Diagnosis of opioid use disorder with high sensitivity and specificity by advanced computational analysis of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

Opioid use disorder (OUD), which is a chronic disease and widespread public health problem results in death of the patient in the early period. The consumption of opioid depending on the use disorder time, affects blood biochemical parameters. OUD diagnosis can be clinically determined from biochemical values and with the screening tools in substance abuse. However, long-term OUD causes multiple pathological and physiological changes in many organs. Opioid initiated diseases, such as changes in tissue level and molecular level can be detected with advanced diagnostic methods after a long period of usage. It is important to diagnose these changes without causing organ dysfunction. The tests for the diagnose of chronic effects of OUD are expensive and time-consuming. In this study, we used Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to discriminate the whole blood samples of opioid-addicted patients (n = 20) from healthy persons (n = 14) with an average addiction period of for 8 +/- 5.8 years. We purposed to compare whole blood vibrational results of OUD and HC. In order to identify absorption bands on structures of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids, their corresponding absorbance of band spectra were measured. We had chosen following bands 2959, 2931, 1646, 1550, 1453, 1400, 1314, 1243, 1080, 1079, 1542, 1045, 1467 to identify peak heights and to compare peak height ratios such as H1646 to H1550, H1079 to H1542, H2959 to H2931, H1453 to H1400, H1314 to H1243, H1045 to H1467, H1080 to H1550. Statistically, the p value of group heights were significantly different (p < 0.001). As a chemometric method, features extracted by principal component analysis (PCA) and then classified by linear discriminate analysis (LDA) and support vector machine (SVM) to determine the spectral data of disorder zones. The confidence of specificity and sensitivity and accuracy were obtained as 93.33%, 85%, 80.57% in raw data, and 100%, 100% and 100% in the second derivative respectively. Our research illustrates that whole blood analyses by FTIR, on the selected peak heights may discriminate pathological and healthy structural changes induced long term opioid use disorder.Thus, we have demonstrated that infrared spectroscopy can provide a simple and available diagnostic test for OUD patients

Biochemical assay and spectroscopic analysis of oxidative/antioxidative parameters in the blood and serum of substance use disorders patients. A methodological comparison study

Substance abuse such as opioids, cannabis, and alcohol causes activation on the immune system and the release of reactive oxygen species (ROS) into the blood and serum. These substances cause an effect on oxidant and an-tioxidant status in patients with substance abuse. Mainly, wide-open to the ROS are lipids and proteins included blood, which suffers peroxidation. In this study, for the first-time differentiation of the effects of cannabis, alcohol and other synthetic substances on blood and serum samples, were performed. For this purpose, the level of the malondialdehyde (MDA) and glutathione (GSH) in serum and red blood cells, was measured using biochemical assay methods and Fourier Transform InfraRed spectroscopy (FTIR). The results showed, that peroxidation which is dignified as the production of MDA was increased for substance use disorder (SUD) patients (18.01 +/- 2.97) compared to the control group (10.75 +/- 2.28) (p < 0.001) and for antioxidant capacity, GSH level were signifi-cantly increased for SUD patients (p < 0.001). For the discrimination of protein and lipid region obtained from FTIR spectroscopy, we extracted features by principal component analyze (PCA) of protein (1800 cm(-1) to 900 cm(-1)) and lipid (3200 cm(-1) to 2800 cm(-1)) regions for blood and serum samples collected from patients with different types of SUD and healthy control (HC) participants. For the consideration of lipid oxidation, lipid satu-ration, lipid desaturation and protein aggregation the peak heights at 1740 cm(-1) to 2960 cm(-1), 2920 cm(-1) to 2960 cm(-1), 3012 cm(-1) to 2960 cm(-1), and 1630 cm(-1) to 1650 cm(-1) regions were studied for SUD and HC. More-over, more visible changes were noticed for proteins region, than for lipids. The most notice structural changes were observed in amide II in serum spectra. Then we classified protein and lipid region's PCA results of blood and serum by Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and Support vector machine (SVM). Confidence of the specific-ity, sensitivity and accuracy of blood and serum were obtained as 100%, 100% and 100% individually. This is the first comparative study on the spectrochemical tool and biochemical assay on SUD. Our results presented 100% discrimination of disorder region compared to healthy subjects. (c) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Investigation of the discrimination and characterization of blood serum structure in patients with opioid use disorder using IR spectroscopy and PCA-LDA analysis

Harmful illicit drug use, such as opioid use disorder (OUD), causes multiple diseases that result in physiological, pathological, and structural changes in serum biochemical parameters based on the period of use. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry is a noninvasive optical technique that can provide accurate evidence about the biochemical compounds of analytical samples. This technique is based on the detection of functional groups and the spectral analysis of the region of the selected bands, which provides a reliable and accurate tool for evaluating changes in the biochemical parameters of OUD patients. In the present study, the Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR)-FTIR technique and clinical laboratory biochemical results were used to investigate the phospholipid-protein balance in the blood serum of participants with OUD by comparing their data to that of healthy controls. To compare the biochemical laboratory results with serum vibrational spectroscopy, we used infrared (IR) spectroscopy to distinguish the serum of the OUD patients, who had an average duration of use of 7.31 +/- 3.8 years (ranging from 6 to 15 years). We aimed to compare the clinical reports with findings from IR spectroscopy coupled with chemometrics analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and linear discriminant analysis (LDA). The serum samples of the OUD male patients (n = 20) and healthy male individuals (n = 14) were evaluated using FTIR spectroscopy (range of 4000 cm(-1) - 400 cm(-1)). We focused on the areas where the results showed significant band differences and significant chemometric differences at the fingerprint region (1800 cm(-1) 900 cm(-1)), Amide I (1700 cm(-1) -1600 cm(-1)), C-H stretching band (3000 cm(-1) -2800 cm(-1)), triglyceride (Tg) levels and cholesterol esters (1800 cm(-1) -1700 cm(-1)), and total protein region (1700 cm(-1) -1350 cm(-1)). The intensity of these band areas was significantly different (p < 0.01) between OUD patients and healthy controls. Moreover, different bands on the serum spectrum of the OUD patients were explored. The results successfully specified the distinctions between OUD and the healthy controls (HCs). We compared the results with biochemical markers, such as albumin (Alb), Tg, and total cholesterol (Tc) levels of the patients, as well as the data of the healthy subjects obtained from the hospital. Additionally, we found that the Tg, Tc, and Alb levels decreased as the duration of heroin use increased based on the biochemical markers of the OUD patients. The laboratory biochemical reports and the vibrational spectroscopic analysis were correlated. The confidence of specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy was 100%, 92.85%, and 97.06% in the second derivative, respectively. Thus, we demonstrated that IR spectroscopy, multivariate data analysis, and clinical reports are consistent and correlated. Furthermore, FTIR is a simple and readily available diagnostic test that can successfully differentiate the serum samples of OUD patients from those of healthy subjects. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Serum biochemistry and native protein electrophoresis in diarrheic calves with arthritis

In this study, serum biochemistry and native protein electrophoresis in newborn calves with diarrhea and arthritis, were performed in order to evaluate the changes along with clinical findings for their possible application in the diagnosis and prognosis of disease. Based on clinical examination, animals were allotied into two groups comprising either diseased or healthy animals. Urea, creatinine, ALT, AST, LDH, albumin, total protein, glucose, total cholesterol, uric acid and iron levels were determined in the sera. Serum protein native polyacrilamide gel electrophoresis (nPAGE) was performed followed by protein band ratio estimation supported with densitometry at 596 nm. Differences between the average mean of healthy and diseased animals were compared statistically (Kruskal-Walley test). In this study a decrease in serum glucose and cholesterol values (p&lt;0.001), increase in urea, LDH levels and α1-and α2-globulin levels (p&lt;0.01 and p&lt;0.05 respectively) were found to be associated with the disease. As a result, the observed significant changes in biochemical parameters and clinical investigation in calves, suggesting acute inflammation causing the decrease in glucose and increase in α-globulins, may be of prognostic value

HCV Genotype Distribution Among People Who Inject Drug in Turkey: Findings from Multicenter and Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is very common in people who inject drugs (PWID). Studies about the prevalence and genotype distribution of the HCV among PWID are very crucial for developing strategies to manage HCV infection. This study’s objective is to map the distribution of HCV genotypes among PWID from various regions of Turkey. Method: This prospective, multicenter, cross-sectional study involved 197 PWID who tested positive for anti-HCV antibodies from 4 different addiction treatment facilities in Turkey. Interviews were done with people who had anti-HCV antibodies, and blood samples were taken to check the HCV RNA viremia load and genotyping. Results: This study was conducted on 197 individuals with a mean age of 30.3 ± 8.6 years. 9.1% (136/197 patients) had a detectable HCV-RNA viral load. Genotype 3 was the most commonly observed genotype by 44.1%, followed by genotype 1a by 41.9%, genotype 2 by 5.1%, genotype 4 by 4.4%, and genotype 1b by 4.4%. Whereas genotype 3 was dominant with 44.4% at the central Anatolia region of Turkey, the frequencies of genotypes 1a and 3, which were predominantly detected in the south and northwest regions of Turkey, were very close to each other. Conclusion: Although genotype 3 is the predominant genotype in the PWID population in Turkey, the prevalence of HCV genotype varied across the country. To eliminate HCV infection in the PWID, treatment and screening strategies that differ by genotype are essentially required. Especially identification of genotypes will be useful in developing individualized treatments and determining national prevention strategies

Subacute THYROiditis Related to SARS-CoV-2 VAccine and Covid-19 (THYROVAC Study): A Multicenter Nationwide Study.

Context The aims of the study are to compare characteristics of subacute thyroiditis (SAT) related to different etiologies, and to identify predictors of recurrence of SAT and incident hypothyroidism. Methods This nationwide, multicenter, retrospective cohort study included 53 endocrinology centers in Turkey. The study participants were divided into either COVID-19-related SAT (Cov-SAT), SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related SAT (Vac-SAT), or control SAT (Cont-SAT) groups. Results Of the 811 patients, 258 (31.8%) were included in the Vac-SAT group, 98 (12.1%) in the Cov-SAT group, and 455 (56.1%) in the Cont-SAT group. No difference was found between the groups with regard to laboratory and imaging findings. SAT etiology was not an independent predictor of recurrence or hypothyroidism. In the entire cohort, steroid therapy requirement and younger age were statistically significant predictors for SAT recurrence. C-reactive protein measured during SAT onset, female sex, absence of antithyroid peroxidase (TPO) positivity, and absence of steroid therapy were statistically significant predictors of incident (early) hypothyroidism, irrespective of SAT etiology. On the other hand, probable predictors of established hypothyroidism differed from that of incident hypothyroidism. Conclusion Since there is no difference in terms of follow-up parameters and outcomes, COVID-19- and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-related SAT can be treated and followed up like classic SATs. Recurrence was determined by younger age and steroid therapy requirement. Steroid therapy independently predicts incident hypothyroidism that may sometimes be transient in overall SAT and is also associated with a lower risk of established hypothyroidism

Impact of Obesity on the Metabolic Control of Type 2 Diabetes: Results of the Turkish Nationwide Survey of Glycemic and Other Metabolic Parameters of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (TEMD Obesity Study)

Background: Obesity is the main obstacle for metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Turkey has the highest prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Europe. The effect of obesity on the metabolic control, and the macro-and microvascular complications of patients are not apparent. Objectives: This nationwide survey aimed to investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among patients with type 2 diabetes and to search for the impact of obesity on the metabolic control of these patients. We also investigated the independent associates of obesity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We consecutively enrolled patients who were under follow-up for at least 1 year in 69 tertiary healthcare units in 37 cities. The demographic, anthropometric, and clinical data including medications were recorded. Patients were excluded if they were pregnant, younger than 18 years, had decompensated liver disease, psychiatric disorders interfering with cognition or compliance, had bariatric surgery, or were undergoing renal replacement therapy. Results: Only 10% of patients with type 2 diabetes (n = 4,648) had normal body mass indexes (BMI), while the others were affected by overweight (31%) or obesity (59%). Women had a significantly higher prevalence of obesity (53.4 vs. 40%) and severe obesity (16.6 vs. 3.3%). Significant associations were present between high BMI levels and lower education levels, intake of insulin, antihypertensives and statins, poor metabolic control, or the presence of microvascular complications. Age, gender, level of education, smoking, and physical inactivity were the independent associates of obesity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Conclusion: The TEMD Obesity Study shows that obesity is a major determinant of the poor metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. These results underline the importance of prevention and management of obesity to improve health care in patients with type 2 diabetes. Also, the results point out the independent sociodemographic and clinical associates of obesity, which should be the prior targets to overcome, in the national fight with obesity. (c) 2019 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Base