Screening and Recognition of Cognitive Impairment in Older People Visiting Hearing Aid Dispensers in the Netherlands.

Objectives: This study aims to determine how prevalent suspected cognitive impairment is in older people visiting hearing aid dispensers, and to assess whether hearing aid dispensers' judgment on cognition was in accordance with the outcome of a cognitive screening.

Design: This observational study was conducted between April and May 2022.

Setting And Participants: Four private hearing aid retail stores in the Netherlands, where cognitive impairment was screened in people aged ≥60 years.

Platelet production rate predicts the response to prednisone therapy in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

The predictive value of clinical and platelet kinetic parameters for treatment outcome in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) was investigated in 75 patients with platelets355x10(9)/day) in 33%, 48%, and 19% of patients, respectively. All patients started with prednisone at diagnosis (1 mg/kg/day).

Increased glycocalicin index and normal thrombopoietin levels in patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura with a decreased rate of platelet production.

Platelet kinetic studies in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) have shown that in a subgroup of patients a shortened mean platelet life (MPL) is associated with a decreased platelet production rate (PPR). Other methods of studying certain aspects of thrombocytopoiesis are the plasma concentrations of thrombopoietin and glycocalicin.

Increased peripheral platelet destruction and caspase-3-independent programmed cell death of bone marrow megakaryocytes in myelodysplastic patients.

To investigate underlying mechanisms of thrombocytopenia in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), radiolabeled platelet studies were performed in 30 MDS patients with platelet counts less than 100 x 10(9)/L. Furthermore, plasma thrombopoietin and glycocalicin index (a parameter of platelet or megakaryocyte destruction) were determined. Mean platelet life (MPL), corrected for the degree of thrombocytopenia, was reduced in 15 of 30 patients (4.

Ultrastructural study shows morphologic features of apoptosis and para-apoptosis in megakaryocytes from patients with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura.

To investigate whether altered megakaryocyte morphology contributes to reduced platelet production in idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), ultrastructural analysis of megakaryocytes was performed in 11 ITP patients. Ultrastructural abnormalities compatible with (para-)apoptosis were present in 78% +/- 14% of ITP megakaryocytes, which could be reversed by in vivo treatment with prednisone and intravenous immunoglobulin. Immunohistochemistry of bone marrow biopsies of ITP patients with extensive apoptosis showed an increased number of megakaryocytes with activated caspase-3 compared with normal (28% +/- 4% versus 0%).