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Since no definitive cure for COVID-19 is available so far, one of the challenges against the disease is understanding the clinical features and the laboratory inflammatory markers that can differentiate among different severity grades of the disease. The aim of the present study is a comprehensive and longitudinal evaluation of SCD14-ST and other new inflammatory markers, as well as cytokine storm molecules and current inflammatory parameters, in order to define a panel of biomarkers that could be useful for a better prognostic prediction of COVID-19 mortality. SCD14-ST, as well as the inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-10, SuPAR and sRAGE, were measured in plasma-EDTA of ICU COVID-19 positive patients. In this longitudinal study, SCD14-ST resulted significantly higher in patients who eventually died compared to those who were discharged from the ICU. The results suggest that the new infection biomarker SCD14-ST, in addition to new generation inflammatory biomarkers, such as SuPAR, sRAGE and the cytokines IL-6 and IL-10, can be a useful prognostic tool associated with canonical inflammatory parameters, such as CRP, to predict SARS-CoV-2 outcome in ICU patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Due to the fact that pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) is a highly infectious respiratory disease characterized by high herd susceptibility and hard to be treated, this study aimed to search novel effective biomarkers to improve the prognosis and treatment of PTB patients.Methods: Firstly, bioinformatics analysis was performed to identify PTB-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from GEO database, which were then subjected to GO annotation and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis to initially describe their functions. Afterwards, clustering analysis was conducted to identify PTB-related gene clusters and relevant PPI networks were established using the STRING database.Results: Based on the further differential and clustering analyses, 10 DEGs decreased during PTB development were identified and considered as candidate hub genes. Besides, we retrospectively analyzed some relevant studies and found that 7 genes (CCL20, PTGS2, ICAM1, TIMP1, MMP9, CXCL8 and IL6) presented an intimate correlation with PTB development and had the potential serving as biomarkers.Conclusions: Overall, this study provides a theoretical basis for research on novel biomarkers of PTB, and helps to estimate PTB prognosis as well as probe into targeted molecular treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this work, we developed benchtop and handheld Giant Magnetoresistive (GMR) biosensing systems that serve as platforms for detecting a wide variety of protein biomarkers for human diseases. System development included spintronic and nanomagnetic materials, biomolecular chemistry, electronic circuitry, analog and digital signal processing, firmware programming, user interface programming on both PC and Android smartphone, communications over both USB and Bluetooth, and mechanical integration. In this work, we demonstrated the benchtop GMR biosensing system in the context of ovarian cancer assay development. The prototype system delivered the required performance in terms of high-sensitivity multiplex assays in a portable format with enough flexibility to serve as a platform for ovarian cancer and many other diseases. We achieved multiplex detection of cancer antigen 125 (CA125 II), human epididymis protein 4 (HE4), and interleukin 6 (IL6), with limits of detection (LOD) as low as 3.7 U/mL, 7.4 pg/mL, and 7.4 pg/mL, respectively. Highlights • development of a portable, multiplex, and high sensitivity biosensing system. • multiplex assay with protein biomarkers for detection of ovarian cancer. • highly sensitive simultaneous detection of three biomarkers in a portable device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a sensitive immune-biosensing system capable of multiplexed, real-time electrical readout was developed based on giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensor array to detect a panel of protein biomarkers simultaneously. PAPP-A, PCSK9, and ST2 have been regarded as promising candidate biomarkers for cardiovascular diseases. Early detection of multiple biomarkers for a disease could enable accurate prediction of a disease risk. 64 nano-size GMR sensors were assembled onto one 16 mm×16 mm chip with a reaction well, and they could work independently and be monitored simultaneously. A detect limit of 40 pg/mL for ST2 antigen had been achieved, and the dynamic ranges for the three proteins detection were up to four orders of magnitude. The GMR sensing platform was also selective enough to be directly used in serum samples. In addition, a lab-based probe station has been designed to implement quick lab-on-a-chip experiments instead of wire bonding. It has a potential application in clinical biomarkers identification and screening, and can be extended to fit other biosensing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) possess unique spectral responses to AC magnetic field and we can use this specific magnetic property of MNPs as “colors” in the detection. In this paper, a detection scheme for magnetic nanoparticle size distribution is demonstrated by using an MNPs and search-coils integrated detection system. A low frequency (50 Hz) sinusoidal magnetic field is applied to drive MNPs into saturated region. Then a high frequency sinusoidal field sweeping from 5 kHz to 35 kHz is applied in order to generate mixing frequency signals, which are collected by a pair of balanced search coils. These harmonics are highly specific to the nonlinearity of magnetization curve of the MNPs. Previous work focused on using the amplitude and phase of the 3rd harmonic or the amplitude ratio of the 5th harmonic over 3rd harmonic. Here we demonstrate to use the amplitude and phase information of both 3rd and 5th harmonics as magnetic “colors” of MNPs. It is found that this method effectively reduces the magnetic colorization error. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]