Introduction

This volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the many different facets of the Swiss political system and of the major developments in modern Swiss politics. It brings together a diverse set of more than 50 leading experts in their respective areas, who explore Switzerland's distinctive and sometimes intriguing politics at all levels and across multiple themes. In placing the topics in an international and comparative context and in conversation with the broader scholarly literature, the contributors provide a much-needed counterpoint to the rather idealized and sometimes outdated perception of Swiss politics. The work is divided into thematic sections that represent the inherent diversity of the Swiss political sphere: following a detailed introduction from the editors, the parts of the volume explore foundations, institutions, cantons and municipalities, actors, elections and votes, decision-making processes, and public policies, with a three-chapter epilogue. Throughout, The Oxford Handbook of Swiss Politics presents new arguments, insights, and data, and offers analyses relevant not only to political science but also to international relations, European studies, history, sociology, law, and economics

Preliminary assessment of the new Sysmex XN parameter Iron-Def for identifying iron deficiency

Background: Although the clinical assessment of iron status is usually based on iron stores, a rapid and accurate diagnosis of iron deficiency is challenging since ferritin is often unavailable as an urgent test and its value is frequently increased in acute phase conditions. This study was therefore aimed at evaluating the diagnostic performance of the new Sysmex XN "Iron Deficiency?" (Iron-Def) parameter for identifying patients with iron deficiency. Materials and methods: The study population consisted of 688 consecutive patients (median age: 71 years; 341 women and 347 men), referred for routine diagnostics to the Laboratory of Clinical Pathology of Lecco Hospital, Italy. A complete clinical chemistry profile and haematological testing were performed for identifying iron deficiency anaemia. Results: A significant negative correlation was found between Sysmex XN Iron-Def and ferritin, serum iron, mean cell haemoglobin concentration, mean cell haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume and age, while a positive correlation was noted with transferrin, percentage of microcytic red cell, red blood cell count and red blood cell distribution width. The diagnostic accuracy of Iron-Def for identifying patients with a percentage of saturation of transferrin <15% (n=104) was 84%, with a sensitivity of 0.952 and specificity of 0.538. A sub-analysis of 71 patients with ferritin <20 ng/dL yielded an even better diagnostic performance (86%, with a sensitivity of 0.935 and specificity of 0.620). Discussion: Although additional confirmatory investigations would be needed, the preliminary findings of our study attest that Iron-Def may be an easy, inexpensive, rapid and reliable parameter for screening iron deficiency anaemia

Evaluation of body fluid mode of Sysmex XN-9000 for white blood cell counts in cerebrospinal fluid

Background: This study was planned to evaluate the analytical performance of the novel and fully automated Sysmex XN-9000 analyzer for rapid analysis of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples. Methods: Forty-four CSF samples were used for method comparison studies between Sysmex XN-9000 body fluid mode and conventional optical microscopy. The bias between data obtained with the two methods was estimated with Bland-Altman plot analysis. The analytical evaluation also included the assessment of imprecision, linearity and carry-over. Results: A good agreement was found between results obtained with Sysmex XN-9000 body fluid mode and optical microscopy. The mean bias was 1.6 7106 cells/L for total white blood cells (95% CI: 1221.8 7106 to 25.1 7106 cells/L), 1.3 7106 cells/L for polymorphonuclear cells (95% CI: 1213.9 7106 to 16.5 7106 cells/L) and 120.6 7106 cells/L for mononuclear cells (95% CI: 1221.5 7106 to 20.3 7106 cells/L). The carryover was found to be lower than 0.01% and the imprecision was lower than 5%. The XN-9000 body fluid mode was also characterized by excellent linearity in the range of values comprised between 85 7106\u20133,197 7106 cells/L, with correlation coefficients (r) always equal to 1.00 (P<0.001). Conclusions: The Sysmex XN-9000 body fluid mode displays excellent analytical performance in terms of imprecision, linearity, carry-over and comparability with conventional optical microscopy, so that it may be used as a first-line, screening technique for rapid analysis of CSF samples referred for both routine and, especially, for urgent testing