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Objectives: In COVID-19 infection, oxidative stress occurs with the abnormal release of proinflammatory cytokines and the disruption of the balance between oxidants and antioxidants. In our study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), a biomarker of oxidative stress, and the severity of the disease in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Methods: One hundred and twenty-four hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 were included in the study. These patients were divided into critical and non-critical groups. Serum IMA levels were measured by the colorimetric albumin cobalt-binding method. The IMA-albumin ratio (IMAR) was calculated by dividing IMA values by albumin values. Results: The IMA and IMAR values of the critical COVID-19 group were statistically significantly higher than the non-critical group. In the multivariate analysis, the two variables IMAR and glucose were found to have the most important role in the severity of COVID-19 disease. For IMAR, the area under the ROC curve had a value of 0.725 (95% confidence interval 0.636-0.803). Conclusion: IMA and IMAR levels of the critical group were found to be higher than the non-critical group in COVID patients. We have observed that IMAR levels are associated with the severity of the disease and that IMAR is an independent prognostic risk factor for the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asprosin associated with insulin resistance is a newly discovered peptide hormone. The peptide promotes hepatic glucose production. Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic disorder. Insulin resistance plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of the disease. The aim of this study was to discover the association between insulin resistance and asprosin in women with PCOS. We recruited 78 subjects with PCOS and 78 age-matched and body mass index (BMI)-matched controls into this cross-sectional study. Circulating asprosin levels were validated using ELISA method. We also determined metabolic and hormonal parameters of the involved subjects. We found that circulating asprosin levels were elevated in women with PCOS with respect to controls. Asprosin levels showed a positive correlation with insulin resistance, BMI, and free androgen index (FAI). Moreover, subjects with the highest tertile of asprosin levels represented increased odds of having PCOS as compared to those subjects with the lowest tertile asprosin levels. Increased asprosin levels resulted to high possibility of having PCOS risk associated with insulin resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Emergency department laboratories, besides from giving accurate results, should be quick enough in order not to delay patient care. Giving fast results doesn’t mean to ignore quality, rather it should always be improved to prevent erroneous results. Six sigma is a modern assessment of quality which is used to determine the analytical performance. Our aim was to evaluate the analytical performance of clinical chemistry tests in our emergency department laboratory by using sigma metrics. Materials and methods: Our study was performed by using the internal and external quality assessment data of 13 clinical chemistry tests of emergency laboratory. Sigma levels were calculated using bias, coefficient of variation and total allowable error (TEa) ratios of CLIA, Ricos, Rilibak and Turkey. Results: Sigma levels of various tests (CK, amylase, ALT, AST, urea, creatinine, total bilirubin, sodium and chloride) were found to be ≥6 according to different TEa’s, whereas the performance of sodium, potassium and chloride were unsatisfactory, according to TEa’s of CLIA, Ricos and Rilibak. Conclusion: Since most of our sigma values were found to be over 3, the analytical performance of clinical chemistry tests was thought to be acceptable and our laboratory can be regarded as a qualified emergency laboratory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The interaction between biotin and streptavidin is the most powerful non-covalent biological interaction known, and some test manufacturers design tests using this strong interaction. High dose biotin-containing preparations used by patients may cause interference in these principled immunoassay systems. In our study, we aimed to evaluate biotin interference for thyrotropin (TSH), free thyroxine (fT4) and free triiodothyronine (fT3) which are exist in thyroid function test panel. Materials and Method: Biotin (Sigma-Aldrich, USA) was added at 7 different levels (5-12.5-25-50-100-200-500 ng/mL) to serum pools containing 3 different levels (low, normal, high) of TSH (0.072-1.107- 8.663 mIU/L), fT4 (0.46-1.073-2.86 ng/dL) and fT3 (1.56-2.71-5.8 ng/L). All analyzes were performed using the chemiluminescent immunoassay in Beckman Coulter DXI 800 (Beckman Coulter Inc., Fullerton, USA) analyzer. Following the addition of biotin, the change of the recovery value that > 10% accepted as significant interference. Results: In low, normal and high-level serum pools, the biotin levels at which the interference started (positive interference) were 12.5-25-25 ng/mL for fT3 and 5-12.5-5 ng/mL for fT4, respectively. No interference was observed after addition of biotin in the TSH assay. Conclusion: In the presence of a test result which does not correlate with the clinic, laboratory specialists should be aware that biotin may interfere with immunoassays, causing erroneous high or low results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]