Highlights in Swiss Laboratory Medicine 2023

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Laboratory Medicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 8431

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Clinical Chemistry, Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, Freiburgerstrasse 10, 3010 Bern, Switzerland
Interests: diagnosis; prediction; monitoring; diagnostic accuracy; sensitivity and specificity; effectiveness of diagnostic procedures; predictive value of tests; clinical decision making; health services research; risk factors; diagnostic techniques and procedures; epidemiology; cohort studies; anticoagulants; venous thromboembolism; heparin-induced thrombocytopenia

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Guest Editor
Institute of Microbiology, Lausanne University Hospital, University of Lausanne, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland
Interests: antibiotics; bacteremia; Gram's stain; Enterobacteriaceae; Gram-negative bacteria; lasers; spectrometry; mass; matrix-assisted laser desorption-ionization; mass spectrometry; pathogenic organism; gram-negative bacteremia; ionization; empirical antibiotic therapy; blood culture; extended-spectrum beta lactamases; bloodstream infections; early diagnosis; time-of-flight mass spectrometry; time-of-flight; marseilleviruses
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Guest Editor
Department of Hematology, University Hospital Bern, 3010 Bern, Switzerland
Interests: hematologic diagnostics; flow cytometry; cytomorphology; molecular genetics; measurable disease diagnostics; acute leukemias; chronic leukemias; lymphomas; myeloma; personalized therapies; interaction of diagnostics and therapies in hematology; prognosis; predictive markers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The development of new laboratory analytics techniques, such as proteomics, genomics, metabolomics, and immunoprofiling, has enabled extremely sensitive analyses of biomarkers, sometimes down to the level of individual cells. Additionally, the use of multiplexed techniques allows researchers to determine hundreds of biomarkers simultaneously without causing any interference. Despite this, most of these techniques are used only for research purposes, and very few of them have been successfully translated into clinical practice. This implementation gap can be attributed to two main reasons. First, new tests are often not evaluated in adequately designed studies and are not integrated into existing diagnostic pathways. Furthermore, laboratory medicine experts are dispersed across a variety of topic-specific scientific societies, making a unified and concerted effort difficult.

This Special Issue wishes to contribute to addressing these problems. We invite laboratory experts from all specialties and scientific societies to contribute to the evaluation of laboratory tests. Even if we start our call in the Swiss setting, it should not be limited to that. If experts from all scientific societies contribute here, this will help to increase attention to the problems mentioned. In addition, the research methods will be harmonized, and the research field will be strengthened.

We hope that we can arouse your interest with our Special Issue, and we look forward to your contribution to support laboratory medicine progress.

Dr. Michael Nagler
Prof. Dr. Gilbert Greub
Prof. Dr. Vera Ulrike Bacher
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • laboratory medicine
  • analytical techniques
  • diagnostic techniques and procedures
  • diagnosis
  • prediction
  • monitoring
  • diagnostic accuracy
  • sensitivity and specificity
  • effectiveness of diagnostic procedures
  • predictive value of tests

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 446 KiB  
Article
The Association of suPAR with Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Young and Healthy Adults
by Niklas Fabio Wohlwend, Kirsten Grossmann, Stefanie Aeschbacher, Ornella C. Weideli, Julia Telser, Martin Risch, David Conen and Lorenz Risch
Diagnostics 2023, 13(18), 2938; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13182938 - 13 Sep 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1508
Abstract
The soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), as a correlate of chronic low-grade inflammation, may be used to predict individual cardiovascular risk. Since chronic low-grade inflammation is thought to be associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, this study aimed to evaluate if [...] Read more.
The soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), as a correlate of chronic low-grade inflammation, may be used to predict individual cardiovascular risk. Since chronic low-grade inflammation is thought to be associated with the development of cardiovascular disease, this study aimed to evaluate if suPAR plasma levels are correlated with cardiovascular risk factors in young and healthy adults (aged 25–41 years). Consequently, data from the GAPP (genetic and phenotypic determinants of blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors) study were used to investigate suPAR plasma levels in relation to the following cardiovascular risk factors and laboratory parameters: BMI, physical activity, alcohol consumption, smoking status, blood pressure parameters, glucose status, and lipid levels. Additionally, suPAR was compared to the healthy lifestyle score and the Framingham score representing the overall cardiovascular risk profile. These associations were assessed using two different statistical approaches. Firstly, all cardiovascular risk factors and scores were compared amongst sex-specific suPAR plasma levels with ANOVA analysis. Secondly, sex-specific multivariable linear regressions were performed. Female participants had higher plasma suPAR levels than male participants (1.73 ng/mL versus 1.50 ng/mL; p < 0.001). A significant inverse correlation between suPAR plasma levels and HDL cholesterol was found in men (p = 0.001) and women (p < 0.001). Furthermore, male (p < 0.001) and female participants (p < 0.001) who smoked showed significantly higher plasma levels of suPAR (p < 0.001). For male participants, an inverse correlation of the healthy lifestyle score with suPAR plasma levels (p = 0.001) and a positive correlation of the Framingham score with suPAR plasma levels (p < 0.001) were detected. In women, no such correlation was found. The cholesterol levels (p = 0.001) and HbA1c (p = 0.008) correlated significantly with plasma suPAR levels in female participants. suPAR plasma levels were found to be strongly associated with certain cardiovascular risk factors; however, sex-specific differences were found. These sex-specific differences might be explained by the higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors in men resulting in a stronger correlation of suPAR as a marker of low-grade inflammation, since the existence of the risk factors already led to subclinical damage in men. Further research on suPAR levels in an older study population is needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highlights in Swiss Laboratory Medicine 2023)
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12 pages, 1882 KiB  
Article
Machine Learning in Antibody Diagnostics for Inflammatory Bowel Disease Subtype Classification
by Christiane Sokollik, Aurélie Pahud de Mortanges, Alexander B. Leichtle, Pascal Juillerat and Michael P. Horn
Diagnostics 2023, 13(15), 2491; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13152491 - 26 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2048
Abstract
Antibody testing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can add to diagnostic accuracy of the main subtypes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Whether modern modeling techniques such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning are of value for finer distinction of subtypes such [...] Read more.
Antibody testing in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) can add to diagnostic accuracy of the main subtypes Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). Whether modern modeling techniques such as supervised and unsupervised machine learning are of value for finer distinction of subtypes such as IBD-unclassified (IBD-U) is not known. We determined the antibody profile of 100 adult IBD patients from the Swiss IBD cohort study with known subtype (50 CD, 50 UC) as well as of 76 IBD-U patients. We included ASCA IgG and IgA, p-ANCA, MPO- and PR3-ANCA, and xANCA measurements for computing different antibody panels as well as machine learning models. The AUC of an optimized antibody panel was 85% (95%CI, 78–92%) to distinguish CD from UC patients. The antibody profile of IBD-U patients was closely related to UC. No specific antibody profile was predictive for IBD-U nor for re-classification. The panel diagnostic was in favor of UC reclassification prediction with a correct assignment rate of 69.2–73.1% depending on the cut-off applied. Supervised machine learning could not distinguish between CD, UC, and IBD-U. More so, unsupervised machine learning suggested only two distinct clusters as a likely number of IBD subtypes. Antibodies in IBD are supportive in confirming clinical determined subtypes CD and UC but have limited capacity to predict IBD-U and reclassification during follow-up. In terms of antibody profiles, IBD-U is not a distinct subtype of IBD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highlights in Swiss Laboratory Medicine 2023)
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13 pages, 2214 KiB  
Article
Concentrations of Serum Brain Injury Biomarkers Following SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Individuals with and without Long-COVID—Results from the Prospective Population-Based COVI-GAPP Study
by Julia Telser, Kirsten Grossmann, Ornella C. Weideli, Dorothea Hillmann, Stefanie Aeschbacher, Niklas Wohlwend, Laura Velez, Jens Kuhle, Aleksandra Maleska, Pascal Benkert, Corina Risch, David Conen, Martin Risch and Lorenz Risch
Diagnostics 2023, 13(13), 2167; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13132167 - 26 Jun 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3684
Abstract
It is unknown whether neurological symptoms are associated with brain injury after SARS-CoV-2 infections and whether brain injury and related symptoms also emerge in Long-COVID patients. Biomarkers such as serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP) can be used [...] Read more.
It is unknown whether neurological symptoms are associated with brain injury after SARS-CoV-2 infections and whether brain injury and related symptoms also emerge in Long-COVID patients. Biomarkers such as serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (sGFAP) can be used to elucidate neuro-axonal and astroglial injuries. We investigated whether these biomarkers are associated with COVID-19 infection status, associated symptoms and Long-COVID. From 146 individuals of the general population with a post-acute, mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection, sNfL and sGFAP were measured before, during and after (five and ten months) the infection. Individual symptoms and Long-COVID status were assessed using questionnaires. Neurological associated symptoms were described for individuals after a mild and moderate COVID-19 infection; however, sNfL (p = 0.74) and sGFAP (p = 0.24) did not change and were not associated with headache (p = 0.51), fatigue (p = 0.93), anosmia (p = 0.77) or ageusia (p = 0.47). In Long-COVID patients, sGFAP (p = 0.038), but not sNfL (p = 0.58), significantly increased but was not associated with neurological associated symptoms. Long-COVID status, but not post-acute SARS-CoV-2 infections, may be associated with astroglial injury/activation, even if neurological associated symptoms were not correlated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Highlights in Swiss Laboratory Medicine 2023)
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