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Background Preterm birth (PTB) remains a significant cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality. The most accurate predictors of PTB are ultrasound determined cervical length (CL) and fetal fibronectin (fFN)1. Quantitative fFN can be used to further outline risk in symptomatic women2. New devices are appearing on the market. Objectives To compare the capacity of two different quantitative fetal fibronectin (fFN) systems to predict cervical shortening in asymptomatic women at high-risk of PTB. Methods Women underwent CL measurement and fFN testing between 20+0 and 24+6 week of gestation in the Preterm Surveillance Clinic at St. Thomas’ Hospital (August to November 2012). Fetal fibronectin samples were run using a bedside immunoassay system (10Q system, Hologic, Marlborough) and bedside chemiluminescence system (DryLab, Audit Diagnostics, Ireland). Results 130 fFN tests were taken from 89 women. Comparison of all test results showed considerable difference between methods (R2 0.22). A short cervix (<25 mm) was found in 14 women. The 10Q system was able to significantly detect cervical shortening (Area under the curve 0.69, 95% CI 0.57–0.82, p = 0.002), however DryLab system could not (AUC 0.52, 95% CI 0.35–0.71, p = 0.12). Hologic 10Q had a better positive predictive value than DryLab (29% vs. 22% respectively), but similar negative predictive values (88% vs 87% respectively). Secondary outcomes such as gestational age at delivery will be presented. Conclusion Quantitative fFN is associated with cervical shortening and therefore risk of imminent preterm birth in asymptomatic women. Not all commercial devices are accurate. References Bolt LA, Chandiramani M, De Greef A, Seed PT, Kurtzman J & Shennan AH. The Value of combined cervical length measurement and fetal fibronectin testing to predict spontaneous preterm birth in asymptomatic high-risk women. J Matern Fetal Neonatal Med 2011;24(7):928–932. Abbott DS, Radford SK, Seed OT, et al. Evaluation of quantitative fetal fibronectin test for spontaneous preterm birth in symptomatic women. AJOG 2012.

Background Elevated ferritin concentration has been implicated in the etiology of type 2 diabetes. Accumulating evidence, mostly from studies conducted on western populations, has demonstrated a strong association between the elevated ferritin concentrations and incident type 2 diabetes. In Asian populations, however, the longitudinal studies investigating the association of elevated serum ferritin levels and type 2 diabetes are lacking. In present study, we aimed to determine whether elevated serum ferritin levels are related to the incident type 2 diabetes in healthy Korean men. Methodology/Principal Findings This 4 year longitudinal observational study was conducted at the Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Republic of Korea. The study population consisted of 2,029 men without type 2 diabetes who underwent routine health examination in 2007 (baseline) and 2011 (follow-up). Baseline serum ferritin concentrations were measured by chemiluminescent two-site sandwich immunoassay. In multiple-adjusted model, the relative risk (RR) for incident type 2 diabetes was significantly higher in highest compared with the lowest ferritin quartile category, even after adjusting for confounding variables including homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (RR = 2.17, 95% confidence interval 1.27-3.72, P for trend = 0.013). Conclusions/Significance These results demonstrated that elevated level of serum ferritin at baseline was associated with incident type 2 diabetes in an Asian population.

Metal nanoclusters (NCs), including Au, Ag, Cu, Pt, Ni and alloy NCs, have become more and more popular sensor probes with good solubility, biocompatibility, size-dependent luminescence and catalysis. The development of electrochemiluminescent (ECL) and chemiluminescent (CL) analytical methods based on various metal NCs have become research hotspots. To improve ECL and CL performances, many strategies are proposed, from metal core to ligand, from intermolecular electron transfer to intramolecular electron transfer. Combined with a variety of amplification technology, i.e., nanostructure-based enhancement and biological signal amplification, highly sensitive ECL and CL analytical methods are developed. We have summarized the research progresses since 2016. Also, we discuss the current challenges and perspectives on the development of this area.

Sensitive and rapid analysis of zearalenone (ZEN) in grains and feed is essential to guarantee the food security for human health. Herein a chemiluminescence method was demonstrated to measure the content of zearalenone in food samples. An immunomagnetic beads-anti-ZEN monoclonal antibody complex was prepared. Besides, the immunomagnetic beads were utilized as the solid support for rendering the immunoassay through the rapid formation of immune complexes in the solution, rapid separation and efficient heterogeneous detection. Under the optimal experimental parameters, the standard curve of ZEN detection is y = − 0.3839x + 0.1565 (R2 = 0.9978), the signal ratio has a well linear relationship with the logarithm of ZEN concentration in the range of 0.03–2.43 ng/mL. The limit detection of zearalenone in the developed assay was 0.01 ng/mL. The applicability of the reported approach for zearalenone detection in grains was demonstrated. In addition, the good recoveries of zearalenone were obtained, ranging from 85.15 to 102.60% at 5, 50, 150 ng/g spiked ZEN concentrations. The relative standard deviation was < 10%. The proposed chemiluminescence immunoassay is sensitive, simple, rapid and reliable for monitoring of zearalenone contamination, which provides a powerful avenue for further application of other mycotoxin in food analysis.

We developed a sensing strategy that mimics the bead-based electrogenerated chemiluminescence immunoassay. However, instead of the most common metal complexes, such as Ru or Ir, the luminophore is luminol. The electrogenerated chemiluminescence of luminol was promoted by in situ electrochemical generation of hydrogen peroxide at a boron-doped diamond electrode. The electrochemical production of hydrogen peroxide was achieved in a carbonate solution by an oxidation reaction, while at the same time, microbeads labelled with luminol were deposited on the electrode surface. For the first time, we proved that was possible to obtain light emission from luminol without its direct oxidation at the electrode. This new emission mechanism is obtained at higher potentials than the usual luminol electrogenerated chemiluminescence at 0.3–0.5 V, in conjunction with hydrogen peroxide production on boron-doped diamond at around 2–2.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl).

Interleukin-18 (IL-18), a member of IL-1 cytokine superfamily, is deemed as an important indicator of the kidney disease. Herein a sandwich chemiluminescence immunoassay integrated with magnetic beads was conducted to detect IL-18 in kidney disease. The detection limit and linear range were 0.0044 ng/mL and 0.01–2.7 ng/mL, respectively. Satisfactory recoveries were ranged from 91.70 to 101.18% with the relative standard deviation below 10%; interference bias of most biomarkers were within allowable deviation range (± 15%). In summary, the whole study was successfully applied to detect IL-18 levels in urine samples for patients with kidney disease. The results showed that chemiluminescence immunoassay for IL-18 detection could be used in the clinical application.

Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease affecting cloven-hoofed animals, posing significant threats to global livestock industries. Post-vaccination neutralizing antibody levels reflect vaccine efficacy, but traditional virus neutralization tests (VNT) for detecting neutralizing antibodies requires restrictive biocontainment facilities to handle live virus, is time-consuming and laborious. In this study, we successfully established a high-efficiency magnetic particle-based chemiluminescence immunoassay (MP-CLIA) using two previously characterized monoclonal antibodies (W125 and W145) generated through single B cell antibody technology. The MP-CLIA method exhibited a sensitivity of 95.93% and specificity of 100%, with a cut-off value of 41.395 activity units (U) by detecting the known 221 positive and 122 negative sera. The positive/negative coincidence rate between the MP-CLIA and VNT was 92.2% and the kappa coefficient was 78.19%, indicating a relatively high level of consistency. When integrated with a fully automated chemiluminescence immunoassay analyzer, this method only takes 20 min for a single test. These results show that MP-CLIA is a promising tool for the safe, rapid, and fully automatic detection of neutralizing antibodies against FMD virus (FMDV) serotype A. Key points A MP-CLIA using two bovine single B cell antibodies was established. The MP-CLIA method exhibited a sensitivity of 95.93% and specificity of 100%. The MP-CLIA specifically detects neutralizing antibodies against FMDV serotype A.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising noninvasive medical technology that has been approved for the treatment of a variety of diseases, including bacterial and fungal infections, skin diseases, and several types of cancer. In recent decades, many photosensitizers have been developed and applied in PDT. However, PDT is still limited by light penetration depth, although many near-infrared photosensitizers have emerged. The chemiluminescence-mediated PDT (CL-PDT) system has recently received attention because it does not require an external light source to achieve targeted PDT. This review focuses on the rational design of organic CL-PDT systems. Specifically, PDT types, light wavelength, the chemiluminescence concept and principle, and the design of CL-PDT systems are introduced. Furthermore, chemiluminescent fraction examples, strategies for combining chemiluminescence with PDT, and current cellular and animal applications are highlighted. Finally, the current challenges and possible solutions to CL-PDT systems are discussed.