Background The association between serum ferritin and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in children with obesity is not clear. This study was designed to investigate whether serum ferritin can be an independent predictor for NAFLD. Methods According to the hepatic ultrasound results, a total of 347 children with obesity were enrolled in this study. Among them, 95 patients with NAFLD and 95 without NAFLD were matched for gender, age, blood pressure and body mass index, the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association of ferritin and the risk of NAFLD were analyzed. Results After propensity score matching, ferritin values of the patients with NAFLD were significantly higher than those without NAFLD group. Alanine aminotransferase and ferritin were strongly associated with NAFLD in multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis. The medium and high levels of ferritin increased risk of NAFLD, and the adjusted ORs were 3.298 (95% CI:1.326‐8.204), 7.322 (95% CI:2.725‐19.574) across the ferritin concentration tertiles after adjustment for confounders. Ferritin was shown to be the best predictor for NAFLD with sensitivity and specificity of 60.0% and 77.9%, respectively, area under the curve was 0.733. Conclusion The results show that serum ferritin can usefully be considered as a predictor of NAFLD in children with obesity.

Precise prevention and control measures have been adopted to impede the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) in China. This study was performed to investigate the effect of protective measures on gastrointestinal infection in children during the COVID‐19 pandemic. The data on the rotavirus and adenovirus antigen tests were collected in outpatient children due to gastroenteritis from January 1, 2019 to December 31, 2020, at the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine. According to age and month distribution, the positive number and rate of rotavirus and adenovirus in 2020 were compared with 2019. A 3.8‐fold and 4‐fold reduction in the number of rotavirus‐ and adenovirus‐positive patients in 2020 were found, respectively. The overall positive rate of rotavirus and adenovirus infection was drastically decreased in 2020 (rotavirus 2020: 18.18% vs. 2019: 9.75%, p < 0.001; adenovirus 2020: 3.13% vs. 2019: 1.58%, p < 0.001). The proportions of rotavirus and adenovirus in all age groups in 2020 decreased compared with those in 2019. The highest frequency of rotavirus infection occurred among children aged 1–3 years both in 2019 and 2020 (2019: 27.95% vs. 2020: 17.19%, p < 0.001), while adenovirus infection was detected in children aged 3–5 years, which had the highest percent positivity (2019: 8.19% vs. 2020: 4.46%; p < 0.001). An obvious peak prevalence of rotavirus incidence was found during December–April, and the percent positivity of rotavirus significantly decreased in 2020 (December 2019: 24.26% vs. 2020: 8.44%, p < 0.001; January 2019: 40.67% vs. 2020: 38.18%, p < 0.05; February 2019: 40.73% vs. 2020: 15.04%, p < 0.001; March 2019: 31.47% vs. 2020: 7.88%, p < 0.001; April 2019: 15.52% vs. 2020: 4.78%, p < 0.001). The positive rate of adenovirus distributed throughout 2019 was 1.91%–4.86%, while the percent positivity during 2020 in the same period was much lower (0.00%–3.58%). Our results confirmed that the preventive and control measures adopted during the COVID‐19 pandemic and the collateral benefit of these interventions have significantly decreased the transmission of rotavirus or adenovirus.

Introduction: Hemolysis is the main cause of unqualified clinical samples. In this study, we established a method for detecting and evaluating hemolysis in whole blood test. We used a mathematical formula for correcting the influence of hemolysis on complete blood cell count (CBC) so as to avoid re-venipuncture and obtain more accurate parameters of red blood cell detection, reduce the burden of patients, and improve the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment.Methods: Hemolytic samples were selected and then corrected using the new formula. Plasma free hemoglobin (fHB) was used as the criterion to determine the degree of hemolysis; the uncertainty of measurement is acceptable as the limit value of deviation between the measured value and the revised value. Hemolysis simulation analysis in vitro and continuous monitoring of clinical patients were used to verify the correction effect.Results: A total of 83 clinical samples with hemolysis were collected and analyzed; fHB 1.4 g/L was selected as the unacceptable value for clinical hemolysis detection.In hemolytic samples, the red blood cell parameters corrected by formula are significantly different from those uncorrected and had a good consistency with those before hemolysis. Conclusion:The results show that the hemolysis phenomenon of CBC has a significant impact on routine blood testing. By using the new formula, the influence of hemolysis on erythrocyte and related parameters can be quickly and easily corrected, thus avoiding venipuncture again for re-examination, reducing diagnostic errors, and saving medical resources.