Introduction In this study, we aimed to investigate and compare the prognostic impacts of C-reactive protein (CRP), white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil (NEU)-to-lymphocyte (LYM) ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), Red Cell Distribution Width (RDW) biomarkers in laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as to explore the most useful diagnostic biomarkers and optimal cutoff values in COVID-19 patients. Methods A total of 233 patients were admitted to Emergency Department (ED) of XXXXXX University Hospital during two months (March–April 2020) and underwent Sars CoV-2 PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), complete blood count (CBC), and CRP tests in sequence due to complaints of COVID-19. The laboratory results and demographic findings were collected from the public health management system retrospectively. The patients with positive Sars CoV-2 PCR test along with hospitalization data were also recorded. Results The CRP ( p = 0.0001), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) ( p = 0.038), PLR ( p = 0.0001) and NLR ( p = 0.001) remained significantly higher in the patients with positive Sars CoV-2 PCR test result. By contrast, eosinophil ( p = 0.0001), lymphocyte ( p = 0.0001), platelet levels ( p = 0.0001) were calculated as significantly higher in negative Sars CoV-2 patients. Conclusion In the light of the obtained results, the CRP, LDH, PLR and NLR levels remained significantly higher in COVID-19 positive patients, while eosinophil, lymphocyte, and platelet levels were significantly elevated in COVID-19 negative patients.

Pollen is one of the most valuable nutrients due to its content and antioxidant activity. In this study, its botanic origin, total phenol content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), the hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity (HPSA) (in terms of SC), ferric reducing antioxidant power capacity (FRAP), 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity (in terms of SC), metal-chelating activity (MCA) (%), and heavy metal content were examined to determine the quality of pollen that has been collected from seven different cities of Turkey. According to the melissopalynological analysis, the botanic origin of samples is six uni-flora and one multiflora. The TPC, TFC, HPSA, FRAP, DPPH, and MCA were found between 1360.70-2981.34 mg GAE/100 g, 74.23-111.74 mg CAE/100 g, 25.56-30.28 μg/mL, 71.92-73.86%, 52.26-53.27 μg/mL, and 43.97-65.21%, respectively. When obtained results compared to the standards (Butylated Hydroxy Anisole (BHA), Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT) and α-Tocopherol (TOC)), pollen samples showed the effective antioxidant properties with respect to HPSA, FRAP, and DPPH radical scavenging activity. In addition, it was observed that honey samples were being contaminated with most of the metals to some extent (Al, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, B, As, Te, U), while some heavy metals (Co, Cd, V, Ga, and Ag) were never determined in all samples. However, Pb was determined only in sample 2 and sample 4, Mo in sample 1 and sample 2. According to meteorological parameters, samples 3, 4, and 5 were distinguished from the other samples. Finally, the data indicate that pollen could be affected by environmental pollutions.

Summary Background There is increasing requests of Vitamin D test in many clinical settings in recent years. However, immunoassay performance is still a controversial topic. Several diagnostic manufacturers have launched automated 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH D) immunoassays in the past decade. We compared the performance of Abbott Architect 25-OH D Vitamin immunoassay with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry systems (LC-MS/MS) to evaluate immunoassay performance, especially in deficient groups. Methods Eighty human serum samples were analyzed with Architect 25-OH D vitamin kit (Abbott Diagnostics, Lake Forest, IL, USA) and LC-MS/MS systems (Zivak Technology, Istanbul, Turkey). The results of the immunoassay method were compared with the LC-MS/MS using Passing-Bablok regression analysis, Bland-Altman plots and correlation coefficient analysis. We also evaluated results in four levels of D vitamin as a severe deficiency, deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency. Results Architect showed 9.59% bias from LC-MS/MS with smaller mean. Passing-Bablok regression analysis demonstrated the value of 0.95 slope and had a constant bias with an intercept value of -4.25. Concordance correlation coefficient showed moderate agreement with the value of 0.918 (95% CI 0.878–0.945). Two methods revealed good interrater agreement (kappa = 0.738). While the smallest bias determined in deficiency (9.95%) group, the biggest was in insufficiency (15.15%). Conclusions Architect 25-OH D vitamin immunoassay can be used in routine measurements but had potential misclassification of vitamin D status in insufficient and deficient groups. Although there are recent standardization attempts in 25-OH D measurements, clinical laboratories must be aware of this method.

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Introduction: Measurement of parathyroid hormone (PTH) is essential in the investigation and management of calcium metabolism disorders. To assess the significance of any assay result when clinical decision making biological variation (BV) of the measurand must be taken into consideration. The aim of the present study is determining the BV parameters for serum PTH. Materials and methods: Blood samples were taken at weekly intervals from 20 healthy subjects for ten weeks in this prospective BV study. Serum “intact PTH” concentrations were measured with electrochemiluminescence method. Biological variation parameters were estimated using the approach proposed by Fraser. Results: The values of within-subject biological variation (CVI), between-subject biological variation (CVG), analytical variation (CVA), reference change value (RCV) and individuality index (II) for serum PTH were 21.1%, 24.9%, 3.8%, 59.4% and 0.8%, respectively. Within-subject biological variation and CVG were also determined according to gender separately; 18.5% and 24.0%; 26.2% and 18.6% for male and female, respectively. Calculated desirable precision and bias goals were < 10.6% and < 6.3%, respectively. Conclusion: This study may contribute to BV data on serum PTH as it includes a sufficient number of volunteers from both genders over an acceptable period of time. We do not recommend the usage of population-based reference intervals for serum PTH concentrations. Reference change value may be helpful for the evaluation of serial serum PTH results. Nonetheless, evaluation of data according to gender is necessary when setting analytical performance specifications.