An individualized and stable heparin concentration and appropriate dosing of protamine can reduce thrombin generation and preserve platelet function, even in short-time CPB.
Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events, such as extended heat waves and droughts in the northern hemisphere. Besides affecting ecosystems worldwide, these changes in climate patterns will also affect the environmental health of human populations. While the medical community is mostly concerned with the negative impact of climate change, there might also be some beneficial effects. In this study we used laboratory data from a large university clinic in Germany (n = 13 406), to test for any detectable impact of two extreme summers on Vitamin-D [25(OH)D] plasma concentrations over a six year period (2014–2019). For the two years with extreme summers (2018 and 2019) the 25(OH)D plasma concentrations were significantly higher than in the previous four years (p < 0.001). A time series analysis (autoregressive term, AR, φ = 0.84, with an AR of one indicating a persistent effect) showed that 25(OH)D concentrations rise by 0.04 nmol/l (95% CI: 0.04–0.05 nmol/l) per hour of sunshine. The incidence of vitamin D deficiency was generally high (60% for 2014–2017) but dropped by 10% in 2018 and 2019. As such, the summers of 2018 and 2019, which are among the hottest and driest in Germany since the start of modern climate recordings, had a measurable positive effect on 25(OH)D plasma levels of the examined population. Given that 25(OH)D deficiency is widespread in higher latitudes, this implies that while mostly considered negative, climate change might also confer some health benefits with regard to vitamin D related medical conditions.
Vitamin D, besides its classical effect on mineral homeostasis and bone remodeling, can also modulate apoptosis. A special form of apoptosis termed eryptosis appears in erythrocytes. Eryptosis is characterized by cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing, and cell membrane phospholipid disorganization and associated with diseases such as sepsis, malaria or iron deficiency, and impaired microcirculation. To our knowledge, this is the first study that linked vitamin D with eryptosis in humans. This exploratory cross-sectional trial investigated the association between the vitamin D status assessed by the concentration of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and eryptosis. Plasma 25(OH)D was analyzed by LC–MS/MS, and eryptosis was estimated from annexin V-FITC-binding erythrocytes by FACS analysis in 2074 blood samples from participants of the German National Cohort Study. We observed a weak but clear correlation between low vitamin D status and increased eryptosis (r = − 0.15; 95% CI [− 0.19, − 0.10]). There were no differences in plasma concentrations of 25(OH)D and eryptosis between male and female subjects. This finding raises questions of the importance of vitamin D status for eryptosis in terms of increased risk for anemia or cardiovascular events.
Objectives: Characterization of an in vitro diagnostic zinc assay (LT-SYS) on a Roche cobas c502 analyzer and evaluation of the influence of pre-analytic factors on zinc concentration measurements.Design and methods: Imprecision, bias, linearity, limit of blank (LoB), and limit of detection (LoD) were established and method comparisons were performed based on the respective CLSI guidelines. The influence of time elapsed until analysis, the usage of a pneumatic tube delivery system (PTDS) and of special trace element sample tubes was evaluated as well.
Results:Estimates of imprecision ranged from 0.9% to 5.0% and bias was low with 1.3% and 1.5% deviation from target value. Linearity was met for the measuring range of 1.15-34.7 μmol/L (7.51-226.9 μg/dL), LoB and LoD were 0.17 μmol/L (1.11 μg/dL) and 0.73 μmol/L (4.77 μg/dL) respectively. The method comparison revealed an average deviation of 8.44% (y=0.542+1.036x). Plasma samples had 7.3% higher zinc values than serum samples on the average. Zinc values of uncentrifuged serum and plasma samples increased 20% in 8 hours, while after centrifugation no significant increase could be detected. Usage of PTDS increased zinc values by 17% and usage of trace element sample tubes showed no advantage over normal ones.
Conclusions:The LT-SYS zinc assay showed a fully acceptable performance with good degrees of imprecision and bias, no deviation from linearity and both a very low LoB and LoD. Samples for zinc analysis should be centrifuged timely and transport over PTDS should be avoided.
K E Y W O R D Sclinical chemistry, method comparison, method validation, Roche cobas c502, zinc
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.