Establishing reference intervals of coagulation indices based on the ACL Top 700 system for children in Southwestern Fujian, China

Abstract(#br)Background(#br)Till date, China has not issued industry standards for reference intervals (RIs) of pediatric blood coagulation indices. Here, we evaluated changes in the coagulation indices in the venous blood of healthy children aged 29 days to 12 years derived using the ACL Top 700 system and established appropriate RIs.(#br)Methods(#br)We analyzed venous blood from 1770 healthy children for five coagulation indices. RIs were established according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute C28-A3c guideline.(#br)Results(#br)The coagulation indices were grouped by age. For prothrombin time (PT) and international normalization ratio (INR), the RIs of infants and toddlers were identical; preschool children had the same RI as school-age children. Pediatric RIs for PT and INR were slightly lower than those for adults. The RIs of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), and fibrinogen (FIB) in childhood were divided into two groups by age (1 month to 1 year and 1–12 years). The RI of APTT in infants was the widest; the overall level of FIB in infants was the lowest; children’s APTT and FIB RIs were lower than those of adults. The pattern of TT values and RI trends in childhood were similar to those of APTT.(#br)Conclusions(#br)There were minor changes in the RIs of coagulation indices for children. The RIs of PT, INR, APTT, TT, and FIB must be grouped by age. The RIs of coagulation indices for children were different from those for adults; therefore, establishing separate RIs for children is necessary

Establishing reference intervals of coagulation indices based on the ACL Top 700 system for children in Southwestern Fujian, China.

BACKGROUND(#br)Till date, China has not issued industry standards for reference intervals (RIs) of pediatric blood coagulation indices. Here, we evaluated changes in the coagulation indices in the venous blood of healthy children aged 29 days to 12 years derived using the ACL Top 700 system and established appropriate RIs.(#br)METHODS(#br)We analyzed venous blood from 1770 healthy children for five coagulation indices. RIs were established according to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute C28-A3c guideline.(#br)RESULTS(#br)The coagulation indices were grouped by age. For prothrombin time (PT) and international normalization ratio (INR), the RIs of infants and toddlers were identical; preschool children had the same RI as school-age children. Pediatric RIs for PT and INR were slightly lower than those for adults. The RIs of activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), thrombin time (TT), and fibrinogen (FIB) in childhood were divided into two groups by age (1 month to 1 year and 1-12 years). The RI of APTT in infants was the widest; the overall level of FIB in infants was the lowest; children’s APTT and FIB RIs were lower than those of adults. The pattern of TT values and RI trends in childhood were similar to those of APTT.(#br)CONCLUSIONS(#br)There were minor changes in the RIs of coagulation indices for children. The RIs of PT, INR, APTT, TT, and FIB must be grouped by age. The RIs of coagulation indices for children were different from those for adults; therefore, establishing separate RIs for children is necessary

Metabolomics in the Development and Progression of Dementia: A Systematic Review

Dementia has become a major global public health challenge with a heavy economic burden. It is urgently necessary to understand dementia pathogenesis and to identify biomarkers predicting risk of dementia in the preclinical stage for prevention, monitoring, and treatment. Metabolomics provides a novel approach for the identification of biomarkers of dementia. This systematic review aimed to examine and summarize recent retrospective cohort human studies assessing circulating metabolite markers, detected using high-throughput metabolomics, in the context of disease progression to dementia, including incident mild cognitive impairment, all-cause dementia, and cognitive decline. We systematically searched the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases for retrospective cohort human studies assessing associations between blood (plasma or serum) metabolomics profile and cognitive decline and risk of dementia from inception through October 15, 2018. We identified 16 studies reporting circulating metabolites and risk of dementia, and six regarding cognitive performance change. Concentrations of several blood metabolites, including lipids (higher phosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, and lysophophatidylcholine, and lower docosahexaenoic acid and high-density lipoprotein subfractions), amino acids (lower branched-chain amino acids, creatinine, and taurine, and higher glutamate, glutamine, and anthranilic acid), and steroids were associated with cognitive decline and the incidence or progression of dementia. Circulating metabolites appear to be associated with the risk of dementia. Metabolomics could be a promising tool in dementia biomarker discovery. However, standardization and consensus guidelines for study design and analytical techniques require future development

Scaffold Structural Microenvironmental Cues to Guide Tissue Regeneration in Bone Tissue Applications

In the process of bone regeneration, new bone formation is largely affected by physico-chemical cues in the surrounding microenvironment. Tissue cells reside in a complex scaffold physiological microenvironment. The scaffold should provide certain circumstance full of structural cues to enhance multipotent mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation, osteoblast growth, extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, and subsequent new bone formation. This article reviewed advances in fabrication technology that enable the creation of biomaterials with well-defined pore structure and surface topography, which can be sensed by host tissue cells (esp., stem cells) and subsequently determine cell fates during differentiation. Three important cues, including scaffold pore structure (i.e., porosity and pore size), grain size, and surface topography were studied. These findings improve our understanding of how the mechanism scaffold microenvironmental cues guide bone tissue regeneration

Establishment of reference intervals for thyroid hormones in premature infants beyond the first week of life using Beckman Coulter Unicel DxI 800.

BACKGROUND(#br)This 4-year retrospective cohort study aimed to establish reference intervals for free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and thyrotropin (TSH) in premature infants using the Beckman Coulter Unicel DxI 800 automated immunoassay system.(#br)METHODS(#br)Study subjects included 605 preterm infants with a gestational age of 26-36 weeks (corrected: 29-38 weeks). Pearson correlation was used to evaluate the association between hormone levels and gestational and corrected gestational ages. A nonparametric method was used to establish reference intervals based on corrected gestational age.(#br)RESULTS(#br)FT3 and FT4 levels were positively correlated with gestational and corrected gestational ages, respectively. TSH levels were slightly negatively correlated with gestational and corrected gestational ages. FT3 significantly differed according to corrected gestational age (29-33 weeks vs 34-38 weeks); however, the difference was smaller than the reference change value (RCV) for the FT3 test. Thus, we combined the FT3 reference intervals into a single reference interval: 2.65-4.93 pmol/L (29-38 weeks). The reference intervals of FT4 and TSH were 11.20-24.97 pmol/L (29-38 weeks) and 1.01-10.14 mIU/L (29-38 weeks), respectively.(#br)CONCLUSIONS(#br)Unlike those of full-term infants or adults, the reference intervals established in this study are applicable in premature infants. These results highlight the importance and complexity of establishing instrument-specific thyroid hormone reference intervals for preterm infants

Establishment of reference intervals for thyroid hormones in premature infants beyond the first week of life using Beckman Coulter Unicel DxI 800

Abstract(#br)Background(#br)This 4-year retrospective cohort study aimed to establish reference intervals for free triiodothyronine (FT3), free thyroxine (FT4), and thyrotropin (TSH) in premature infants using the Beckman Coulter Unicel DxI 800 automated immunoassay system.(#br)Methods(#br)Study subjects included 605 preterm infants with a gestational age of 26–36 weeks (corrected: 29–38 weeks). Pearson correlation was used to evaluate the association between hormone levels and gestational and corrected gestational ages. A nonparametric method was used to establish reference intervals based on corrected gestational age.(#br)Results(#br)FT3 and FT4 levels were positively correlated with gestational and corrected gestational ages, respectively. TSH levels were slightly negatively correlated with gestational and corrected gestational ages. FT3 significantly differed according to corrected gestational age (29–33 weeks vs 34–38 weeks); however, the difference was smaller than the reference change value (RCV) for the FT3 test. Thus, we combined the FT3 reference intervals into a single reference interval: 2.65–4.93 pmol/L (29–38 weeks). The reference intervals of FT4 and TSH were 11.20–24.97 pmol/L (29–38 weeks) and 1.01–10.14 mIU/L (29–38 weeks), respectively.(#br)Conclusions(#br)Unlike those of full-term infants or adults, the reference intervals established in this study are applicable in premature infants. These results highlight the importance and complexity of establishing instrument-specific thyroid hormone reference intervals for preterm infants

Efficient Phytase Secretion and Phytate Degradation by Recombinant Bifidobacterium longum JCM 1217

Genetic engineering of probiotics, like bifidobacteria, may improve their microbial cell factory economy. This work designed a novel shuttle plasmid pBPES, which bears exogenous appA and is stable within Bifidobacterium longum JCM 1217. Cloning of three predicted promoters into pBPES proved that all of them drive appA expression in B. longum JCM 1217. Transformation of plasmids pBPES-tu and pBPES-groEL into B. longum JCM1217 resulted in much more phytase secretion suggests Ptu and PgroEL are strong promoters. Further in vitro and in vivo experiments suggested B. longum JCM 1217/pBPES-tu degrades phytate efficiently. In conclusion, the study screened two stronger promoters and constructed a recombinant live probiotic strain for effectively phytase secretion and phytate degradation in gut. The strategy used in the study provided a novel technique for improving the bioaccessibility of phytate and decreasing phosphorus excretion