Autoimmune diseases - New insights into a troublesome field.

Recent updates in the diagnosis and management of chronic inflammatory conditions can be brought together to better understand autoimmune diseases (ADs). With organ-specific or organ-limited and systemic ADs, physicians often are faced with a dilemma when making a diagnosis and may feel a kind of embarrassment when a more distinct nosological entity cannot be found. ADs often overlap with other diseases and good diagnostic procedures for ADs only become evidence-based when refined histopathologic, immunopathologic, and general laboratory analyses are available.

Oral glucose tolerance test does not affect degree of hemoglobin glycation as measured by routine assay.

Background: Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) is an accurate index of fluctuation in glycemia over the 2-3 months prior to quantitative assessment. During this time, hemoglobin (Hb) slowly glycates until it shows the properties of advanced glycation end-products. Glycation kinetics is intensified by prolonged glucose exposure.

Reference Intervals for Platelet Counts in the Elderly: Results from the Prospective SENIORLAB Study.

Currently, age- and sex-independent reference limits (RLs) are frequently used to interpret platelet counts in seniors. We aimed to define and validate reference intervals (RIs) for platelet counts within the framework of the prospective SENIORLAB study. Subjectively healthy Swiss individuals aged 60 years and older were prospectively included and followed for morbidity and mortality.

The complement system in liver diseases: Evidence-based approach and therapeutic options.

Complement is usually seen to largely originate from the liver to accomplish its tasks systemically - its return to the production site has long been underestimated. Recent progress in genomics, therapeutic effects on complement, standardised possibilities in medical laboratory tests and involvement of complosome brings the complement system with its three major functions of opsonization, cytolysis and phagocytosis back to liver biology and pathology. The LOINC™ system features 20 entries for the C3 component of complement to anticipate the application of artificial intelligence data banks algorythms of which are fed with patient-specific data connected to standard lab assays for liver function.