Search

To evaluate the thyroid hormone levels and infection markers in COVID-19 patients and compare them to those in non-COVID-19 patients with infection in a large retrospective dataset.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect size of each parameter used in the first trimester Down syndrome (DS) risk analyses by using multiple regression analysis techniques.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is the most common type of anemia worldwide and has many adverse effects on life quality. This meta-analysis study aims to show that reticulocyte hemoglobin content (CHr) is more effective than routinely used parameters in the diagnosis of IDA. Methods: Comprehensive and systematic research was done using international databases including PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, and Google Scholar, which contain all articles published on IDA until December 29, 2020. Seventeen articles were included in the meta-analysis. Results: The analyses found the Cohen's deffect size (Standardized Mean Difference) values of the parameters. Accordingly, CHr is 2.84 (95% CI 2.36 to 3.31), mean corpus volume (MCV) is 2.46 (95% CI 1.97 to 2.95), ferritin is 2.37 (95% CI 1.63 to 3.11), and transferrin saturation (TSAT) is 3.76 (95% CI 2.14 to 5.38). To diagnose IDA, the sensitivity value of the CHr concentration was found as 83.5% (95% CI 76.1 to 89.8), specificity value to be 91.8% (95% CI 85.5 to 96.4), and mean cut-off value as 28.2 pg. Conclusions: The results of our study reveal the findings that CHr is a better biomarker than MCV and ferritin used in determining IDA, and its efficacy is lower than TSAT. It is very important to use it routinely for the pre-diagnosis of IDA, which is very important for public health. The groups in the study are heterogeneous but contain bias. Therefore, meta-analyses of studies with less heterogeneity of CHr are needed.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer among men and the fifth leading cause of cancer death. Circulating tumor cell (CTC) enumeration and characterisation in PCa has been shown to provide valuable information on prognosis of disease, therapy management and detection of resistance. Here, Cellsway's microfluidic platform for high-throughput enrichment of intact CTC populations was used to isolate CTCs from the blood of 20 localised PCa patients and 10 healthy donor samples to evaluate the clinical performance of the technology. To enumerate and characterise CTCs, a multi-parameter flow cytometry analysis was performed on the enriched CTC suspension using CTC-specific biomarkers. CTCs were detected in 17 of 20 patient samples, which corresponds to 85% CTC positivity. The median CTC count per 7.5 ml blood was 2 (1–9). In 80% of patients (n = 16), the number of CTCs ranged from 1 to 5, and in 5% of patients (n = 1) the number of CTCs was above 5. No CTCs were observed in the blood samples of 10 healthy volunteers, demonstrating the high specificity and low risk of false positives of the technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: 25 (OH) vitamin D3 (25(OH)D) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) are important regulators of calcium homeostasis. The aim of this study was to retrospectively determine the cut-off for sufficient 25(OH)D in a four-season region and the influence of age, seasons, and gender on serum 25(OH)D and PTH levels. Methods: Laboratory results of 9890 female and 2723 male individuals aged 38.8± 22.1 years who had simultaneous measurements of 25(OH)D and PTH were retrospectively analyzed by statistical softwares. Serum 25(OH)D and PTH levels were measured by a mass spectrometry method and by an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, respectively. Results: Mean serum 25(OH)D levels showed a sinusoidal fluctuation throughout the year and were significantly (p< 0.01) higher in summer and autumn. On the other hand, PTH levels were significantly higher (p< 0.01) in women and showed an opposite response to seasonal effects relative to 25(OH)D. Lowest levels of 25(OH)D were detected in people aged between 20 and 40 years whereas PTH hormone levels were gradually increasing in response to aging. The significant exponential inverse relationship that was found between PTH and 25(OH)D (PTH = exp(4.12-0.064*sqrt(25(O H )D )) (r= -0 .3 2 5 , Rsquared=0.105, p< 0.001)) suggested that the cut-off for sufficient 25(OH)D should be 75 nmol/L. Conclusions: Our retrospective study based on large data set supports the suitability of the currently accepted clinical cut-off of 75 nmol/L for sufficient 25(OH)D. However, the issue of assessing Vitamin D deficiency remains difficult due to seasonal variations in serum 25(OH)D. Therefore, PTH measurements should complement 25(OH)D results for diagnosing Vitamin D deficiency. It is imperative that seasonally different criteria should be considered in future.

Objectives: Ceruloplasmin (Cp), a plasma protein that acts as a copper transporter, plays a crucial role in the screening process for Wilson's disease. Measuring the serum Cp level serves as the initial step in this screening procedure. However, serum Cp reference limits can vary over age, sex, and using of different measurement methods. In reference interval (RIs) studies, the utilization of hospital data is considered an accepted approach, especially in situations where achieving strict standardization is challenging, such as in pediatric age group. Our study aimed to determine the RIs for Cp levels from 1 to 80 years of age using laboratory data, providing valuable guidance for clinicians and researchers in interpreting Cp test results across different age groups. Methods: Forty-seven thousand five hundred and fifty-six (47,544) Cp data points were collected between July 2010 and 2020 from Acıbadem Labmed Laboratories. To determine the RIs, both common RIs and sex-specific RIs were calculated using the Bhattacharya indirect method. Results: The RIs for serum Cp levels in children are as follows: 1-5 years: 23-48.2 mg/L, 5-10 years: 23-38.2 mg/L, and 10-15 years: 20.5-36.3 mg/L, respectively. For women, the RIs for serum Cp levels are as follows: 15-20 years: 19-33.5 mg/dL, 20-40 years: 19.6-36.8 mg/dL, 40-60 years: 20.4-42 mg/dL, and 60-80 years: 23.5-45 mg/dL, respectively. For male, the RIs for serum Cp levels are as follows: 15-20 years: 17.0-31.3 mg/dL, 20-40 years: 17.8-34.5 mg/dL, 40-60 years: 18.6-38.0, and 60-80 years: 23.0-40.5 mg/dL, respectively. Conclusion: This study has demonstrated a significant and independent association between age and gender concerning Cp concentrations. Although our methodology provided only approximate RIs for Cp, our results emphasize the significance of age adjustment when determining RIs. Taking age and gender into account is crucial for accurately establishing appropriate reference ranges for Cp in clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SD SB I sb estimate can be used with a prediction interval for unknown mean and known variance to derive the limits of the prRI, if in principle, only three previous test results are available, though the minimum recommended number is five. Keywords: biological variation; personalized medicine; reference intervals EN biological variation personalized medicine reference intervals 629 635 7 03/11/22 20220301 NES 220301 Introduction Using laboratory test results in the diagnosis and monitoring of an individual requires a reliable and relevant "reference" to which the test results can be compared. We have, therefore, recently proposed a model to calculate a reference interval (RI) for an individual, termed the personalized reference interval (prRI) [[2]]. Furthermore, the minimum number of test results required for prRI calculations and other requirements for implementing prRI in laboratory reports are discussed. [Extracted from the article]

Keywords: biological variation; patient safety; quality control; truncation limits EN biological variation patient safety quality control truncation limits e133 e136 4 03/13/21 20210401 NES 210401 To the Editor, Statistical process control is an inseparable part of the analytical phase within the total testing process. RIs can also be used as the TLs of the patient data; however, RIs are partitioned based on the age of the patients and their gender, therefore only representing a limited fraction of the patients' data. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: We compared the diagnostic values of individual and composite biomarkers used in the prediction of bacteremia in adult emergency department patients. Methodology: First-hour blood levels of C- reactive protein, procalcitonin, interleukin-6, lactate, lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and white blood cell count were collected from a 30-person control group and 47 adult patients. Patients included in this study were admitted to the emergency department on suspicion of sepsis. We categorized patients according to presence/absence of sepsis and bacteremia. Our control group was categorized as S-B -, septic patients with bacteremia were S+B+, and septic patients without bacteremia were S+B-. Results: All biomarkers showed a statistically significant elevation when S+B- and S+B+ groups were compared with the S-B-. When S+B+ group was compared with the S+B- group only procalcitonin and lactate levels had statistically significant elevation (p < 0.005). Regression analysis demonstrated that lactate and procalcitonin were independently associated with having bacteremia in the state of sepsis and Hosmer- Lemeshow score was 0.772. The areas under the curve (AUC) values of biomarkers procalcitonin, lactate, C-reactive protein, combined 1 (procalcitonin+ lactate), and combined 2 (procalcitonin + lactate + C-reactive protein) were 0.773, 0.744, 0.523, 0.806, and 0.829 respectively. Conclusions: Combination of tests such as combined 1 or combined 2 were highly predictive of bacteremia in adult septic patients. Combined 2 demonstrated the best predictive performance and could be utilized as a tool to assist diagnosis of bacteremia before culture results are available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diagnostic performance of reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) decreases during the late acute stage of the corona virus disease (COVID-19) infection; hence, serological assays can be used for disease diagnosis in patients non-protected through vaccinations at this stage. The objective of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody tests in current/past infections, determine proper testing time, and check the accuracy of cutoff values. In this study, 18 Ig (immunoglobulin) G, IgM, IgA, and total antibody serological assays were performed using 839 samples. Positive sera (n=132) were collected during the first 5 months after the patients were symptomatic and tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR test; they were grouped as 0-10, 10-15, >15 days according to the symptom onset. Negative sera (N=707) were obtained from patients with lupus before the pandemic. The performance of IgG and total antibody assays was better than those of IgA, IgM, and IgA-IgM for all post-symptom groups except for 0-10 days, which showed lower Ig assay sensitivity. During 10-15 and >15 days, >70% sensitivity to IgA, IgM, IgM-IgA assays and lower sensitivity were noted, respectively. The sensitivities of IgG and total antibody assays for group C were slightly lower than that of group B. There were no significant differences, but there were higher correlations between the methods or antigenic structures. Receiving operating characteristics (ROC) analysis revealed better cutoff values. For the diagnosis of late acute/past SARS-CoV-2 infection, serological tests can be performed on unvaccinated patients showing symptoms for ≥10 days. SARS-CoV-2 IgG and total antibodies were better diagnostic markers than IgM, IgA, and IgM+IgA, which were restricted to group B.