Ensuring internal quality control practices in medical Laboratories: IFCC recommendations for practical applications based on ISO 15189:2022.

This document describes the guidance on implementing and monitoring an IQC strategy that fulfills the requirements of the Standard ISO 15189:2022. It also explores the practical application of these principles in daily IQC processes within medical laboratories. The goal is to provide a practical, user-friendly resource that not only explains the Standard's requirements but also equips laboratory professionals with the tools and knowledge needed to enhance diagnostic reliability.

Generalized hybrid coronary revascularization vs. conventional off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for multivessel coronary artery disease.

Background: Hybrid coronary revascularization (HCR) has been demonstrated as a safe and effective revascularization strategy in selected patients with multivessel coronary artery disease; however, the inclusion criteria are too strict.

Objectives: This study was conducted to compare in-hospital and midterm outcomes after generalized HCR and off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCABG) in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease.

Methods: We proposed a generalized idea of HCR.

WTAP-mediated mA methylation of PHF19 facilitates cell cycle progression by remodeling the accessible chromatin landscape in t(8;21) AML.

Wilms' tumor 1-associated protein (WTAP) is a key N6-methyladenosine (mA) methyltransferase that is upregulated in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) under hypoxia inducible factor 1α-mediated transcriptional activation, promoting leukemogenesis through transcriptome-wide mA modifications. However, the specific substrates and intrinsic regulatory mechanisms of WTAP are not well understood. Here, we provide evidence that PHD finger protein 19 (PHF19) overexpression is regulated by WTAP-mediated mA modification and promotes cell cycle progression by altering chromatin accessibility.

Icariin inhibition of NLRP3 mediated Leydig cell pyroptosis and insulin resistance ameliorates spermatogenesis disorders in obese mice.

Obesity, characterized by excessive body fat accumulation due to energy metabolism imbalance, has emerged as a significant risk factor for male infertility. Icariin (ICA), a principal constituent of Epimedium, has demonstrated potential in improving obesity and enhancing testicular spermatogenesis. This study aimed to elucidate the role and underlying mechanisms of ICA in mitigating obesity-induced male infertility through the suppression of inflammation and insulin resistance.

Evaluating dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI for differentiating HER2-zero, HER2-low, and HER2-positive breast cancers in patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Objectives: To quantitatively assess the differences in parameters of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) in HER2-zero, HER2-low, or HER2-positive tumors, and to build optimal model for early prediction of HER2-low breast cancer (BC).

Materials And Methods: Clinical and DCE-MRI data from 220 BC patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) were retrospectively analyzed. Quantitative and semi-quantitative DCE-MRI parameters were compared in the HER2-zero, HER2-low, or HER2-positive groups before and after early NACT.

Stress Relaxation and Creep Response of Glassy Hydrogels with Dense Physical Associations.

Various glassy hydrogels are developed by forming dense physical associations within the matrices, which exhibit forced elastic deformation and possess high stiffness, strength, and toughness. Here, the viscoplastic behaviors of the glassy hydrogel of poly(methacrylamide--methacrylic acid) are investigated by stress relaxation and creep measurements. We found that the characteristic time of stress relaxation of the glassy gel is much smaller than that of amorphous polymers.

Recent development of micro-nano carriers for oral antineoplastic drug delivery.

Chemotherapy is widely recognized as a highly efficacious modality for cancer treatment, involving the administration of chemotherapeutic agents to target and eradicate tumor cells. Currently, oral administration stands as the prevailing and widely utilized method of delivering chemotherapy drugs. However, the majority of anti-tumor medications exhibit limited solubility and permeability, and poor stability in harsh gastrointestinal environments, thereby impeding their therapeutic efficacy for chemotherapy.

Developing tough, fatigue-resistant and conductive hydrogels growth of metal dendrites.

Developing hydrogels with high conductivity and toughness a facile strategy is important yet challenging. Herein, we proposed a new strategy to develop conductive hydrogels by growing metal dendrites. Water-soluble Sn ions were soaked into the gel and then converted to Sn dendrites an electrochemical reaction; the excessive Sn ions were finally removed by water dialysis, accompanied by dramatic shrinkage of the gel.

A Streamlined Approach to Anticounterfeiting Technologies: Patterned AAO Membranes Based on Photonic Crystal Effects with Tunable Color Shifts and pH Responsiveness.

Anticounterfeiting technologies have become increasingly crucial due to the growing issue of counterfeit goods, particularly in high-value industries. Traditional methods such as barcodes and holograms are prone to replication, prompting the need for advanced, cost-effective, and efficient solutions. In this work, a practical application of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes are presented for anticounterfeiting, which addresses the challenges of high production costs and complex fabrication processes.

Relationship Between Adenoma Detection Rate and Respective Withdrawal Time in Different Colon Segments: A Retrospective, Single-Center Study.

Background And Aims: The 6-min withdrawal time for colonoscopy is widely considered the standard of care. However, there may not be appropriate if the 6-min is equally divided into various colon segments. Since the adenoma detection in each colon segment is not the same, there may be differences with the withdrawal time in different colon segments.

Hck promotes IL-1β-induced extracellular matrix degradation, inflammation, and apoptosis in osteoarthritis via activation of the JAK-STAT3 signaling pathway.

We investigated role of haematopoietic cell kinase (Hck) in osteoarthritis (OA) and to explore the underlying mechanisms driving its effects. An OA animal model was established and after OA induction, rats received intra-articular injections of lentivirus twice a week for four weeks. Rats were divided into four groups: control (healthy rats without OA), OA model (rats with induced OA), OA + Len-si-NC (OA rats treated with a non-targeting control lentivirus), and OA + Len-si-Hck (OA rats treated with lentivirus targeting Hck).

Inoculation of thermophilic bacteria from giant panda feces into cattle manure reduces gas emissions and decreases resistance gene prevalence in short-term composting.

Here, thermophilic bacteria (TB) with cellulose degradation functions were screened from composting panda feces and applied to cattle manure composting. TB (Aeribacillus pallidus G5 and Parageobacillus toebii G12) inoculation led to remarkable improvement of the compost temperature, prolonging of the thermophilic stage and shortening of the composting process, resulting in increased manure harmlessness (GI ≥ 70%), compost humification, and greenhouse gas emission reduction (14.19%-22.

PEGylated Elesclomol@Cu(Ⅱ)-based Metal‒organic framework with effective nanozyme performance and cuproptosis induction efficacy for enhanced PD-L1-based immunotherapy.

Nanozymes constitute a promising treatment strategy for antitumor therapy. However, the catalytic function of metal‒organic framework (MOF)-based nanozymes during cuproptosis remains unclear. In this study, a Cu(Ⅱ)-based MOF nanocomposite loaded with the copper ionophore elesclomol and surface modified with polyethylene glycol polymer (PEG) was developed (ES@Cu(Ⅱ)-MOF) for effective cuproptosis induction.

Emerging antibiotic and heavy metal resistance in spore-forming bacteria from pig manure, manure slurry and fertilized soil.

Spore-forming bacteria (SFB), like Bacillus, are the gram-positive bacteria with broad-spectrum activity that is one of the commonly used strains of probiotics. However, these bacteria also have significant resistance. In this study, we systematically investigated pig manure, manure slurry and soil by 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and traditional culture techniques.

Treatment of acute myeloid leukemia with active pulmonary tuberculosis with venetoclax‑based anti‑acute myeloid leukemia regimen combined with an intensive and then individualized anti‑tuberculosis regimen: A report of two cases.

Patients with concurrent acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) exhibit certain characteristics; cough, phlegm, fever, hemoptysis, weight loss and dyspnea are common symptoms of both diseases. These patients often cannot tolerate traditional intensive chemotherapy regimens, and finding the optimal timing in the treatment of both AML and active pulmonary TB is complex. Neglecting timely treatment can lead to serious complications and even fatal outcomes.

Case Report: An association of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction with 5p deletions.

Introduction: 5p deletion syndrome, also called Cri-du-chat syndrome 5p is a rare genetic syndrome with reports up to 36% of patients are associated with congenital heart defects. We investigated the association between left outflow tract obstruction and Cri-du-chat syndrome.

Methods: A retrospective review of the abnormal microarray cases with congenital heart defects in Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and the Cytogenomics of Cardiovascular Malformations Consortium.

Handwashing sinks as reservoirs of carbapenem-resistant in the intensive care unit: a prospective multicenter study.

Introduction: The extent to which sinks are contaminated by carbapenem-resistant (CRAB) in intensive care units (ICUs) and the association between these contaminated sinks and hospital-acquired CRAB infections during the non-cluster period remains largely unknown. Here, we performed a prospective multicenter study in 16 ICUs at 11 tertiary hospitals in Chengdu, China.

Methods: We sampled sinks, collected CRAB clinical isolates, and conducted whole-genome sequencing and analysis.

ChatDiff: A ChatGPT-based diffusion model for long-tailed classification.

Long-tailed data distributions have been a major challenge for the practical application of deep learning. Information augmentation intends to expand the long-tailed data into uniform distribution, which provides a feasible way to mitigate the data starvation of underrepresented classes. However, most existing augmentation methods face two significant challenges: (1) limited diversity in generated samples, and (2) the adverse effect of generated negative samples on downstream classification performance.

miR-151a-3p regulates the TNIK/PI3K/Akt axis and influences the progression of polycystic ovary syndrome.

Objectives: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a common reproductive endocrine disease in women of childbearing age, and the incidence of PCOS has increased in recent years. However, the pathogenesis of this disease has not been fully elucidated.

Methods: The expression of miR-151a-3p in ovarian granulosa cells (KGN) was determined using real-time fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR).

External quality assessment performance in ten countries: an IFCC global laboratory quality project.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the validity of external quality assessment (EQA) laboratory results across various cultural and environmental contexts and to identify potential improvement areas.

Methods: The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (IFCC) Task Force on Global Laboratory Quality (TF-GLQ) conducted a 2-year study (2022 and 2023) in which EQA materials, related software and online training was provided by a commercial vendor to 100 laboratories in ten IFCC member society countries. The results were analysed on a monthly basis by the TF-GLQ, to show the number of submissions per country, tests per lab, acceptability rates, random failures and to get a measure of which analytes performed poorly.

A study of antigen selection by extracellular vesicles as vaccine candidates against infection.

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease caused by (), remains a significant global public health concern. It is crucial to develop more effective vaccines for TB in order to achieve global control of the disease. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are spherical membrane-bound structures released by pathogens and host cells.