Haematological Profile in Healthy Urban Population (8 to 70 Years of Age)

Haematological profile for 17 constituents of blood were determined in 998 healthy school children (8–19 years old) and 2246 healthy adult persons (20–70 years old) residing permanently or at least 5 years in a defined geographic region of Zagreb, Croatia. Physiological variations corresponding to age and sex were studied as the most important factors affecting biological variation in haematological constituents of blood. In our study erythrocytes, haemoglobin and haematocrit values were not sex dependent until the age of 13 after which the values were higher in men than in women. Sedimentation rate showed sex and age related differences in the adult age with higher values in women especially after 50 years. Total leukocyte count declined with age and in adults the values were slightly lower in women. Segmented neutrophil granulocytes showed the upward trend with age whereas the lymphocyte and monocyte counts declined. Women showed slightly higher platelet count in the adult age. Based on biological variation, we have estimated the reference intervals for 17 haematological constituents of blood in order to provide medically reliable evaluation of haematological laboratory results

Haematological Profile in Healthy Urban Population (8 to 70 Years of Age)

Haematological profile for 17 constituents of blood were determined in 998 healthy school children (8–19 years old) and 2246 healthy adult persons (20–70 years old) residing permanently or at least 5 years in a defined geographic region of Zagreb, Croatia. Physiological variations corresponding to age and sex were studied as the most important factors affecting biological variation in haematological constituents of blood. In our study erythrocytes, haemoglobin and haematocrit values were not sex dependent until the age of 13 after which the values were higher in men than in women. Sedimentation rate showed sex and age related differences in the adult age with higher values in women especially after 50 years. Total leukocyte count declined with age and in adults the values were slightly lower in women. Segmented neutrophil granulocytes showed the upward trend with age whereas the lymphocyte and monocyte counts declined. Women showed slightly higher platelet count in the adult age. Based on biological variation, we have estimated the reference intervals for 17 haematological constituents of blood in order to provide medically reliable evaluation of haematological laboratory results

Simultaneous determination of iron and copper in children's sera by FAAS

Predložena je nova jednostavna metoda plamene atomsko-apsorpcijske spektrometrije (FAAS), za simultano određivanje željeza i bakra u serumu djece. Ona se temelji na predobradbi uzorka u jednom koraku (deproteinizacija s 3 mol L–3 HCl u odnosu 1:1) i kalibraciji u jednom koraku sa standardom pripravljenim u 1.5 mol L–3 HCl. Tijekom optimizacije metode primijenjen je multifaktorski dizajnirani eksperiment. Preporučena metoda osigurava ispravnost, osjetljivost i preciznost usporedljivu onima referentnih metoda. Novi je pristup jednostavan i brz; on štedi i vrijeme i reagense i uzorke, pri čemu je potonje posebno važno u dječjoj dijagnostici.A new and simple flame atomic-absorption spectrometric (FAAS) method is proposed for simultaneous determination of iron and copper in children's sera. It is based on single-step sample pretreatment (deproteinization with 3 mol L–1 HCl, ratio 1:1) and single-step calibration using 1.5 mol L–1 HCl standard. During method’s optimization a short multifactorial design experiment was used. The proposed method assures accuracy, sensitivity and precision comparable to that of the reference methods. The new approach is simple and time-, labour- and serum-saving, the latter being especially important in pediatric diagnostics

Differences in routine laboratory parameters related to cachexia between patients with hematological diseases and patients with solid tumors or heart failure – is there only one cachexia?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cachexia is a state of involuntary weight loss common to many chronic diseases. Experimental data, showing that cachexia is related to the enhancement of acute phase response reaction, led to the new definition of cachexia that included, aside from the principal criterion of weight loss, other “minor criteria”, Amongst them are levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin and hemoglobin. However, there is paucity of data regarding possible differences of these laboratory parameters in patients with various diseases known to be related to cachexia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>CRP, albumin and hemoglobin were evaluated in 119 patients, divided into two disease groups, hematological (ones with diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma or Hodgkin disease) and non-hematological (solid tumor patients and patients with chronic heart failure). Patients were further subdivided into two nutritional groups, cachectic and non-cachectic ones according to the principal criterion for cacxehia i.e. loss of body weight.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that cachectic patients had higher levels of CRP, and lower levels of both hemoglobin and albumin compared to non-cachectic patients, regardless of the disease group they fitted. On the other hand, the group of hematological patients had lower levels of CRP primarily due to the differences found in the non-cachectic group. Higher levels of albumin were also found in the hematological group regardless of the nutritional group they fitted. Limitations of cut-off values, proposed by definition, were found, mostly regarding their relatively low sensitivity and low negative predictive value.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>As expected, differences in values of routine laboratory parameters used in definition of cachexia were found between cachectic and non-cachectic patients. Their values differed between hematological and non-hematological patients both in cachectic and non-cachectic group. Cut-off levels currently used in definition of cachexia have limitations and should be further evaluated.</p