Background. The rapid onset of a systemic pro-inflammatory state followed by acute respiratory distress syndrome is the leading cause of mortality in patients with COVID-19. We performed a retrospective observational study to explore the capacity of different complete blood cell count (CBC)-derived inflammation indexes to predict in-hospital mortality in this group. Methods. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR (dNLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume to platelet ratio (MPR), neutrophil to lymphocyte × platelet ratio (NLPR), monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), systemic inflammation index (SII), and the aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) were calculated on hospital admission in 119 patients with laboratory confirmed COVID-19. Results. Non-survivors had significantly higher AISI, dNLR, NLPR, NLR, SII, and SIRI values when compared to survivors. Similarly, Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed significantly lower survival in patients with higher AISI, dNLR, MLR, NLPR, NLR, SII, and SIRI. However, after adjusting for confounders, only the SII remained significantly associated with survival (HR = 1.0001; 95% CI, 1.0000–1.0001, p = 0.029) in multivariate Cox regression analysis. Conclusions. The SII on admission independently predicts in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 patients and may assist with early risk stratification in this group.

Background: We conducted a meta‐analysis to review the available evidence regarding the associations between peripheral blood neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and the presence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods: PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus, from inception to January 2018, were searched for studies reporting on NLR and PLR in RA in comparison with healthy subjects. Standardized mean difference (SMD) was calculated with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%.Results: Thirteen NLR studies (1550 RA patients and 1128 healthy controls) and 8 PLR studies (380 RA patients and 305 healthy controls) were included in the meta‐analysis. NLR and PLR were significantly higher in patients with RA when compared to controls (SMD = 0.79, 95% CI 0.55‐1.03; P < 0.001 and SMD = 0.66, 95% CI 0.43‐0.88; P < 0.001, respectively).Conclusions: The NLR and PLR are significantly associated with the presence of RA. Further studies are required to ascertain the potential clinical use of these simple and relatively inexpensive markers in RA diagnosis.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of death for malignancy worldwide. Its molecular profiling has enriched our understanding of cancer initiation and progression and has become fundamental to provide guidance on treatment with targeted therapies. Testing the presence of driver mutations in specific genes in lung tumors has thus radically changed the clinical management and outcomes of the disease. Numerous studies performed with traditional sequencing methods have investigated the occurrence of such mutations in lung cancer, and new insights regarding their frequency and clinical significance are continuously provided with the use of last generation sequencing technologies. In this review, we discuss the molecular epidemiology of the main druggable genetic alterations in non-small cell lung cancer, namely EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, MET, and HER2 mutations or amplification, as well as ALK and ROS1 fusions. Furthermore, we investigated the predictive impact of these alterations on the outcomes of modern targeted therapies, their global prognostic significance, and their mutual interaction in cases of co-occurrence.

Variable patterns of disease progression are typically observed in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We sought to determine the prognostic capacity of blood cell count indexes, derived from routine complete blood cell (CBC) count, in a cohort of IPF patients. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR), monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic inflammation index (SII), systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), and aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI) were calculated at baseline in a consecutive series of 82 IPF patients followed for four years. After adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking status, and disease stage, only the AISI was significantly associated with mortality (HR 1.0013, 95% CI 1.0003–1.0023, p = 0.015). Patients with AISI <434 and ≥434 had a median survival from the diagnosis of 35.3 ± 15.2 and 26.6 ± 16.3 months (p = 0.015), and a four-year survival rate of 54% and 34%, respectively. The AISI, easily derivable from routine laboratory tests, is independently associated with mortality in patients with IPF. Prospective studies in larger cohorts are required to confirm this association.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) represent a family of small non-coding ribonucleic acids that post-transcriptionally inhibits the expression of their target messenger RNAs (mRNAs), thereby acting as general gene repressors. In this study we examined the relative quantity and stability of miRNA subjected to a long period of freezing; we compared the stability of eight miRNAs in the plasma of five human healthy controls before freezing and after six and 12 months of storage at −80 °C. In addition, we examined the plasma frozen for 14 years and the amount of miRNA still available. Using a Life Technologies protocol to amplify and quantify plasma miRNAs from EDTA (Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid)-treated blood, we analyzed the stability of eight miRNAs, (miR-125b-5p, miR-425-5p, miR-200b-5p, miR-200c-3p, miR-579-3p, miR-212-3p, miR-126-3p, and miR-21-5p). The miRNAs analyzed showed a high stability and long frozen half-life.