Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Kallmann syndrome (KS) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorder characterized by hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and olfactory dysfunction. Recently, mutations in SOX10, a well-known causative gene of Waardenburg syndrome (WS), have been identified in a few KS patients with additional developmental defects including hearing loss. However, the understanding of SOX10 mutation associates with KS and other clinical consequences remains fragmentary. A 30-year-old Chinese male patient presented with no pubertal sex development when he was at the age of twelve years...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene C677T polymorphism and ischemic stroke Large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) and Small-artery occlusion (SAO) subtypes in Chinese Han Population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and thirty LAA patients and one hundred and fifty-nine SAO patients data were prospectively collected. The control group was one hundred and ninety-eight subjects from the Medical Examination Center in the same period...

AIMS: The aim of this study is to investigate whether red cell distribution width (RDW) is associated with renal function damage in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) of children in China. METHODS: We used urine albumin-creatinine ratio to define microalbuminuria (MAU). A total of 170 patients were recruited in the study including 88 patients with MAU and 82 patients without MAU. Clinical and laboratory data of two groups were compared. RESULTS: The present study demonstrated that the RDW values were significantly higher in patients with MAU than those without MAU...

Hemoglobin Bart's hydrops fetalis (homozygous α0 -thalassemia) is the most severe form of thalassemia in the Southeast Asian population. Fetuses with this disorder almost always die in utero or shortly after birth. Screening of α0 -thalassemia carrier is therefore crucial. Currently, diagnosis of α0 -thalassemia genes is done by DNA-based analysis which relies on DNA extraction. We have developed a simple screening format based on whole blood PCR assay. The method was validated on 198 specimens and the results show 100% concordance with a conventional gap-PCR on DNA specimens...

This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic significance of white blood cell (WBC) and platelet parameters measured by automated hematology analyzers in pediatric sepsis. The study included 232 pediatric patients whose C-reactive protein test had been requested for evaluation of infection or inflammation at a pediatric tertiary hospital. The patients were allocated to control, systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) without infection, and sepsis groups. An ADVIA 2120i hematology system was used to measure the delta neutrophil index (DN) and platelet parameters including platelet count, mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), plateletcrit (PCT), and immature platelet fraction (IPF)...

BACKGROUND: Quality assurance of newly developed or manufactured blood grouping reagents with reagent red blood cells (RBCs) is crucial in the process of product approval by governmental agency. However, RBCs with rare blood group are not easily available in the fresh state. We investigated the feasibility of cryopreserved and genotyped ABO subgroup RBC reagents for quality assurance purpose. METHODS: We obtained RBCs from 10 volunteers with ABO subgroup phenotypes...

AIM: To evaluate the role of adenovirus-mediated transduction human VEGF isoform 165 via direct myocardial injection in rats with an occluded circumflex coronary artery, and the possible underlying mechanism. METHODS: Sprague-Dawley rats were induced myocardial infarction (MI) with ligation of the left coronary artery. Rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: 1) the sham group; 2) the MI group; 3) the NS (normal saline) group and 4) the VEGF group. Direct myocardial injection of 0...

OBJECTIVE: Sera retinol binding protein 4 (RBP4) has been associated with renal function. We determined the concentration of sera RBP4 in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and found its diagnostic value for CKD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The sera samples were collected from 51 patients with CKD and 30 healthy control. The presence of circulating RBP4 was quantified by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), cystain C (CysC), urea, creatinine (CREA), uric acid (UA), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB) and 24 hours urinary protein (PRO) were examined by automatic biochemical analyzer...

OBJECTIVE: To research the diagnostic performance of clinical potential bone turnover indexes in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) complicated with osteoporosis (OP). METHODS: This study involved 87 RA patients, 48 with OP, and 39 without OP, and 204 non-RA control patients, including those with systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, primary Sjogren's syndrome, systemic sclerosis, and healthy patients. The levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], β-crosslaps (β-CROSSL), parathyroid hormone (PTH) were measured by electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA), and the level of bone alkaline phosphatase (BALP) was measured by lectin affinity method...

BACKGROUND: Metastasis-Associated in Colon Cancer-1(MACC1) was first identified as a transcriptional activator of the HGF/MET pathway. Deregulation of HGF/MET signaling is reported as a prognostic marker for tumorigenesis, early stage invasion, and metastasis which is associated with poor clinical outcome in breast cancer patients. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the prognostic or predictive value of MACC1 expression in breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed the MACC1 expression in 105 primary breast cancer samples by Western-Blot analysis and immunohistochemistry...

The aim of this study was to determine the co-occurrence of heterotopic ossifications (HO) and elevated bone biomarkers level (urine type I collagen cross-linked C-telopeptide - CTX-1, serum alkaline phosphatase - ALP) and assess the effectiveness of pharmacological prophylaxis of HO. The study group consisted of (N=54) patients qualified for total hip arthroplasty. In N=19 (35%) patients new HO were formed (48th week vs to baseline). On baseline, the mean CTX-1 value in the HO (-) patients was 8.60+/-5.37 ug/mmol vs HO (+) 11...

BACKGROUND: Immune intolerance of the fetal-placental unit may be a contributing cause of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abortion (URSA). OBJECTIVES: This study is to investigate the relevance of the miR-146a-5p/IFN-γ pathway to URSA. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Quantitative real-time RT-PCR and western blot were performed to compare the levels of miR-146a-5p, IFN-γ, IRAK1, and TRAF6 in the deciduae of URSA (n=29) and healthy women (n=35) after an elective abortion...

We evaluated the analytical and workflow characteristics of the ARIES Clostridium difficile assay, a recently developed qPCR-based test for toxigenic C. difficile ARIES was compared to the illumigene C. difficile assay, a commonly employed, loop-mediated amplification technique with similar sample-to-result capabilities. Following illumigene analysis, 122 positive and 164 negative stool specimens were banked for subsequent ARIES testing. The analytical agreement between the platforms was high: 93.4% positive agreement (89...

Many automated immunoassays incorporate biotinylated antibodies and streptavidin-coated magnetic beads in the assay design. Biotin at elevated concentrations may interfere with these immunoassays. We evaluated potential interference of biotin on serum digoxin (LOCI assay utilizing biotinylated antibody) and phenytoin (PETINIA assay; no biotinylated antibody) measurements using the Vista 1500 analyzer. Aliquots of drug-free serum pool were supplemented with various biotin concentrations (range: 1 ng/mL to 250 ng/mL) followed by measuring apparent digoxin and phenytoin levels using appropriate immunoassays...

AIM: The study is to investigate hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) on myocardial perfusion of patients after the implantation of drug-eluting stents (DES) METHODS: From December 2013 to December 2015, a total of 115 patients with CAD who received DES implantation were included in this retrospective study. They were divided into HBOT group (n=55) and control group (n=60) according to different treatments retrospectively. Gated myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was conducted in all the patients...

The aim of the study was to determine if amniotic fluid cells of rats can be used to provide evidence of genotoxicity. In order to do that micronuclei formation was induced in rats during pregnancy after treatment with cyclophosphamide (CP), at different CP doses. On gestational day 19, we collected the amniotic fluid and determined the frequency of micronucleated cells (MNCs) from the offspring. Samples were centrifuged and placed on clean slides. The smears were observed with an epifluorescence microscope...

CONTEXT: Haff disease is a rare syndrome of myalgia and rhabdomyolysis occurring within 24h of consumption of certain types of cooked freshwater fish or crustacean. OBJECTIVE: The white blood cell count (WBC), plasma creatine kinase (CK), creatine kinase isoenzyme (CK-MB), CK-MB/CK, troponin T (cTnT) and creatinine (Cr) were analyzed as diagnostic markers for crayfish ( Procambarus clarkii )-associated rhabdomyolysis (Haff disease). The significance of these laboratory markers in differentiating myocardial injury disease and Haff disease was explored...

GOAL: To investigate the effects of blocking Rho kinase pathway on the expression of inflammatory signaling pathways in the retina of diabetic mice and in human retinal Müller glial cells stimulated with high-glucose to replicate hyperglycemia. PROCEDURES: Retinas from diabetic mice and human retinal Müller glial cells (MIO-M1) were studied. Western blot analysis, immunofluorescence, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were utilized to study the effect of the Rho kinase inhibitor fasudil on the expression of Rho-associated protein kinase-1 (ROCK-1), extracellular signal-regulated kinases1&2(ERK ½), phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (p-NF-κB), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1/CCL2)...