Objective: Originally, this blind study was designed to check whether blood smears constitute reliable tools to determine sex. However, when we analyzed our data some interesting findings immerged and in this paper we try to highlight them.Material and Methods: 74 blood smears (35 women and 39 men) have been performed and then stained. 200 polynuclearneutrophils were examined for nuclear appendages and classified into four groups: neutrophils with form A, B or C appendages and neutrophils without any appendage.The difference (A-C) was calculated for each slide. The “cytologic sex” was defined as a male in case of a negative value and as a female otherwise.Results: Neutrophils bear the same amount of appendages in both genders (p=0.37). But the number of form A is greater in females (p<0.0001) and form C is much more frequent in males (p<0.0001), that is why, the difference A-C is the best way to differentiate between both sexes.The distribution histogram of A-C in women shows a multimodal histogram contrary to men’s graphwhich is a bell-shaped curve. The menstrual cycle was incriminated in this feature.Conclusion: Blood smear is a reliable tool to determine gender.Conflict of interest:None declared.
Objective: Iron deficiency (ID) is a frequent complication in end stage renal insufficiency. These patients have to be diagnosed and treated to reduce the prevalence of anemia. Functional iron deficiency (FID) is a situation that can disrupt biochemical iron tests and mask an eventual association with ID. In this study, we tried to prove the ability of extended parameters of red cells and reticulocytes to diagnose ID without being influenced by FID. Design and methods: 164 chronic hemodialysis patients (CHP) in end stage renal disease were enrolled. Research parameters of red cells and reticulocytes determined on ADVIA 2120i were studied in the diagnosis of ID associated or not with chronic inflammation. Results: Parameters such as corpuscular hemoglobin of mature red cells (CHm), corpuscular hemoglobin of reticulocytes (CHr), cellular concentration of hemoglobin in mature red cells (CHCMm), cellular concentration of hemoglobin in reticulocytes (CHCMr) and percentage of microcytic and hypochromic red cells (HYMI) showed a high sensitivity to diagnose ID. However, the distinction of combined iron deficiency (CID) from other entities was not possible with all parameters. In chronic inflammatory states, the decrease of CHm, CHCMm and CHCMr with the rise of percentage hypochromic mature red cells (HYPOm) and reticulocytes (HYPOr) is in favor of CID. So, determination of inflammatory state is needed to complete research parameters of blood count in CHP. Conclusion: Extended erythrocyte and reticulocyte parameters can be useful to check iron status in CHP.
Background: The cancer is associated with a state of hypercoagulability, which may be the cause of venous thromboembolism (VTE), representing an undeniable cause of morbidity and mortality. Our study aimed to investigate the role of hypercoagulability markers (D-dimers, microparticles, and V Leiden mutation) in predicting cancer-associated VTE. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted among cancer patients who will receive chemotherapy in the Medical Oncology and Hematology departments of the EHU of Oran, Algeria from February 2013 to May 2015, followed by an observation period of two years. First, we evaluated the risk of cancer-related VTE by hypercoagulability parameters (D-dimers, microparticles, V Leiden mutation). In the second step, we tested the predictive value of the Khorana risk score (KRS) of cancer-related VTE. Then, we developed and tested the predictive value of an expanded score based on the addition of predictive biomarkers to the KRS parameters. Results: A total of 165 patients were included in our study whose median age was 62 years. More than half were males (52.7%). After an observation period of 2 years, ten patients (6.0%) developed a VTE. Among the criteria studied, only the D-dimers and the microparticles were predictive of VTE in cancer. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the KRS was 13.6%, and the negative predictive value (NPV) was 97.9%. After adding two predictive biomarkers (D-dimers and microparticles), the expanded score had a better predictive value with a PPV of 23.5% and a VPN of 98.6%. Conclusion: The addition of hypercoagulability biomarkers (microparticles and D-dimers) to the routine clinical and biological parameters of the KRS enhances the predictive potential of VTE risk in cancer.
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