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Background: The information on mortality after an acute stroke patient is still limited., Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the prognostic potential of procalcitonin (PCT) serum levels in acute ischemic stroke., Methods: A total of 748 patients were enrolled in this study. Prognostic potential of PCT was evaluated by Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariable Cox hazard regression analyses., Results: Procalcitonin levels were found to be significantly higher in acute ischemic stroke patients who died in 30 days than those who survived. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that PCT was significantly associated with 30-day mortality, and Cox regression analysis revealed that PCT was a strong predictor of 30-day overall mortality. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that overall cumulative 30-day mortality was significantly higher in those with PCT levels >1.5 ng/mL when compared to those with PCT levels <1.5 ng/mL., Conclusions: Procalcitonin is a significant independent prognostic marker of 30-day mortality after the one set of acute ischemic stroke., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Purpose: There is growing evidence that the immune system plays an important role in the progression of Parkinson's disease, the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. This study aims to address the comprehensive understanding of the immunopathogenesis of Parkinson's disease and explore new inflammatory biomarkers. Patients and Methods: In this study, Immune-related differential expressed genes (DEIRGs) were obtained from GEO database and Immport database. The hub gene was screened in DEIRGs using LASSO regression and random forest algorithm, and the mRNA expression of the identified hub gene was validated using clinical blood samples. Results: We obtained a total of 157 DEIRGs that played an important role in the immune response. The results of immune cell infiltration analysis showed that the degree of memory B cells infiltration was higher in PD patients, while the degree of Monocytes, resting mast cells and M0 macrophages infiltration was lower (p< 0.05). A total of 8 hub genes were screened by machine learning methods, and RT-PCR results showed that the expression level of CBL gene in PD was significantly increased (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CBL is a new potential diagnostic biomarker for PD and that abnormal immune cell infiltration may influence PD development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Ischemia-modified protein (IMA) is the most sensitive diagnostic biomarker of ischemic heart disease, but differentiation of IMA from human serum albumin (HSA), a ubiquitous serum protein, is still challenging owing to the shared antigenicity. In this investigation, we developed a rapid and interference-free approach for IMA determination using quantum dots-coupled X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy (Q-XRF). In a typical Q-XRF assay, serum total HSA is quantified using quantum dot-coupled sandwich immunoassay, and intact HSA (iHSA) is determined using a XRF spectroscopy, by measuring XRF intensity of Co (II) bonded to iHSA. IMA concentration is automatically determined within 30min by calculating the difference between total HSA and iHSA. This strategy can effectively eliminate the interference from native HSA level. Results show that no significant influences have been observed from hemolysis or high levels of cholesterol (7mg/L), triglyceride (5.2mg/L), IgG (10g/L), and fibrinogen (4g/L). A linearity of 1–100mg/mL is obtained in iHSA determination using XRF (r 2=0.979). The proposed Q-XRF assay demonstrates a lowest detection limit of 0.05U/mL. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves reveal that Q-XRF assay provide an improved sensitivity than ACB assay (95.9% vs. 82.9%) in differentiating ischemic patients from health individuals, at an optimal cutoff point of 79.2U/mL. The proposed approach provides a new strategy for interference-free, simple and rapid evaluation of IMA concentration by combining sandwich immunoassay and XRF spectroscopy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]