[The role of food-specific IgG antibody test in diagnosis and treatment of mild recurrent aphthous ulcer].

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of food-specific IgG antibody test in the treatment of mild recurrent aphthous ulcer. METHODS: Seven hundred and ninety nine mild recurrent aphthous ulcer patients and 762 normal persons were enrolled in the experimental and control group respectively, based on the criteria for inclusion and exclusion. The blood serum samples of them were obtained to detect food-specific IgG antibody by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The positive rates were then compared by Chi-square test between 2 groups using SPSS 17.0 software package. The experimental group was further analyzed based on age, gender, course, interval period, number of ulcer, allergy history, etc. Food rotation was applied in strong positive patients for food-specific IgG antibody. RESULTS: The positive rate was 45.2% in the experimental group and 40.9% in the control group(P=0.101). The positive rate was significantly higher in young patients (51.3%) and patients with short interval (83.9%). Food rotation could prolong the interval period from 13.00 days to 14.77 days in general but did not reduce the ulcer number significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Food-specific IgG antibody test may be helpful for the treatment of young or frequent patients with mild recurrent aphthous ulcer.

Determination of reference intervals of serum levels of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in Chinese women.

BACKGROUND: To determine reference intervals for serum levels of human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in Chinese women. METHODS: In this multicenter (n = 9) study, 618 healthy women, 767 patients with non-malignant diseases, and 951 patients with malignant tumors were enrolled. Serum levels of HE4 were measured in all patients using electrochemiluminescence immunoassays. The influence of age, menopause, malignancy status and other characteristics on the levels of HE4 was evaluated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Confidence intervals (2.5-97.5 %) were determined in different populations. RESULTS: There were significant differences in HE4 levels among groups with different ages, menopause or malignancy status. Higher levels of HE4 were detected in elder compared to younger, post- compare to pre- menopause and malignant compared to benign subjects. Multivariate analysis showed that menopause and malignancy status, as well as smoking and pelvic masses were independent factors involved in serum HE4 levels. In pre-menopause stage, the reference ranges of HE4 level were 29.30-68.79, 28.12-1284.83 and 34.75-981.91 pmol/L in healthy, benign and malignant populations, respectively. In post-menopause stage, the reference ranges are 35.96-114.43, 39.11-2208.70 and 39.40-1678.13 pmol/L for those populations. CONCLUSIONS: The present study has established the reference intervals of HE4 levels in pre- and post-menopause populations with different malignancy status.