Neurosyphilis is a chronic infectious disease caused by the invasion of Treponema pallidum into the central nervous system. In recent years, with the increase in the latent syphilis infection rate, the incidence of neurosyphilis has gradually increased, the typical symptoms of neurosyphilis have decreased, atypical manifestations have increased, and the clinical manifestations have become increasingly diverse. Cerebrospinal fluid testing plays an important role in the diagnosis of neurosyphilis. In recent years, there have been many advances in cerebrospinal fluid testing. This review focuses on the current and potential laboratory indicators of neurosyphilis in cerebrospinal fluid, aiming to provide a reference for clinical application and ideas for future experimental research of neurosyphilis.

The purpose of this retrospective study was to analyze the prevalence of respiratory viruses among children with acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) during the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2022). This study investigated respiratory viral specimens from children with ARTIs. A total of 7,092 children (<14 years) with ARTIs were included in this study, with a boy-to-girl ratio of 1.43. The median age was 1 year and 5 months. The average age of the patients was 2.7 ± 3.1 years. Patients < 3 years of age were the main population with ARTIs (67%). The predominant viruses were respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) (10.1%) and influenza virus (A and B 9.7%) during the 2 years of the pandemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2022). The proportion of positive viral test results among patients with ARTIs < 6 years of age was higher than that among patients with ARTIs aged 6–14 years (17.3% vs. 5.7%, P < 0.01). RSV infections were more common among patients < 3 years of age ( P < 0.01). Influenza A infections were more common among patients aged 3–6 years ( P < 0.01). Influenza B infections were more common among patients aged 6–14 years ( P < 0.01). The positive proportion among boys was higher than that among girls (14.4% vs. 8.6%, P < 0.01). Peak virus infections occurred in the autumn and winter seasons, and the lowest activity level occurred in the spring and summer of the 2 years. Compared with that before the epidemic, the number of samples and positive proportion of respiratory viruses decreased significantly. IMPORTANCE: During the coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic, the Chinese government launched and used a series of nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), including banning social gatherings, wearing face masks, home isolation, and maintaining hand hygiene, to control the disease spread. Whether and how NPIs influence other respiratory viruses in children remain unclear. In this article, we analyzed relative data and found that the number of samples and positive proportion of respiratory viruses decreased significantly compared with that before the epidemic. Clinicians and public health policymakers should pay attention to changes in the epidemic trends and types of respiratory viruses and maintain monitoring of respiratory-related viruses to avoid possible abnormal rebounds and epidemic outbreaks of these viruses.

To analyze the false-positive results of HIV screening in a women’s and children’s specialized hospital and discuss the improved effect of the testing algorithm that retesting with two fourth-generation HIV assays to reduce false-positive results. We retrospectively analyzed 380,390 samples tested with Roche Elecsys^® HIV combi PT assay from 2020 to 2023. The responsive samples were retested using the Determine HIV Early Detect assay (Abbott Diagnostic) and the Elecsys^® HIV DUO assay (Roche Diagnostic). Finally, the supplemental tests were used to confirm whether the sample is true positive. Of the 380,390 samples, 555 were reactive with Roche Elecsys^® HIV combi PT assay. After re-testing with the Determine HIV Early Detect assay and Elecsys^® HIV DUO assay, the reactive sample was reduced to 256 cases, and finally 122 cases were confirmed as true positive by supplementary tests. The false positive rate was reduced from 0.11 to 0.04%. The median cut-off index (COI) of false positive samples was significantly lower than that of true positive samples. Pregnancy, tumor and infertility are the top three clinical diagnoses of false positive patients (19.92%, 15.23% and 13.67%, respectively). Retested with two different fourth-generation HIV assays can significantly reduce the false positive rate and improve the positive predictive value. False-positive samples still require longer follow-up to rule out HIV infection.

Genetic factors play a crucial role in the immune response of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) and juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (JSLE). This study aimed to investigate the association of IL12B (rs3212227, rs6887695) and IL17 (rs2275913, rs763780) gene polymorphisms with the susceptibility of JIA and JSLE in Chinese children. A total of 303 healthy controls and 304 patients including 160 JIA and 144 patients were analyzed, and the genetic polymorphisms were genotyped by using a Sequenom MassArray system. There was a significant association between the IL12B rs3212227 genotype and the increased risk of JSLE ( P = .01). For rs6887695, the minor allele C was significantly associated with the increased risk of JIA (odds ratio = 1.48, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.12–1.95, P = .005). Moreover, rs6887695 genotype was significantly associated with both JIA and JSLE susceptibility ( P < .05). Besides, IL12B haplotype GC significantly associated with the increased risk of JIA ( P = .016). However, no significant difference was found between the IL17 (rs2275913, rs763780) gene polymorphisms and JIA or JSLE susceptibility ( P > .05). And similar genotype distributions of IL12B and IL17 polymorphisms were found between the patients with nephritis and without nephritis in JSLE ( P > .05). Our results indicated that IL12B polymorphisms was associated with an increased risk for the development of JIA and JSLE in Chinese children, highlighting the involvement of inflammation in the pathogenesis of JIA and JSLE. Moreover, there was a risk haplotype in IL12B which could increase the risk of JIA.

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is an autoimmune disorder characterized by vascular thrombosis and obstetric morbidity, with accurate laboratory examination of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) being crucial for diagnosis. This study focused on anti-β2 glycoprotein I (aβ2GPI) antibodies and aimed to establish the first population-based cutoff values for aβ2GPI IgA/IgM/IgG antibodies in non-pregnant women of reproductive age in Southwest China. The study cohort comprised 181 healthy women of reproductive age for study. Blood samples were collected on an early morning fast. Anti-β2GPI antibodies including IgA, IgM and IgG were measured in serum using the HOB^® BioCLIA kit. According to the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines, the study used non-parametric percentile methods to calculate the 95th, 97.5th, and 99th percentiles cutoff values for aβ2GPI IgA/IgM/IgG antibodies, along with corresponding 90% confidence intervals (CI), while excluding outliers. A total of 168 independent samples were collected for verification, including 85 samples from healthy subjects and 83 samples from APS patients, in order to evaluate the analytical performance of the obtained cutoff values. The 99th percentile cutoff values were 3.36 RU/mL for aβ2GPI IgA, 27.54 RU/mL for aβ2GPI IgM and 1.81 RU/mL for aβ2GPI IgG, which indicated that the levels of aβ2GPI IgM antibodies were generally higher compared to those of IgA and IgG antibodies. Our established reference range was confirmed to be successful in validating the detected values of aβ2GPI antibodies in all healthy controls. With the 99th percentile cutoff value, the sensitivity was 14.46% for aβ2GPI IgA, 22.89% for aβ2GPI IgG, and 9.64% for aβ2GPI IgM in APS patients. This study established population-based cutoff values that are applicable to the local population for the accurate laboratory examination of aβ2GPI antibodies in non-pregnant women of reproductive age. The study also recommends paying more attention to IgM positivity in women of reproductive age.

This study aimed to evaluate an auto-verification system for serological markers of infectious diseases in a clinical laboratory, with the goal of ensuring reliable results while shortening the turnaround time for reports, reducing the need for human resources, and improving work efficiency. Based on the guidelines and clinical requirements, personalized auto-verification rules were established. Then, the serological marker results of 144,927 samples (including hepatitis B, hepatitis C, Treponema pallidum, and human immunodeficiency virus) were used for verification, and the performance of the auto-verification system was evaluated. The auto-verification system enabled our laboratory to shorten the turnaround time by 21.13% (from 369.54 minutes to 291.47 minutes) while increasing the sample volume. The pass rate, sensitivity, specificity, false positive rate, and false negative rate of the auto-verification system were 54.81%, 100%, 54.99%, 45.01% and 0%, respectively. Further analysis of the reasons for the failure of auto-verification revealed that a portion of the samples were blocked due to technical issues with the laboratory information system. Further improvements are needed in the future. Establishing an appropriate auto-verification system based on the actual situation of the laboratory is an important means to ensure medical safety, while improving the efficiency of the clinical laboratory and reducing labor costs.