Search

Background: To explore the epidemiological characteristics of allergic rhinitis (AR) and allergic conjunctivitis (AC) based on the Internet big data. Methods: The Baidu index (BDI) of keywords "allergic rhinitis" and "allergic conjunctivitis" in Mandarin, the daily pollen concentration (PC) released by the Beijing Meteorological Bureau and the volumes of outpatient visits (OV) of the Beijing Tongren Hospital (Beijing) and the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou) from 2017 to 2020 were obtained. The temporal and spatial changes of AR and AC were discussed. The correlations between BDI and PC/OV were analyzed by Spearman correlation analysis. Results: The trends of BDI of "AR"/"AC" in Beijing showed obvious seasonal variations, but not in Guangzhou. The BDI of "AR" and "AC" was consistent with the OV in both cities (r1AR-BJ=0.580, P< 0.001; r1AR-GZ=0.360, P=0.031; r1AC-BJ=0.885, P< 0.001; r1AC-GZ=0.694, P< 0.001). The BDI of "AR" and "AC" was highly consistent with the change of the PC in Beijing (r AR-Pollen=0.826, P< 0.001; r AC-Pollen=0.564, P< 0.001). The OV of AR in Beijing and Guangzhou decreased significantly in the first half of 2020, but there was no significant change in AC. In the first half of 2020, the OV of AC in Beijing was significantly higher than that of AR, while that of AC in Guangzhou was slightly higher than that of AR. Conclusion: The BDI could reflect the real-world situation to some extent and has the potential to predict the epidemiological characteristics of AR and AC. The BDI and OV of AR decreased significantly, but those of AC were still at a high level, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the environment where most people in Beijing and Guangzhou wore masks without eye protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Provide guidance for the selection or optimization of RT-PCR diagnostic test kits for SARS-CoV-2. • Provides laboratory methods for clinical laboratories to verify the performance of SARS-CoV-2 kits and avoid false negative results. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has caused a global pandemic beginning in 2020, can be detected by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). However, owing to the urgent need for a large number of detection kits, the time spent researching and developing these kits has been shortened during the pandemic, and the kits that are being used commercially have not undergone full and independent evaluation. To ensure the accuracy of SARS-CoV-2 test results, performance verification of commercial Real-Time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) kits is required. The performance of five commercial RT-qPCR diagnostic kits for SARS-CoV-2 used in China was evaluated using a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) RNA liquid performance verification reference product-manufactured by Guangzhou Bondson (BDS) Biotechnology Co., Ltd.,Guangzhou, China-that uses droplet digital RT-PCR technology combined with fluorescence quantitative PCR. The five kits of Novel Coronavirus 2019-nCoV nucleic acid detection kit (RT-qPCR method) evaluated were Da An (Da An Gene Co., Ltd. of Sun Yat-sen University), Liferiver (Shanghai ZJ Bio-Tech Co., Ltd.), Kinghawk (Beijing Kinghawk Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), eDiagnosis (Wuhan Easy Diagnosis Biomedicine Co., Ltd.), and Maccura (Maccura Biotechnology Co., Ltd.). Performance verification criteria included the coincidence rate, limit of detection (LoD), cross-reactivity, precision, and anti-interference. Finally, through the BDS performance verification reference product kit, clinical samples are used to verify its clinical diagnostic efficacy. The coincidence rate was 100% for all kits except for Kinghawk, which was 95%. The LoD for Da An, eDiagnosis and Maccura was 250copies/mL, and it was 1000 copies/ml for Liferiver. Kinghawk was not able to detect its advertised LoD of 500 copies/ml. The cross-reactivity test results were all negative. Moreover, all kits had a coefficient of variation less than 5%; however, Liferiver showed the best precision. Da An, Liferiver, and eDiagnosis showed higher sensitivity to the nucleocapsid (N) gene than they did to the open reading frame (ORF) 1ab genes. Anti-interference results for all five kits were positive. The results of clinical diagnostic efficacy were that the specificity of the four kits was 1.000 (0.877–1.000), the sensitivity of Da An was 1.000 (0.850–1.000), Liferiver was 0.964 (0.798–0.998), Maccura was 0.893 (0.706–0.972), and eDiagnosis was 0.857 (0.664–0.953). All commercial RT-qPCR diagnostic kits for SARS-CoV-2 passed the BDS performance verification, except for Kinghawk (batch No:20200608113) which failed to detect the LoD of 500 copies/mL. Da An and Liferiver have excellent clinical diagnostic specificity and sensitivity. This study can provide guidance for the selection or optimization of RT-qPCR diagnostic test kits for SARS-CoV-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Incidence of CH in same-sex twins is much higher than that in general population. • Distinguishing same-sex twins and different-sex twins is more feasible in screening. • In cases with a positive result in a same-sex twin, the other one should be recall. • Specific screening guidelines should be evaluated for all same-sex twins. We estimated the incidence of CH in twins, analyse the clinical features of CH cases in twins and further evaluate the CH screening strategy and recall procedures for twins. A retrospective investigation of the screening results and confirmed cases in 724,791 newborns was conducted from 2015 to 2017 in Guangzhou. Clinical features were compared between twins with CH and singletons with CH. In addition, the twins were further divided into same-sex twins and different-sex twins to analyse the characteristics and incidence of CH and to compare differences in the confirmed cases in the 2 groups. The incidence of CH in same-sex twins was 1/593, which was much higher than the incidence of CH in singletons (1/1323) and different-sex twins (1/3060). Of the 20 twins diagnosed with CH, 17 were same-sex twins and 3 were different-sex twins. Among the six pairs of same-sex twins with CH, four had TSH inconsistency, which reached 67%. Eight of the 17 cases of same-sex twins diagnosed with CH had negative results at the first screening. Distinguishing same-sex twins from different-sex twins during newborn screening is more feasible. The incidence of CH in same-sex twins is much higher than that in the general population and the risk of transient CH is relatively high. In positive cases in same-sex twins, the simultaneous recall of the twin can effectively avoid a missed diagnosis. The screening center should properly evaluate the recall strategy and screening procedure for twins, especially twins of the same-sex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]