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Anti-dsDNA, anti-Sm, and anti-ribosomal-P autoantibodies are hallmarks of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), being anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm included in 2019-ACR/EULAR SLE-Classification Criteria. Enzyme-linked (ELISA) and chemiluminescence assays (CIA) are widely established in immunology laboratories, but new technologies, such as particle-based multi-analyte technology (PMAT), are nowadays available. The present study aimed to compare the presence of anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm autoantibodies measured by CIA and PMAT and analyze diagnostic and clinical SLE activity performance. Anti-ribosomal-P autoantibodies by PMAT were also included. Consequently, anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm detected by CIA showed substantial agreement with PMAT (Cohen's kappa = 0.662 and 0.671, respectively). Anti-dsDNA autoantibodies measured by PMAT showed a positive correlation with clinical SLEDAI-2K (p

Bone age assessments measure the growth and development of children and adolescents by evaluating their skeletal maturity, which is influenced by various factors like heredity, ethnicity, culture, and nutrition. The clinical standards for this assessment should be up to date and appropriate for the specific population being studied. This study validates the GP-Canary Atlas for accurately predicting bone age by analyzing posteroanterior left hand and wrist radiographs of healthy children (80 females and 134 males) from the Canary Islands across various developmental stages and genders. We found strong intra-rater reliability among all three raters, with Raters 1 and 2 indicating very high consistency (intra-class coefficients = 0.990 to 0.996) and Rater 3 displaying slightly lower but still strong reliability (intra-class coefficients = 0.921 to 0.976). The inter-rater agreement was excellent between Raters 1 and 2 but significantly lower between Rater 3 and the other two raters, with intra-class coefficients of 0.408 and 0.463 for Rater 1 and 0.327 and 0.509 for Rater 2. The accuracy analysis revealed a substantial underestimation of bone age compared to chronological age for preschool- (mean difference = 17.036 months; p < 0.001) and school-age males (mean difference = 13.298 months; p < 0.001). However, this was not observed in females, where the mean difference was minimal (3.949 months; p < 0.239). In contrast, the Atlas showed greater accuracy for teenagers, showing only a slight overestimation (mean difference = 3.159 months; p = 0.823). In conclusion, the GP-Canary Atlas demonstrates overall precision but requires caution as it underestimates the BA in preschool children and overestimates it in school-age girls and adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectivePatients with COVID-19 presented with an elevated prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) but the relationship with thrombosis is controversial. We analysed the persistence of aPL and their association with the clinical outcomes during hospitalisation in a cohort of COVID-19 patients.Patients and MethodsWe conducted a prospective study including consecutive hospitalised patients with COVID-19 from Hospital Clínic of Barcelona between March 28th and April 22nd, 2020. Clinical outcomes during hospitalisation were thrombosis, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and severe ventilatory failure. We determined both criteria and non-criteria aPL. Of note, in those patients with a positive result in the first determination, a second sample separated by at least 12 weeks was drawn to test the persistence of aPL.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-eight patients (59.5% men) with a mean age of 61.4 ± 14.9 years old were included. Thrombosis was present in 28 (17.7%) patients, severe respiratory failure in 47 (30.5%), and 30 (18.9%) patients were admitted to ICU. Sixteen (28.6%) patients were positive for the criteria aPL at both determinations and only two (3.6%) of them suffered from thrombosis during hospitalisations (both had aCL IgG). However, they presented with low titers of aCL. Of note, aPL were not related to thrombosis, ICU admission or severe respiratory failure.ConclusionAlthough aPL were prevalent in our cohort of hospitalised COVID-19 patients and they were persistent in half of tested patients, most determinations were at low titers and they were not related to worse clinical outcomes.

Background: M2-type anti-mitochondrial autoantibodies are considered the hallmark of primary biliary cholangitis and are directed mainly against the E2 subunits of the 2-oxo acid dehydrogenase complex enzymes (PDC, BCOADC and OGDC). The aim of this study was to determine whether a Dot-blot that includes these E2 subunits separately could confirm the results of methods with non-separated subunits in patients with low positive or discordant results between techniques. Methods: Sera of 24 patients with low positive or discordant results and of 10 patients with clear positive results by non-separated subunits methods were analyzed by Dot-blot with separated subunits. Results: Autoantibodies against E2 subunits of PDC, BCOADC or OGDC were detected in all patients, except in one case from the low positive or discordant results group, by Dot-blot with separated subunits. Conclusions: It would be advisable to use methods that include the three E2 subunits, and a Dot-blot with separated subunits could confirm doubtful cases by non-separated assays.

The port of Cartagena, south-east Spain, is noted for its intense activity. This paper presents the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the recorded levels of six pollutants. Fifteen years of measurements were used, with two objectives. The first was to investigate how these pollutants evolved, together with their usual cycles. The second objective was to ascertain whether the COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the concentrations recorded. The results showed that nitrogen oxide concentrations remained steady in the first half of the measurement period and decreased in the second half. SO2 concentrations decreased irregularly, whereas O3 and PM10 presented steady concentrations. The annual cycle was observed for nitrogen oxides and O3. Only SO2 evidenced no weekly cycle. Finally, the analysis of pre- and post-pandemic concentrations revealed a sharp decrease in nitrogen oxides, whereas the pandemic was not seen to have had any impact on the other pollutants. In addition, NO2 emerged as the best indicator of human activity—represented by car and maritime traffic—due to its response to the relaxation measures. Finally, Lamb weather types were calculated. The unclassified type was the most frequent. However, the greatest concentration changes were observed for anticyclonic and eastern flow types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autoantibody detection is the cornerstone of autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) diagnosis. Standardisation of working algorithms among autoimmunity laboratories, as well as being aware of the sensitivity and specificity of various commercial techniques in daily practice, are still necessary. The aim of this nationwide study is to report the results of the 2020 Autoimmunity Workshop organised by the Autoimmunity Group of the Spanish Society of Immunology and to provide useful information to clinicians and laboratory specialists to improve the management of autoantibody detection in AILD diagnoses. Serum samples from 17 patients with liver diseases were provided by the organisers of the 2020 Autoimmunity Workshop and were subsequently analysed by the 40 participating laboratories. Each laboratory used different techniques for the detection of autoantibodies in each patients’ serum sample, according to their working algorithm. Thus, almost 680 total complete patient reports were obtained, and the number of results from different autoantibody detection techniques was >3000. Up to eight different working algorithms were employed, including indirect immunofluorescence assays (IFA) and antigen-specific techniques (AgST). The IFA of HEp-2 cells was more sensitive than IFA of rat triple tissue for the study of anti-nuclear autoantibodies (ANA) associated with AILD. The IFA of a human neutrophil study for the analysis of anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies was not carried out systemically in all patients, or by all laboratories. AgSTs were the most sensitive methods for the detection of anti-smooth muscle/F-actin, soluble liver antigen, liver cytosol-1, M2-mitochondrial autoantibodies, and ANA associated with primary biliary cholangitis. The main differences in AMA detection were due to patients with autoantibodies against the non-dominant epitope of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex. Given that they are complementary, IFA and AgST should be performed in parallel. If there is high suspicion of AILD, AgST should always be performed.

Objectives: To measure the CSA of the HST musculature measured with ultrasonography in soccer players undergoing ACLR and compare limb differences with healthy controls. Methods: A case-control study was performed with patients after anterior cruciate ligament repair (ACLR) and healthy controls in which cross-sectional areas (CSA) obtained using a model TE7 ultrasound machine (MINDRAY ®, USA) in B mode (4.2 to 13 MHz) with a multifrequency linear array transducer (L12-4S). Three CSA images were taken of the semitendinosus muscle (ST) and the long head of the biceps femoris (BFlh), at a distance of 30% and 70% of the ischial tuberosity insertion. Mean differences between groups were analyzed using SPSS v.20 (IBM®, USA), and statistical analyses were performed using non-parametric techniques to determine differences between groups (Student's t-test) and Cohen's correlation coefficient to quantify effect size. Results: 14 ACLR operated 17 ± 5.4 months ago and 12 healthy controls (W = 6; M = 20M; 24.5 ± 3.92 years; BMI = 25.1 ± 2.32 kg/m2) were recruited. There were differences between groups in CSA-ST70 (Post-ACLR = 1.43 ± 1.029 cm² vs Control 2.65 ± 0.664 cm², T Student = -3.68, 95% CI [-Inf, -0.648], P < 0. 001, ES = -1.418), but not in CSA-ST30 (Post-ACLR = 8.42 ± 1.596 cm² vs Control 9.16 ± 0.945 cm², T Student = -1.535; 95% CI [-Inf, -0.0793], P = 0. 068, ES = -0.5607), CSA-BFlh30 (Post-ACLR = 8.79 ± 1.47 cm² vs Control 8.87 ± 2.312 cm², T Student = -0.123; 95% CI [-Inf, 1.1049], P = 0.452, ES = -0. 049) or CSA-BFlh70 (Post-ACLR = 6.91 ± 1.011 cm² vs Control 7.01 ± 1.453 cm², T Student = -0.214; 95% CI [-Inf, 0.6795], P = 0.416, ES = -0.0783). Conclusion: Ultrasound measurement of the CSA can be an image marker to identify muscle weakness or atrophy that predicts functional loss early. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a long-term analysis of ambient PM10 concentrations measured at a background station in Spain, using backward trajectories generated with the HYSPLIT model, together with the identification of synoptic patterns and a fuzzy clustering analysis, to identify the sources present and evaluate their relationship with meteorological variables such as wind speed and direction, temperature, and atmospheric pressure. Ambient PM10 presented maximum values during the summer with mean concentrations of approximately 14 µg m−3 for August, and minimum values during the winter with concentrations of 6 µg m−3 for January. The daily cycle presented two peaks—one in the morning and another in the afternoon—with this variability being associated with transport emissions. African air masses reached the study site extending vertically at least up to 2500 m.a.g.l, with a frequency of 43.5%, and are associated to a mean ground PM10 concentration of 41.3 µg m−3. During the episodes of Saharan intrusions, high pressures with unclassified synoptic patterns (U) prevailed over the Iberian Peninsula. Local, European, maritime and intermittent contributions were the four main sources of pollutants identified through fuzzy clustering analysis. These intermittent contributions are associated with Saharan dust intrusions, with a long-term average PM10 concentration of 1.7 µg m−3, which represents an important contribution of 11.2%. These sources affect seasonal variations of PM10 background concentrations, and reach their maximum when the greatest contributions of desert dust occur—mainly during the spring–summer months. These results provide useful information for future comparisons and environmental monitoring of PM10 levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]