BRAIN INJURY IN INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE

Approximately 1/3 of adult women have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), and the prevalence, severity, and frequency of IPV has been exacerbated during COVID-19 and the related lockdowns. Among the many challenges faced by IPV survivors, the physical assaults result in brain injury in the large majority of IPV survivors. Yet the nature of this brain damage and how it contributes to function has been remarkably understudied. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is common in the general population and repetitive mTBI is gaining specific recognition. Survivors of IPV typically do not seek medical attention and may suffer subsequent mTBIs in the midst of recovery. It cannot be assumed that mTBI from IPV is equivocal to those that have been studied in athletics and the military in terms of debilitating and persisting neurological issues. Unique aspects of mTBI in IPV survivors include being highly repetitive and often coupled with other injuries, involving strangulationrelated trauma and elevated risk during pregnancy, and critically, typically remaining untreated in the acute setting. The poor understanding of the consequences and burden of brain injury in IPV is amajor knowledge gap that is imperative to address if we are to improve the care and outcomes for IPV survivors. The proposed symposium, which consists of a diverse and balanced group of junior and senior scientists, will feature recent findings from clinical and preclinical studies that provide insight into the epidemiology, functional and pathological consequences, biomarkers, and treatments of IPV-related brain injury.

MICROFLUIDIC DIAGNOSTIC AND POINT OF CARE DETECTION SYSTEM FOR SARS-COV-2 FROM SALIVA

We present a nucleic acid-based point-of-care diagnostic for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 from saliva using an additively manufactured microfluidic cartridge. The assay uses reverse transcriptase loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on-cartridge in a point-of-care optical detection system based on a smartphone. We show positive results within the 10-30 minutes range and integrated biological controls on the cartridge. We demonstrate the microfluidic diagnostic with human patient samples, with results that are consistent with the off-cartridge validation. © 2021 MicroTAS 2021 - 25th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences. All rights reserved.