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Background: The early reliable detection and quantification of autoantibodies play an important role in autoimmune disease diagnosis and in disease-course monitoring. New technologies, such as the multiplexed determination of autoantibodies, have recently been introduced and are being adopted more frequently. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of a new microdot array-based multiparametric assay (ZENIT AMiDot CTD panel, A. Menarini Diagnostics, Firenze, Italy) to correctly classify patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARDs) and compare it to a fluorescence enzyme immunoassay (FEIA) for the detection of anti-ENAs. Methods: The study included 69 consecutive samples from patients with ARDs that were analyzed using two different methods (FEIA and AMiDot) to detect anti-CENP B and six anti-ENA antibodies: anti-Scl-70, anti-SSB/La, anti-Jo-1, anti-U1-RNP, anti-Ro52, and anti-Ro60. The control group sera came from sixty-eight blood donors. Tests were run on the automated slide processor ZENIT FLOW, and then the slides were imaged and analyzed using ZENIT fast. Results: Since the samples were selected for at least one antibody positivity with an ARD diagnosis, we did not calculate clinical sensitivity but only specificity, which was 98.53%, ranging from 90% for anti-SSB/La antibodies to 100% for anti-CENP B ones. Mean agreement among the methods assessed by Cohen's kappa was 0.816 ± 0.240. Conclusions: The assay demonstrated good clinical performance and may be considered a valuable aid in detecting ARD patients, offering an alternative to methods such as FEIA which are largely in use today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the general guidelines for managing SARS-CoV-2 infection in prison [[5]], [[6]]. Keywords: anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies; COVID-19; prison EN anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies COVID-19 prison e239 e241 3 06/03/21 20210601 NES 210601 To the Editor, Due to the dramatic diffusion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), responsible for an acute respiratory syndrome that has spread rapidly all over the world causing thousands of deaths, we consider both the prevention and control of SARS-CoV-2 virus fundamental in prisons. In Italy, the Minister of Justice declared specific measures for detention institutions, such as blocking prison visits between inmates and external people, replaced by video calls; halting prisoner transfers between different prisons; transforming prison detention into house arrest for minor crimes and short arrests and adopting alternative sentences to reduce prison overpopulation. [Extracted from the article]

The concept of Early Arthritis represents a new diagnostic–therapeutic strategy in modern rheumatology. Even if many Early Arthritis clinics are starting up, we do not yet know the frequency of this pathology in the Italian population. With the collaboration of 20 general practictioners (GPs) operating in the municipalities of Scandicci, Lastra a Signa and Signa, we assessed the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis and of new cases of Early Rheumatoid Arthritis (ERA) in the period from 1.09.2005 to 31.08.2006. The general population over 18 years old in the three municipalities according to the political electoral lists in April 2006 was as follows: Scandicci 42,474 (Males 20,290; Females 22,184), Lastra a Signa 15,368 (M 7,458; F 7,910) and Signa 13,372 (M 6,439; F 6,933). The total number of patients followed by the 20 GPs was 32,521 according to the records of ASL10 Florence. In one year 920 patients were referred by their GPs to a rheumatologist with suspected early undifferentiated arthritis according to Emery’s criteria. The patients underwent a rheumatological examination and the rheumatoid factor IgM, hidden rheumatoid factors (IgG and IgA) and IgG antibodies anti-CCP (anti-cyclic citrullinate peptides) with a semiquantitative immuno-enzymatic test ELISA were investigated. In one year we observed 32 new cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis, of which 8 were males and 24 were females. The rate of incidence with respective intervals of confidence of 95% was 0.98‰ (0.64−1.32‰). The average age was 47.7 ± 10.5 in the females and 54.9 ± 10.3 in the males. The patients had an average history of illness in months of 5.2 ± 1.3 F versus 4.6 ± 1.1 M, number of tender joints 6.2 ± 2.3 F versus 5.3 ± 2.2 M, number of swollen joints 4.8 ± 1.4 F versus 4.2 ± 1.5 M, a global assessment of 64.3 ± 10 F versus 53 ± 12 M, ESR (mm/h) 49.2 ± 11.3 F versus 43.3 ± 12.5 M, CRP (mg/dl) 2.8 ± 1.3 F versus 2.3 ± 1.4 M, DAS28 5.55 ± 1.2 F versus 5.19 ± 1.3 M, HAQ 2.5 ± 0.4 F, 2.2 ± 0.3 M. The rates of incidence in the Italian population affected by early rheumatoid arthritis are higher than those found in some European populations, such as those of the UK and Finland, but less than those found in the population of USA. The different data reported in the literature seem to be due to the different methods of assessing ERA and to the different types of samples studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]