsy patients in Ohio remains low despite rising statewide incidence, 2022–2024. Provider awareness and seasonality matter. #idsky #medsky
🕷️🦠 A rare and potentially more severe form of #LymeDisease has been identified in New York, expanding awareness of #tick-borne #infections in the region.
#Microbiology #PublicHealth #Infection #Microsky #NewYork via @nbcnews.com
Facial palsy is one of many manifestations of Lyme borreliosis. Data from our 3- year retrospective descriptive cohort quality improvement study sugge…
🧫⚗️ Scientists found that #antibiotic effectiveness can change depending on body #pH conditions, influencing how #bacteria survive and respond to treatment.
#Antibiotics #AMR #Bacteria #Microbiology #AntimicrobialResistance via @sciencex.bsky.social
Ken Koon Wong
Tongue swabs (3.8% yield) nearly matched sputum tests (4.1%) in TB diagnosis among 1639 people; 100% gave swabs vs 84.7% sputum. Non-inferior, aids testing where sputum hard. 🦷🦠
Ken Koon Wong
Excited to share an article that I've long awaited to share seeking to answer: What is the right dose of cephalexin/cefadroxil for SSTIs?
We reviewed clinical studies & conducted PTA sims to elucidate this #IDSky @absteward.bsky.social
accpjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Crazy facts in MMWR:
“one in 7 patients with Legionnaires disease report having stayed overnight in a hotel or vacation rental property; among those, approximately one half report having used a hot tub”
#IDSky
www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes...
Microbes.Info
Dipping my toes into quantum computing 🌊 — circuits, gates, superposition. Still very much a beginner, but hands-on experiments with qiskit + R's reticulate made it click a little more. Baby steps!
🧬 Back to basics! Learning non-polar amino acids, what zwitterions actually are, and dipping into the applied math — Rodrigues rotation and Lennard-Jones potential. Slowly building toward optimal phi/...
www.kenkoonwong.com
Exploring the CovR/S two-component system in Group A Strep 🧫 — from genome annotation with Bakta & BaktFold, to AlphaFold confidence metrics, and a first attempt at protein docking with Haddock3. Lear...
www.kenkoonwong.com
A note to myself on survival analysis — KM curves, log-rank tests & Cox models 🧮 If I wrote it the way I understood it, maybe I'll actually remember it 🤞
The bacteria, which can cause more severe symptoms, have only been detected in the upper Midwest.
www.nbcnews.com
Optimal cephalexin and cefadroxil dosing for skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) is unclear. We summarize clinical and pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) data that compare dosing strategies ...
When researchers test whether an antibiotic will work, they usually do so in a controlled laboratory environment. But when an infection happens inside the human body, things aren't so clean and tidy.…
Tongue swabs are a promising alternative specimen for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis. Although test specificity exceeds 98%, sensitivity is lower than sputum-based molecular testing. We investigated whether the use of tongue swabs could increase sample availability, resulting in similar diagnostic yield.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study (July 2024–January 2025), we screened consecutive people with presumptive TB at health centers in the Philippines, Vietnam, Uganda, and Zambia. Participants were asked to provide tongue swabs and referred for routine sputum collection. Tongue swabs were tested in research laboratories using the MiniDock MTB Test (Guangzhou Pluslife Biotech Co., Ltd., China); sputum was tested using WHO-recommended molecular testing per national guidelines. We compared diagnostic yield, defined as proportion of positive test results among all participants, between tongue swab- and sputum-based molecular testing with a prespecified 3.0% non-inferiority margin.ResultsOf 1639 participants, 851 (51.9%) were female, 415 (25.3%) were diagnosed with HIV, and 132 (8.1%) were children <5 years. All provided tongue swabs, but only 1389 (84.7%) produced sputum. Diagnostic yield was 3.8% (63/1639) for tongue swabs and 4.1% (68/1639) for sputum-based (68/1639, 4.1%) molecular testing. The difference (0.3%, 95% CI −0.6 to +1.2) was within the prespecified non-inferiority margin. Results were consistent across countries and key subgroups (age, sex, and HIV status).ConclusionsTongue swab-based molecular testing with MiniDock MTB achieved non-inferior diagnostic yield compared with sputum-based molecular testing. These findings support scale-up of swab-based platforms as a cost-efficient alternative, particularly where sputum collection is challenging or smear microscopy remains the primary diagnostic method.
