A multi-center performance evaluation of different hepatitis C virus core antigen assays for clinical infection screening / 中华检验医学杂志

Objective:We conducted a real-world multi-center clinical study with a large sample size to comprehensively evaluate the performance of three commercial hepatitis C virus (HCV) core antigen assays. The study aimed to evaluate the performance for their use in HCV infection screening, and to provide clues for further improving the sensitivity and specificity of the assays.Methods:Key performance indicators including the lower limit of detection (LOD), diagnostic sensitivity, and specificity of three HCV antigen assays (the Architect, Laibo, and ChemClin HCV core antigen assays) were evaluated using commercial seroconversion panels reflecting early HCV infection and clinical routine serum samples of outpatients and inpatients from 3 tertiary hospitals from January 2018 to April 2022. Factors that affect the performance indicators were further investigated.Results:The window period for detecting HCV infection with the three antigen assays was equal to or slightly longer than that of the RNA assay, but all are shorter than that of the anti-HCV assay. There was a good linear positive correlation between HCV core antigen and HCV RNA levels in treatment naive patients with hepatitis C ( r=0.90, P<0.01). For the most common genotype 1b strain in China, the LOD of the three HCV assays were equivalent to 531 IU/ml (Architect), 3,698 IU/mL (Laibo), and 4,624 IU/mL (ChemClin) HCV RNA, respectively. Due to the skewed distribution of HCV RNA levels in treatment-naive hepatitis C patients, more than 95% of the patients had viral loads higher than 6 166 IU/ml. Therefore, the three HCV antigens assays still maintained a satisfactory diagnostic sensitivity (94.33%-99.40%). Among 54 immunodeficient patients (leukemia patients) with HCV infection, 9% (5/54) had negative anti-HCV results, while the HCV antigen assays found all these infectors. Through further experiments, we revealed the amino acid polymorphism in the core region of genotype 3 strain impaired the sensitivity of all three HCV antigen assays. In addition, the sensitivity of the two domestic assays was impaired by anti-HCV antibodies in the serum. The specificity of HCV antigen assays for diagnosing hepatitis C is 99.94% to 99.98%. The rheumatoid factors, autoantibodies, and other unknown interference substances can lead to a small number of low level, "false positive" antigen results. Conclusions:HCV core antigen assay may be used as a satisfactory approach of infection screening, especially for the immunodeficient patents. However, the sensitivity and specificity of the assays are influenced by multiple factors, which should be further improved.

Gene mutation analysis in a Chinese pedigree with autosomal recessive woolly hair / 中华皮肤科杂志

Objective:To identify causative genes for autosomal recessive woolly hair (ARWH) in a family.Methods:Clinical data were collected from two patients and other family members in a Chinese pedigree of Han nationality with ARWH. Peripheral blood samples were obtained from the two patients, their unaffected parents and 100 unrelated healthy individuals, and DNA was extracted from the blood samples. A next-generation skin-targeted sequencing panel was used to detect gene mutations in the patients, and Sanger sequencing was performed to verify the sequencing results. The function of protein encoded by the mutant gene was predicted.Results:Two missense mutations c.530T>G (p.Leu177Arg) and c.736T>A (p.Cys246Ser) were both identified in the LIPH gene of the two patients, which were inherited from their father and mother respectively. Neither of the two mutations was identified in the 100 unrelated healthy controls. Interspecies sequence alignment showed that leucine at amino acid position 177 and cysteine at amino acid position 246 of the protein encoded by the LIPH gene were highly evolutionarily conserved. As SIFT and Polyphen-2 softwares showed, the mutations c.530T>G (p.Leu177Arg) and c.736T>A (p.Cys246Ser) were both predicted to be detrimental variations.Conclusion:Two missense mutations c.530T>G (p.Leu177Arg) and c.736T>A (p.Cys246Ser) in the LIPH gene may contribute to the clinical phenotype of the two patients with ARWH in this family.

Correlation between severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and red cell distribution width in elderly patients / 南方医科大学学报

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the correlation between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and red cell distribution width (RDW) in elderly patients.@*METHODS@#A cross-sectional study was conducted among 311 elderly patients diagnosed with OSAS in the snoring clinic between January, 2015 and October, 2016 and 120 healthy controls without OSAS from physical examination populations in the General Hospital of PLA. The subjects were divided into control group with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) <5 (=120), mild OSAS group (AHI of 5.0-14.9; =90), moderate OSAS group (AHI of 15.0-29.9; =113) and severe OSAS group (AHI ≥ 30; =108). The clinical characteristics and the results of polysomnography, routine blood tests and biochemical tests of the subjects were collected. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the correlation between OSAS severity and RDW.@*RESULTS@#The levels of RDW and triglyceride were significantly higher in severe OSAS group than in the other groups ( < 0.01). The levels of fasting blood glucose and body mass index were significantly higher in severe and moderate OSAS groups than in mild OSAS group and control group ( < 0.05 or < 0.01). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that AHI was positively correlated with body mass index (β=0.111, =0.032) and RDW (β=0.106, =0.029). The area under ROC curve of RDW for predicting the severity of OSAS was 0.687 (=0.0001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#The RDW increases as OSAS worsens and may serve as a potential marker for evaluating the severity of OSAS.

Construction of teachers'professional development system in medical colleges and universities / 中华医学教育探索杂志

The authors analyzed current situation of teachers'professional development in medical colleges and universities. The construction of teachers'professional development systems includes dividing the stage of development and setting the standard,constructing teachers'evaluation model,constructing interscholastic and scholastic teachers'education pattern,enriching the training contents and diversifying the training ways.