Immature Platelet Fraction in Thrombocytopenic Patients

Bone marrow puncture (BMP), is usually performed to identify thrombopoiesis activity and is still the gold standard to determine the etiology of thrombocytopenia. This diagnostic test is invasive hence it may cause discomfort to the patient. One of noninvasive test to determine the etiology of thrombocytopenia is by measuring immature platelet fraction (IPF). IPF is highly correlated to the activity of thrombopoiesis and by understanding the value, clinicians are able to use it in determining whether or not invasive examination is needed and more importantly avoiding unnecessary platelet transfusion. This research was a cross-sectional descriptive observational study aimed to evaluate IPF value in thrombocytopenic inpatients in the Department of Internal Medicine, Haji Adam Malik Hospital Medan. 83 people were recruited, 48 were female (57.83%) and 35 were male (42.16%). IPF values ranged 0,5-59,6% using Sysmex XN-1000 (reference range 1-4,8%). There were 5 (6.02%) low IPF values, 29 (34.93%) normal IPF values and 49 (59.03%) high IPF values. Evaluation of IPF in thrombocytopenic patients is a promising tool to discriminate central from peripheral thrombocytopenia.

Peritoneal Effluent MicroRNA Profile in Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis

Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is a catastrophic complication of chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD). Late diagnosis is associated with high mortality. With the advancement of new diagnostic technologies, such as microRNA (miRNA), we attempted to develop a noninvasive test to assist in the diagnosis of EPS. The eight-hour PD effluents were collected from 71 non-EPS and 56 EPS patients. The screening set included 28 samples (20 of non-EPS vs. 8 of EPS). After analyzing the ratio values of two miRNA expression levels from the high-throughput real-time PCR-array of 377 miRNAs, eight candidate miRNAs were selected. The prediction model was conducted using 127 samples (71 of non-EPS vs 56 of EPS) to produce an area under the curve (AUC) value of the miRNA classifier. Candidate miRNAs were also verified by single real-time PCR. The ratios of the five miRNAs with the top five ROC values were selected to calculate the combined AUC by multiple logistic regression. The AUC value to detect EPS with the five miRNA ratios was 0.8929 with an accuracy of 78.7%. The accuracy of the EPS diagnosis was further optimized to 94.1% after considering clinical characteristics (AUC value 0.9931). A signature-based model of clinical characteristics and miRNA expression in PD effluents can efficiently assist in the diagnosis of EPS, thus preventing the catastrophic prognosis.

Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube-Based Biosensors for Detection of Bronchial Inflammation

Inflammation is a protective mechanism against invading pathogens and tissue damage. However, the inflammatory process is implicated in a wide range of diseases affecting all organs and body systems. Nitric oxide — a multifunctional signaling molecule that plays a critical role in systemic blood pressure homeostasis, prevention of platelet aggregation, antimicrobial resistance, immunoregulation, tumor suppression and as a neurotransmitter — is used as a surrogate marker for inflammation. However, the most commonly used Griess assay is an indirect and expensive method for the determination of nitric oxide concentration. Hence, single-walled carbon nanotube-based biosensors have been explored as real-time, sensitive, selective and safe methods to determine nitric oxide released during the inflammatory process. In this review, we explore current developments in single-walled carbon nanotube-based biosensors for the detection of nitric oxide in exhaled breath as a direct and noninvasive test for detection of bronchial inflammation.

Functional evaluation of the diaphragm with a noninvasive test

Cardiac surgery with median sternotomy causes iatrogenic damage to the function of the diaphragm muscle that is both temporary and permanent. Myocardial infarction itself causes diaphragmatic genetic alterations, which lead the muscle to nonphysiological adaptation. The respiratory muscle area plays several roles in maintaining both physical and mental health, as well as in maximizing recovery after a cardiac event. The evaluation of the diaphragm is a fundamental step in the therapeutic process, including the use of instruments such as ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed axial tomography (CT). This article reviews the neurophysiological relationships of the diaphragm muscle and the symptoms of diaphragmatic contractile dysfunction. The authors discuss a scientific basis for the use of a new noninstrumental diaphragmatic test in the hope of stimulating research.

Peritoneal Effluent MicroRNA Profile in Encapsulating Peritoneal Sclerosis

Background: Encapsulating peritoneal sclerosis (EPS) is a catastrophic complication of chronic peritoneal dialysis (PD). Late diagnosis is associated with high mortality. With the advancement of new diagnostic technologies, such as microRNA (miRNA), we attempted to develop a noninvasive test to assist in the diagnosis of EPS. Methods: MiRNA expression profiles of PD effluents from patients with or without EPS were examined by a high-throughput real-time PCR array to first screen candidate miRNAs. Candidate miRNAs were verified by single real-time PCR. The model for EPS prediction was evaluated by multiple logistic regression. Results: We collected eight-hour PD effluents from 71 non-EPS and 56 EPS patients. The screening set included 28 samples (20 of non-EPS vs. 8 of EPS). After analyzing the ratio values of two miRNA expression levels from the PCR-array of 377 miRNAs, eight candidate miRNAs were selected. The prediction model was conducted using 127 samples (71 of non-EPS vs 56 of EPS) to produce an area under the curve (AUC) value of the miRNA classifier. The ratios of the five miRNAs with the top five ROC values were selected to calculate the combined AUC by logistic regression. The AUC value to detect EPS with the five miRNA ratios was 0.8929 with an accuracy of 78.7%. The accuracy of the EPS diagnosis was further improved to 94.1% after considering clinical characteristics (AUC value 0.9931). Conclusions: A signature-based model of clinical characteristics and miRNA expression in PD effluents can efficiently assist in the diagnosis of EPS, thus preventing the catastrophic prognosis.

Deep Learning Algorithm for Management of Diabetes Mellitus via Electrocardiogram-Based Glycated Hemoglobin (ECG-HbA1c): A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) provides information on diabetes mellitus (DM) management. Electrocardiography (ECG) is a noninvasive test of cardiac activity that has been determined to be related to DM and its complications. This study developed a deep learning model (DLM) to estimate HbA1c via ECG. Methods: there were 104,823 ECGs with corresponding HbA1c or fasting glucose which were utilized to train a DLM for calculating ECG-HbA1c. Next, 1539 cases from outpatient departments and health examination centers provided 2190 ECGs for initial validation, and another 3293 cases with their first ECGs were employed to analyze its contributions to DM management. The primary analysis was used to distinguish patients with and without mild to severe DM, and the secondary analysis was to explore the predictive value of ECG-HbA1c for future complications, which included all-cause mortality, new-onset chronic kidney disease (CKD), and new-onset heart failure (HF). Results: we used a gender/age-matching strategy to train a DLM to achieve the best AUCs of 0.8255 with a sensitivity of 71.9% and specificity of 77.7% in a follow-up cohort with correlation of 0.496 and mean absolute errors of 1.230. The stratified analysis shows that DM presented in patients with fewer comorbidities was significantly more likely to be detected by ECG-HbA1c. Patients with higher ECG-HbA1c under the same Lab-HbA1c exhibited worse physical conditions. Of interest, ECG-HbA1c may contribute to the mortality (gender/age adjusted hazard ratio (HR): 1.53, 95% conference interval (CI): 1.08–2.17), new-onset CKD (HR: 1.56, 95% CI: 1.30–1.87), and new-onset HF (HR: 1.51, 95% CI: 1.13–2.01) independently of Lab-HbA1c. An additional impact of ECG-HbA1c on the risk of all-cause mortality (C-index: 0.831 to 0.835, p < 0.05), new-onset CKD (C-index: 0.735 to 0.745, p < 0.01), and new-onset HF (C-index: 0.793 to 0.796, p < 0.05) were observed in full adjustment models. Conclusion: the ECG-HbA1c could be considered as a novel biomarker for screening DM and predicting the progression of DM and its complications.

Evaluating of Red Blood Cell Distribution Width, Comorbidities and Electrocardiographic Ratios as Predictors of Prognosis in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension

Pulmonary hypertension is a rare condition that impairs patients’ quality of life and life expectancy. The development of noninvasive instruments may help elucidate the prognosis of this cardiorespiratory disease. We aimed to evaluate the utility of routinely performed noninvasive test results as prognostic markers in patients with pulmonary hypertension. We enrolled 198 patients with mean pulmonary artery pressure >25 mmHg measured at cardiac catheterisation or echocardiographic pulmonary artery systolic pressure > 40 mmHg and tricuspid regurgitation Vmax >2.9 m/s, and clinical information regarding management and follow-up studies from the date of diagnosis. Multivariate analysis revealed that female sex [HR: 0.21, (95% CI: 0.07–0.64); p = 0.006], the presence of collagenopathies [HR: 8.63, (95% CI: 2.38–31.32); p = 0.001], an increased red blood cell distribution width [HR: 1.25, (95% CI: 1.04–1.49); p = 0.017] and an increased electrocardiographic P axis (P°)/T axis (T°) ratio [HR: 0.93, (95% CI: 0.88–0.98); p = 0.009] were severity-associated factors, while older age [HR: 1.57, (95% CI: 1.04–1.28); p = 0.006], an increased QRS axis (QRS°)/T° ratio [HR: 1.21, (95% CI: 1.09–1.34); p < 0.001], forced expiratory volume in 1 s [HR: 0.94, (95% CI: 0.91–0.98); p = 0.01] and haematocrit [HR: 0.93, (95% CI: 0.87–0.99); p = 0.04] were mortality-associated factors. Our results support the importance of red blood cell distribution width, electrocardiographic ratios and collagenopathies for assessing pulmonary hypertension prognosis.

Prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and its Associated Risk Factors among symptomatic Residents of Sulaimani city, Kurdistan region, Iraq, 2020

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria are a microaerobic Gram negative that colonizes in the gastric and duodenum of human. It can cause prolong infection in the human life if not treated. Many of the studies showed that infection by H. pylori can cause some important gastrointestinal illness, such as peptic ulcer, chronic gastritis, gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. Recurrence is generally considered as H. pylori recrudescence infection after one year of eradicated treatment. There are many factors involved in the H pylori reinfection, such as the epidemiology of H. pylori infection, condition of the live, development of economical state, and health conditions. The Objectives of this study were to estimate the incidence and determine the risk factors of infection by H. pylori bacteria in dyspeptic patients in Sulaimani city. And the Aims are to estimate prevalence of the Helicobacter pylori and patients’ characteristics in Sulaimani city. This is a cross-sectional study, using a Urea breath test or stained the gastric sample with Giemsa stain, which is including adult participants aged (12-87) years during the period starting from 1 January until 31 December 2020 on Iraqi male and female patients were visiting –Center for Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Sulaimani, city, Iraq. Three hundred and four patients were included, all of them underwent Urea breath test only but eighty-one of the participants underwent endoscopy and stained the gastric sample with Giemsa stain. Urea breath test for Helicobacter pylori was positive in54.9% which have significant correlation with risk factor findings. Results: the incidence rate of H. pylori infection in our study is 54.9%, and mean age of the study participants was (40.49 ±16.39) one hundred and ninety-one cases 62.8% were female and 113 cases 37.2%were male. Infection by H. pylori bacteria is rife in dyspeptic patients; and is more common in the age group of 31-40 years. One of noninvasive test to diagnosis H. pylori is Urea breath test. In conclusions the rate of helicobacter pylori infection in our study is 54.9% among the symptomatic patients, and the overall incidence of H. pylori UBT and Giemsa stain detection rate were 73.4 and 26.6% respectively.