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We report two cases of SARS-CoV-2 recombinant variant XE detected in nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) of hospitalized patients with no evident epidemiological link in Lazio, Central Italy. Whole-Genome Sequencing (WGS) performed on an Ion Torrent GSS5 platform according to Italian flash surveys showed genomes corresponding to the PANGOLIN unclassified lineage and the Nextclade XE clade. Further analyses were then carried out to investigate more deeply the genetic characteristics of these XE-like sequences. When phylogenetic trees, by using IQ-TREE, were built splitting the genome into two regions according to the putative XE recombination site, the upstream and downstream regions were seen to be clustered near BA.1 and BA.2 sequences, respectively. However, our XE-like sequences clustered separately, with a significant bootstrap, from the classified European and Italian XE strains, although the recombination site between BA.1 and BA.2 was identified at the nucleotide site 11556 by RDP4 software, consistent with the putative XE breakpoint. These findings show the risk of the introduction of novel recombinant variants of SARS-CoV-2 and the existence of XE-like strains, phylogenetically separated, that could make their exact taxonomy difficult. It follows the need for continued SARS-CoV-2 surveillance by WGS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) measurement provides the most important medium to long-term marker of time-averaged glycemic status. Its relationship to clinical outcome in diabetes has been convincingly demonstrated for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The main HbA1c measurement methods for clinical routine are as follows: ion-exchange chromatography; affinity chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, immunoassay and enzymatic methods. In this study, we evaluated the analytical performances of a new HPLC instrument (Tosoh HLC-723 G11 in the VAR mode) in HbA1c analysis and compared it with a capillary electrophoresis instrument (Sebia Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing). HbA1c analysis was performed in parallel by both methods for 250 samples randomly chosen from healthy and diabetic subjects at 'Tor Vergata' University Hospital of Rome. Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed good reproducibility for 10 days both in quality controls and in samples analyzed (%CV < 2%). We found good linearity for HbA1c values ranging from 15 mmol/mol (3.5%) to 178 mmol/mol (18.5%), with a correlation coefficient R2 = 1. In a comparison between Tosoh HLC-723 G11 and Capillarys 2FP a good correlation (r = 0.99) was found; however, Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed higher values in the low range of HbA1c and lower in the high range (Tosoh HLC-723 G11 = 4.3043 + 0.913 Capillarys 2FP; p < 0.001). Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed good repeatability, reproducibility, accuracy and automated simplicity, and it seemed suitable for routine use in clinical chemistry laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glycated hemoglobin (HbA 1c ) measurement provides the most important medium to long-term marker of time-averaged glycemic status. Its relationship to clinical outcome in diabetes has been convincingly demonstrated for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The main HbA 1c measurement methods for clinical routine are as follows: ion-exchange chromatography; affinity chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, immunoassay and enzymatic methods. In this study, we evaluated the analytical performances of a new HPLC instrument (Tosoh HLC-723 G11 in the VAR mode) in HbA 1c analysis and compared it with a capillary electrophoresis instrument (Sebia Capillarys 2 Flex Piercing). HbA 1c analysis was performed in parallel by both methods for 250 samples randomly chosen from healthy and diabetic subjects at 'Tor Vergata' University Hospital of Rome. Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed good reproducibility for 10 days both in quality controls and in samples analyzed (%CV < 2%). We found good linearity for HbA1c values ranging from 15 mmol/mol (3.5%) to 178 mmol/mol (18.5%), with a correlation coefficient R 2  = 1. In a comparison between Tosoh HLC-723 G11 and Capillarys 2FP a good correlation (r = 0.99) was found; however, Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed higher values in the low range of HbA 1c and lower in the high range (Tosoh HLC-723 G11 = 4.3043 + 0.913 Capillarys 2FP; p < 0.001). Tosoh HLC-723 G11 showed good repeatability, reproducibility, accuracy and automated simplicity, and it seemed suitable for routine use in clinical chemistry laboratories.