Hemoglobin Levels and Serum C-Reactive Protein in Patients With Moderate to Severe Hidradenitis Suppurativa.

Introduction: Anemia of chronic inflammation is associated with many inflammatory diseases. Little is known about anemia in hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). This study aimed to review the levels of hemoglobin (Hb) and investigate its relationship with serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and disease severity in HS patients.

Human albumin eye drops as a therapeutic option for the management of keratoconjunctivitis sicca secondary to chronic graft-versus-host disease after stem-cell allografting.

Background: Keratoconjunctivitis sicca from chronic graft-versus-host disease (cgvhd) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation is common, leading to severe corneal damage and blindness if not treated. We retrospectively examined the efficacy and safety of pooled human albumin eye drops (haeds) for symptom relief in 40 stem-cell transplantation patients after other alternatives had failed.

Methods: The Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (version 4.

Proceedings of a Consensus Conference: pathogen inactivation-making decisions about new technologies.

Significant progress has been made in reducing the risk of pathogen transmission to transfusion recipients. Nonetheless, there remains a continuing risk of transmission of viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and prions to recipients. These include many of the viruses for which specific screening tests exist as well as pathogens for which testing is currently not being done, including various species of bacteria, babesiosis, variant Creutzfeld-Jacob disease, hepatitis A virus, human herpes virus 8, chikungunya virus, Chagas disease, and malaria.

The ABO blood group system and Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

In the century since the discovery of the ABO blood groups, numerous associations between ABO groups and disease have been noted. However, the selection pressures defining the ABO distributions remain uncertain. We review published information on Plasmodium falciparum infection and ABO blood groups.

Light-chain removal by plasmapheresis in myeloma-associated renal failure.

Background: Although plasmapheresis has been recommended to reverse nephrotoxic elevations of serum free light chains (sFLCs), there are scant published data on removal of sFLC measured with modern assays.

Study Design And Methods: sFLC levels were recorded in two patients with myeloma-associated renal failure receiving multiple plasmapheresis procedures.

Results: In one patient, presenting with acute renal failure 8 months after diagnosis of kappa-LC myeloma, 16 plasmapheresis procedures neither reduced sFLC levels (percent removal ranging from -70% to +40%) nor improved renal function.

Do infections provoke exacerbations and relapses of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura?

Several case reports have suggested an association between infections and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). In Case 1, a 37-year-old female presented with TTP 6 times over 7 years, requiring 242 therapeutic plasma exchanges (TPE), for a per-course range of 4-57 TPE (median 48), and treatment durations of 4-241 days (median 71 days), largely on account of multiple exacerbations (range 0-3, median 3). Twelve of 17 (71%) of her presentations or exacerbations were associated with suspected infections, with confirmation in 9 episodes.

Gender-differences in myocardial adaptation to afterload in normotensive and hypertensive rats.

Echocardiographic studies suggest that women appear to exhibit a greater degree of myocardial hypertrophy in response to increased afterload than men. Therefore, gender differences and the role of estrogen and testosterone in the development of myocardial hypertrophy were studied in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats. Male and female rats were either surgically neutered or underwent a sham operation at 21 days of age.