Clinical performance of automated chemiluminescent methods for anticardiolipin and anti-ß2-glycoprotein I antibodies detection in a large cohort of Chinese patients with antiphospholipid syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: To assess the clinical performance and correlations of automated chemiluminescence assay (CIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detecting antiphospholipid (aPL) antibodies in the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). METHODS: The study recruited 505 subjects, including 192 with APS, 193 with connective tissue diseases other than APS, and 120 healthy donors. We measured anticardiolipin (aCL) and anti-ß2-glycoprotein I (anti-ß2GPI) antibodies IgG, IgM, and IgA in all the samples using both CIA and ELISA. RESULTS: Total agreement between the two methods ranged from 83.50% for anti-ß2GPI IgG antibodies to 92.76% for anti-ß2GPI IgM antibodies in all the groups. Anti-ß2GPI and aCL IgG assays showed the highest Spearman's rho coefficients (anti-ß2GPI IgG = 0.742, aCL IgG = 0.715). Anti-ß2GPI IgG CIA showed the highest sensitivity for diagnosis of APS at 80.21%, which was significantly higher than the sensitivity of anti-ß2GPI IgG ELISA (52.08%). For diagnosis of APS, anti-ß2GPI IgG CIA had the best discrimination power with the area under the curves (AUC) of 0.922, followed by aCL IgG CIA (AUC of 0.905). While the CIA AUC was slightly higher in all cases, the difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: CIA measurements had a good agreement and correlation with comparative ELISA assays. The CIA anti-ß2GPI IgG however was significantly more sensitive for APS diagnosis. The two assay methodologies showed comparable predictive powers and support the value of the CIA method for improved diagnosis and management of patients with APS.

Pathogenesis, disease course, and prognosis of adult-onset Still's disease: an update and review.

OBJECTIVE: Adult-onset Still's disease (AOSD) is a rare but clinically well-known polygenic systemic autoinflammatory disease. In this review, we aim to present frontiers in the pathogenesis, clinical features, diagnosis, biomarkers, disease course, prognosis, and treatment in AOSD. DATA SOURCES: We retrieved information from the PubMed database up to July 2019, using various search terms and relevant words, including AOSD and Still's disease. STUDY SELECTION: We included data from peer-reviewed journals. Both basic and clinical studies were selected. RESULTS: Pathogenesis of AOSD involves genetic background, infectious triggers, and immunopathogenesis, mainly the activation of macrophages and neutrophils followed by a cytokine storm. Diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of AOSD is still challenging; therefore, there is an urgent need to identify better biomarkers. Biologic agents, including interleukin (IL)-1ß, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α antagonists in the treatment of AOSD, have good prospect. CONCLUSION: This review highlights the advances in pathogenesis, potential biomarkers, disease course, and treatment in AOSD.

The catalytic pathways of hydrohalogenation over metal-free nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes.

Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes (N-CNTs) are found to be active as one novel heterogeneous catalyst for acetylene hydrochlorination reaction, possessing good activity (TOF=2.3×10(-3) s(-1) ) and high selectivity (>98 %). Compared to toxic and energy-consuming conventional catalysts, such as HgCl2 , N-CNTs are more favorable in terms of sustainability, because of their thermo-stability, metal-free make up, and the wide availability of bulk CNT. Coupling X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory computations (DFT), the main active source and reaction pathway are shown. Good linearity between the quaternary nitrogen content and conversion is revealed. DFT study shows that the nitrogen doping enhanced the formation of the covalent bond between C2 H2 and NCNT compared with the undoped CNT, and therefore promoted the addition reaction of the C2 H2 and HCl into C2 H3 Cl.