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Introduction: The gold standard for diagnosing Neurosyphilis (NS) is currently unavailable; various laboratory parameters in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood can assist in the diagnosis. Methods: PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library were searched. Studies utilizing laboratory tests to assist in the diagnosis of NS were included. The pooled indicators for diagnostic performance and their respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. We used the Superiority Index to test the superiority of a diagnostic test. Results: Eleven citations were included in the study. Albumin quotient, CSF-TPHA, CSF-EIA, CSF-LDH, CSF-WBC, CSF-CXCL13, FTA-ABS, CSF-PCR, RPR, CSF-TPPA, TRUST, and CSF-VDRL were assessed in the studies included. The pooled estimates of sensitivity, specificity, AUC of SROC and their respective 95% CIs for CSF-TPPA and CSF-VDRL were 0.97 (0.17, 1.00), 0.84 (0.62, 0.95), 0.93 (0.91, 0.95) and 0.74 (0.59, 0.85), 0.99 (0.93, 1.00), 0.94 (0.91, 0.96), respectively. CSF-TPHA demonstrated the highest relative sensitivity. CSF-VDRL manifested the highest specificity. CSF-TPHA, TRUST, CSF-VDRL, CSF-EIA, and RPR ranked in the top five laboratory tests with Superiority Index. Conclusion: CSF-TPHA, TRUST, CSF-VDRL, CSF-EIA, and RPR indicate acceptable performance in detecting NS compared to other modalities. Comprehensive diagnostic strategies still play a significant role in the diagnosis of NS.

Background Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is reported as a useful predictor for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). There are three sub-domains of olfaction: olfactory threshold, discrimination and identification. In AD patients, whether the performance of three sub-domains has different influential factors or relates to specific brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) change is not clear. Methods We recruited 105 typical AD patients, assessed patients’ cognitive function, neuropsychiatric symptoms and activity of daily living by related scales, evaluated patients’ olfactory function by Sniffin’ Sticks test and measured patients’ cortical thicknesses by MRI. Results Olfactory threshold negatively correlated with AD patients’ age and positively related to cognitive function; olfactory discrimination positively related to patients’ cognitive function and cortical thickness of left lateral orbitofrontal gyrus; olfactory identification positively related to patients’ cognitive function and cortical thicknesses of left medial orbitofrontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus and bilateral superior temporal gyrus. Conclusions The three sub-domains of olfaction in AD patients have different influential factors: age influences olfactory threshold and cognitive function influences all three olfactory sub-domains. The performance of olfactory discrimination and identification in AD patients was associated with the cortical thickness of orbitofrontal gyrus and temporal lobe.