Annals of Clinical and Laboratory Science

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Published data on the association between CYP3A4*1B polymorphism and cancer risk are inconclusive. To derive a more precise estimation of the association, we conducted a meta-analysis. A systematic search of the PubMed database was performed. A total of 55 separate studies including 22072 cancer cases and 25433 controls were involved in this meta-analysis. We found a significant association between CYP3A4*1B and cancer risk in the overall population in dominant model (AG+GG vs. AA: OR=1.142, 95% CI=1.006-1...

A previously healthy 54-year-old woman presented with weight loss, progressive weakness that was more pronounced on the left side, and intermittent occipital headaches. Imaging studies showed multiple enhancing lesions along the white matter, compatible with a demyelinating process. The patient's previous history included relapsing-remitting symptoms of weakness over the past 3 years. A stereotactic brain biopsy showed histological features of demyelination with an associated population of neoplastic lymphoid cells...

Monoclonal immunoglobulins have been implicated in the development of C3 glomerulonephritis (C3GN) and Proliferative glomerulonephritis with monoclonal IgG deposits (PGNMID). We report a 58-year-old female who showed a switch from C3GN to PGNMID. She presented with mild proteinuria and normal renal function for the first time. Her renal biopsy showed a severe mesangial proliferation with isolated C3 deposits, thus being diagnosed as C3GN. Two years later, her condition became serious. Repeat renal biopsy showed a membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis with deposition of the κ light chain of IgG3 in the glomeruli...

Renpenning syndrome is a rare X-linked disorder characterized by mental retardation, leanness, microcephaly, facial dysmorphism, short stature, and small testes. This disease is caused by PQBP1 mutations. Herein, we present a literature review and describe the clinical and molecular findings in a Korean boy with Renpenning syndrome. A 23-month-old boy presented with mental retardation, narrow face, bulbous nose, and cardiac anomaly. Interestingly, targeted exome sequencing identified a novel mutation c.559delT (p...

CONTEXT: Avoiding procedure-related morphologic distortion such as fragmentation and crush artifact is critical in bone marrow diagnosis. Use of a hammer or mallet, although infrequent, is a known technique of advancing the biopsy needle during specimen collection. OBJECTIVES: We performed a double-blinded, retrospective review of bone marrow biopsies collected by the Interventional Radiology department at our institution in order to assess specimen quality by using this technique...

BACKGROUND: Mindray BS480©, a multi-parametric and random-access clinical chemistry instrument, is suitable for medium-sized hospital applications. Large laboratories in hospital environments require high throughput non-emergency settings that could slow routine production lines. In addition, the possibility to adapt to different methodologies is of great convenience for improving the transfer from manual to automated applications. The aim of the study is to evaluate analytical performances and to draw a comparison between analyzers for most common clinical parameters under simulated routine conditions...

GOALS: It is unclear whether C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) improve the accuracy compared to their serum levels for the differential diagnosis of infectious meningitis. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of CRP and PCT levels in CSF and serum in order to differentiate between bacterial and viral meningitis. PROCEDURES: CRP and PCT levels were measured in CSF and serum from patients with bacterial or viral meningitis...

BACKGROUND: Non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) has been widely used for detecting fetal trisomy 13, 18 and 21 and sex chromosome aneuploidies (SCAs), but few studies have been published comparing the performance of NIPT for fetal SCAs between different next-generation sequencing platforms. METHOD: Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected NIPT data at two next-generation platforms (Proton and Illumina) from Center for Reproduction and Genetics, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University was performed, and the Patients identified as NIPT positive of SCAs were offered prenatal fetal chromosomal karyotyping...

BACKGROUND: Elevated serum creatinine levels are a common finding in patients with urinoma (i.e. presence of urine outside of the urinary tract). Therefore, in the clinical circumstance of an urinoma, utilizing a creatinine-based estimated GFR (eGFR) to determine renal function is unreliable, as it fails to distinguish true renal failure from pseudorenal failure in patients with a urine leakage. Cystatin C, a 13 kDA molecular mass protein ubiquitously expressed by nucleated cells, offers superior accuracy in the setting of an urinoma, since unlike creatinine, it is essentially absent in excreted urine and poorly reabsorbed from the peritoneum and retroperitoneal space...

BACKGROUND: Amino acids are increasingly being recognized as important signaling molecules in the pathogenesis of many diseases. We aim to establish a reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector (RP-HPLC-FLD) method for determination and quantification of hepatoma-associated DL-amino acids and to explore the relationship between amino acid concentrations and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: In this work, O-phthaldialdehyde (OPA) and N-isobutyryl-L-cysteine (NAC) served as the pre-column derivatization reagents which significantly shortened the detection time and improved the detection sensitivity...

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer represents the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) comprising the most common type of lung cancer. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this pilot study was to ascertain RSK4 expression at both the gene and protein level in normal and cancerous tissue of patients with NSCLC. METHODS: From January 2015 to December 2015, a total of forty patients diagnosed with NSCLC who underwent surgery were recruited into this study...

GOALS: Although all children with nephrotic syndrome (NS) have similar biochemical abnormalities and clinical manifestations, they seem to have variable grades of steroid responsiveness and patterns of disease relapse. Therefore, this study aimed to examine whether steroid metabolism-related genetic polymorphisms, which are responsible for drug elimination, play a role for steroid response in children with NS. METHODS: The study population consisted of 53 children with idiopathic NS [45 steroid sensitive (SS) and 8 steroid resistant (SR) nephrotic patients] and 22 healthy children as the control group...

BACKGROUND: To determine differences in levels of coagulation and superoxide dismutase in normal controls and type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with different stages of glucose control. METHODS: Type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were divided into two groups according to their fasting blood glucose (GM1 and GM2) and HbA1c levels (BM1 and BM2). Blood clotting times and levels of serum superoxide dismutase were compared among the three groups. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was generated to evaluate predictors and determine their sensitivities and specificities...

OBJECTIVE: Excitotoxic neuronal death induced by epilepsy is associated with α-amino-3-hydroxyl-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate acid (AMPA) receptors. The GluR2 subunit of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) may bind with glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH). The GluR2/GAPDH complex co-internalizes upon stimulation of AMPARs, which might be involved in the development of epilepsy. In this research, we hypothesized that disruption of the GluR2/GAPDH interaction with an interfering peptide would protect against neuronal damage in vivo ...

The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of methylprednisolone (MP) on the expression of Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and spinal edema in rats with acute spinal cord injury (ASCI). Sprague-Dawley (SD) Wistar rats were randomly divided into the following groups: control (C), sham operation (S), ASCI, and MP-treated. After the ASCI model was induced and prepared, 30 mg/kg MP was injected via the tail vein, on postoperative days 1, 3, and 7. The Tarlov scoring method was used to evaluate the neurological outcome; spinal water content was measured using the wet/dry weight method; spinal pathological changes were evaluated by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the expression of AQP4 was detected using Western blot...

OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have demonstrated that the inhibition of autophagy could reduce traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced cell injury and attenuate behavioural outcomes. Meanwhile, synaptically released zinc translocation is found in the hippocampus of rats, and excessive release of chelatable zinc from excitatory synaptic vesicles is involved in the pathophysiological processes of TBI. We speculated that the release of zinc is closely connected with autophagy and that treatment with the zinc chelator N,N,N',N'-tetrakis-(2-pyridylmethyl) ethylenediamine (TPEN) could attenuate autophagy and thus improve histologic outcomes after TBI in rats...

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been found to be involved in coronary artery disease (CAD) and corresponding disease severity. The aim of this study is to determine plasma levels of miR-144 in CAD and its association with the severity of this disease. METHODS: Plasma levels of miR-144 in 60 CAD patients including stable angina pectoris (SAP) (n=29), unstable angina pectoris (UAP) or non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (MI) (NSTEMI) (n=17), or ST-elevation MI (STEMI) (n=14) and 20 non-CAD subjects were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction (QRT-PCR)...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Gout is an inflammatory disease affecting multiple joints. Abnormal coagulation can elevate the levels of plasma D-dimer (DD) and is associated with inflammation and joint-related disease activity. Patients with gout usually develop acute gouty attack. However, there is no information on whether abnormal levels of plasma DD are associated with a gout flare. This study examined the levels of blood C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), serum uric acid (UA) and plasma DD in patients with gout flare and those with gout in remission phase and evaluated their value in predicting a gout flare as well as in the treatment of gout flare...