[Evaluation of iron status by serum transferrin receptor level].

Background: The purpose of this study was to estimate the value of the transferrin receptor in serum (sTfR) for detecting iron deficiency and compare it with the value of some other blood tests for that purpose.

Material And Methods: All patients undergoing bone marrow aspiration in the FSA Hospital, Akureyri, Iceland, in the period 1999 to 2003 were eligible to participate in this prospective study. Included participants were 89.

Clinical features in secondary and cryptogenic organising pneumonia.

Setting: The clinical differences between cryptogenic organising pneumonia (COP) and secondary organising pneumonia (OP) have not been studied well.

Objective: To compare clinical features in COP and secondary OP.

Design: Causes, clinical features, treatment, radiographic studies and pathology were studied.

[Sarcoidosis in Iceland 1981-2003].

Objective: To investigate the incidence of sarcoidosis in Iceland, its clinical manifestations and potential environmental influences.

Materials And Methods: All histopathological diagnoses of non-necrotizing granulomas generated in Iceland during the period 1981-2003 were reviewed with respect to a diagnosis of sarcoidosis. Further, patients were identified by searching hospital discharge diagnoses at the University Hospital in Reykjavik and the Regional Hospital in Northern Iceland.

Native-valve endocarditis due to Neisseria sicca: case report and review.

Many species of the Neisseria, gram-negative diplococci that are frequent respiratory commensals in humans, have been regarded as being nonpathogenic or as causing disease in only immunocompromised hosts; in contrast, gram-negative diplococci such as Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae are known pathogens. We report a case in which Neisseria sicca was the cause of serious infection (with catastrophic consequences) in an immunocompetent patient and review the world literature on endocarditis due to N. sicca.