No abstract

No abstract

This study on serum ferritin levels in urinary iron excretion after 12h subcutaneous infusion of desferrioxamine in 10 thalassemia intermedia patients shows that even nontransfusion-dependent patients may have positive iron balance resulting in iron overload from 5 years of age. However, the iron overload found in these patients appears to be much lower than in age matched patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia major. Iron overload increases with advancing age, as shown by increasing serum ferritin levels and desferrioxamine-induced urinary iron elimination. After a six month trial of 12h continuous subcutaneous desferrioxamine administration there was a significant decline in serum ferritin levels. From this study it seems that iron chelation is indicated in thalassemia intermedia patients over 5 years of age in order to prevent iron accumulation. However, the appropriate treatment schedule should be tailored to the individual needs of each patients, established by close monitoring of serum ferritin levels and desferrioxamine-induced urinary iron elimination.

To evaluate the introduction of selective laser melting (SLM) for serial application, some features directly related to the components safety and performances are to be deeply analyzed. To this purpose, the present article applies three different types of heat treatment on Ti6Al4V as‐received samples produced by SLM: 1) annealing stress relieving, 2) solubilization super‐β transus, and 3) sub‐β transus followed by a tempering. Then, the related microstructures, mechanical resistance, residual stresses, and corrosion resistance are studied. The results identify a set of heat treatment parameters (super‐β transus followed by tempering), which guarantee the required properties. These samples show equiaxial grains composed of α + β phase, good mechanical properties, a high resistance to corrosion, and residual stresses almost null. Finally, this study confirms that Ti6Al4V made by SLM is applied in the transport field.

The auditory function of 75 children affected by homozygous β°-thalassemia, managed with a low transfusion scheme and treated irregularly with low doses of desferrioxamine, and of 75 controls were examined. In 12 patients a mild bilateral conductive hearing impairment due to bony hypertrophy and/or adenoid hypertrophy was found. In 43 cases a moderate monolateral or bilateral sensory-neural hearing loss at high frequencies with recruitment phenomenon was observed. Ferritin levels were determined in a randomly chosen group of these patients with (14) and without hearing loss (11). In the subjects with sensory-neural hearing loss the mean ferritin levels were significantly higher than in those with no hearing defect. There was no obvious relation between sensory-neural damage on the one hand and Hb levels and unit of blood transfused on the other. The results of this study suggest that iron overload could be a cause of damage in the high frequency elements of the auditory mechanism. Intermittent hypoxia and slow 8th nerve compression due to bony hypertrophy as causes of auditory involvement are also discussed.