Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis

BACKGROUND: Infections by glucose-nonfermenting gram-negative bacilli (NFGNB) pose a major public health problem due to multiresistance to beta-lactam antibiotics, especially plasmid-borne carbapenemases. Their detection by microbiology laboratories is challenging, and there is a need for easy-to-use and reliable diagnostic techniques. Our objective was to evaluate an in-house screening method to presumptively detect carbapenemases in NFGNB in a simple and clinically useful manner. METHODS: The study included 175 NFGNB isolates from urinary, respiratory, and rectal samples...

BACKGROUND: In newborns, elevated nucleated red blood cell (NRBC) levels can be associated with enhanced erythropoietic stress and might be predictive for adverse outcome. Also, the presence of NRBC in peripheral blood might lead to erroneous enumeration results of white blood cells in automated hematology analyzers. We aimed to assess the comparability of the Sysmex XN 1000 to manual slide reviews and correlation of NRBC with inflammation markers. METHODS: Specimens of 3397 children under 1 year were compared by automated and microscopic NRBC enumeration...

BACKGROUND: The Beckman Coulter DxH 900 is a haematological analyser capable of counting and sizing blood cells, and obtaining a complete blood cell count (CBC). This analyses different parameters of red blood cells (RBC), platelets and white blood cells/leukocytes. Some automated CBC counters present limitations due to specimen characteristics, abnormal cells or both factors. In the presence of abnormalities, the DxH 900 has a flagging system, warning the laboratory technician that something needs to be verified...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to establish a highly sensitive and rapid single-tube, two-stage, multiplex recombinase-aided qPCR (mRAP) assay to specifically detect the khe, blaKPC-2 , and blaNDM-1 genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae. METHODS: mRAP was carried out in a qPCR instrument within 1 h. The analytical sensitivities of mRAP for khe, blaKPC-2 , and blaNDM-1 genes were tested using recombinant plasmids and dilutions of reference strains. A total of 137 clinical isolates and 86 sputum samples were used to validate the clinical performance of mRAP...

BACKGROUND: Detection of IgG subclasses (IgGSc) is vital for the diagnosis and management of disease, especially IgG4-related diseases (IgG4-RD). This study aimed to evaluate the performances of the chemiluminescent immunoassay (CLIA) for detecting IgGSc and diagnosing IgG4-RD by IgGSc. METHODS: A total of 40 individuals with IgG4-RD, 40 with primary Sjogren's syndrome (pSS), and 40 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. Serum samples were collected for the simultaneous detection of IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 by the Siemens immunonephelometric assay and the CLIA...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to indicate whether a declined plasma concentration of valproic acid (VPA) induced by co-administration of meropenem (MEPM) could affect the antiepileptic efficacy of VPA. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data of hospitalized patients who were diagnosed with status epilepticus or epilepsy between 2010 and 2019. Patients co-administered VPA and MEPM during hospitalization were screened and assigned to the exposure group, while those co-administerd VPA and other broad-spectrum antibiotics were allocated to the control group...

BACKGROUND: Faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) is an established treatment for Clostridioides difficile infection and is under investigation for other conditions. The availability of suitable donors and the logistics of fresh stool preparation present challenges, making frozen, biobanked stools an attractive alternative. AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the long-term viability of bacterial populations in faecal samples stored at -80°C for up to 12 months, supporting the feasibility of using frozen grafts for FMT...

BACKGROUND: Kidney disease is fairly unique due to the lack of symptoms associated with disease activity, and it is therefore dependent on biological monitoring. Dried biofluids, particularly dried capillary blood spots, are an accessible, easy-to-use technology that have seen increased utility in basic science research over the past decade. However, their use is yet to reach the kidney patient population clinically or in large-scale discovery science initiatives. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the existing literature surrounding the use of dried biofluids in kidney research...

BACKGROUND: Accurate quantification of the BCR::ABL1 transcripts is essential for measurable residual disease (MRD) monitoring in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment. This study evaluated the newly developed digital real-time PCR method, Dr. PCR, as an alternative reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) for MRD detection. METHODS: The performance of Dr. PCR was assessed using reference and clinical materials. Precision, linearity, and correlation with qRT-PCR were evaluated...

BACKGROUND: The motor protein dynein is integral to retrograde transport along microtubules and interacts with numerous cargoes through the recruitment of cargo-specific adaptor proteins. This interaction is mediated by dynein light intermediate chain subunits LIC1 (DYNC1LI1) and LIC2 (DYNC1LI2), which govern the adaptor binding and are present in distinct dynein complexes with overlapping and unique functions. METHODS: Using bioinformatics, we analyzed the C-terminal domains (CTDs) of LIC1 and LIC2, revealing similar structural features but diverse post-translational modifications (PTMs)...

BACKGROUND: Primary cilia are static microtubule-based structures protruding from the cell surface and present on most vertebrate cells. The appropriate localization of phospholipids is essential for cilia formation and stability. INPP5E is a cilia-localized inositol 5-phosphatase; its deletion alters the phosphoinositide composition in the ciliary membrane, disrupting ciliary function. METHODS: The EGFP-2xP4MSidM , PHPLCδ1 -EGFP, and SMO-tRFP plasmids were constructed by the Gateway system to establish a stable RPE1 cell line...

BACKGROUND: Assessment of bone marrow involvement (BMI) in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is crucial for determining patient prognosis and treatment strategy. We assessed the prognostic value of next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based immunoglobulin (Ig) gene clonality analysis as an ancillary test for BMI evaluation in NHL. METHODS: A retrospective cohort of 124 patients newly diagnosed with B-cell NHL between 2019 and 2022 was included. NGS-based Ig clonality analysis was conducted using LymphoTrak IGH FR1 Assay and IGK Assay (Invivoscribe Technologies, San Diego, CA, USA) on BM aspirate samples, and the results were compared with those of histopathological BMI (hBMI)...

BACKGROUND: Long-read technologies such as nanopore sequencing provide new opportunities to detect short tandem repeat expansions. Therefore, a DNA extraction method is necessary that minimizes DNA fragmentation and hence allows the identification of large repeat expansions. In this study, an automated magnetic bead-based DNA extraction method and the required EDTA blood storage conditions as well as DNA and sequencing quality were evaluated for their suitability for repeat expansion detection with nanopore sequencing...

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a devastating illness and a leading cause of death worldwide, primarily caused by atherosclerosis resulting from a genetic-environmental interaction. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the ESR1 (rs9340799), OLR1 (rs3736234), LIPC (rs2070895), VDR (rs2228570), and CETP (rs708272) polymorphisms, lipid profile parameters, and CAD risk in a southeast Iranian population. METHODS: A total of 400 subjects (200 CAD patients with hyperlipidemia and 200 healthy controls) were enrolled in this case-control study...

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to validate the dissociation phenomenon of erythrocyte agglutination which is based on erythrocyte fragments and to apply it in the functional activity assay of the complement system. METHODS: The dissociation-agglutination effect of erythrocyte fragments was validated by detecting the number of free erythrocytes after the action of erythrocyte fragments on agglutinated erythrocytes. The number of free erythrocytes produced after hemolysis of agglutinated erythrocytes caused by complements and complement activators(CAs) was detected by auto hematology analyzer and the results were indicated by mean hemoglobin concentration of erythrocytes (MCHC)...

BACKGROUND: Thalassemia is an inherited hemolytic disease, the complications and sequelae of which have posed a huge impact on both patients and society. But limited studies have investigated the molecular characterization of α- and β-thalassemia in children from Guizhou, China. METHODS: Between January 2019 and December 2022, a total of 3301 children, aged 6 months to 18 years, suspected of having thalassemia underwent molecular analysis. RESULTS: Out of the total sample, 824 (25%) children were found to carry thalassemia mutations...

BACKGROUND: Patient-based real-time quality control (PBRTQC) has gained attention because of its potential to continuously monitor the analytical quality in situations wherein internal quality control (IQC) is less effective. Therefore, we tried to investigate the application of PBRTQC method based on an artificial intelligence monitoring (AI-MA) platform in quality risk monitoring of Down syndrome (DS) serum screening. METHODS: The DS serum screening item determination data and relative IQC data from January 4 to September 7 in 2021 were collected...

BACKGROUND: Insulin resistance has been correlated with the genetic diversity within the insulin-like binding proteins genes. Moreover, insulin resistance is one of the key characteristics of the widespread reproductive endocrine condition known as polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Hence, this study is aimed to determine the association between IGFBP3 and IGF2BP2 gene variants and PCOS risk. METHODS: A total of 300 subjects (150 PCOS cases diagnosed based on Rotterdam ESHRE/ASRM consensus criteria and 150 healthy subjects) were recruited in this case-control cross-sectional study...

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effect of predeposit, salvage, and hemodilution autotransfusion on patients with femoral shaft fracture (FSF) surgery. METHODS: Selected patients with FSF were randomly divided into three groups: intraoperative blood salvage autotransfusion, preoperative hemodilution autohemotransfusion, and predeposit autotransfusion. Five days after the operation, the body temperature, heart rate, blood platelet (PLT), and hemoglobin (Hb) of patients were determined...

BACKGROUND: Urinary tract infections are responsible for a significant worldwide disease burden. Performing urine culture is time consuming and labor intensive. Urine flow cytometry might provide a quick and reliable method to screen for urinary tract infection. METHODS: We analyzed routinely collected urine samples received between 2020 and 2022 from both inpatients and outpatients. The UF-4000 urine flow cytometer was implemented with an optimal threshold for positivity of ≥100 bacteria/μL...