Mortality risk factors in community-dwelling, subjectively healthy, Swiss older adults: update after 8-years follow-up.

Background: Worldwide population is ageing, but little is known regarding risk factors associated with increased mortality in subjectively healthy, community-dwelling older adults. We present the updated results of the longest follow-up carried out on Swiss pensioners and we provide results on potential risk factors associated with mortality before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials And Methods: Within the SENIORLAB study, we collected demographic data, anthropometric measures, medical history, and laboratory parameters of 1467 subjectively healthy, community-dwelling, Swiss adults aged ≥ 60 years over a median follow-up of 8.

Elementary Laboratory Assays as Biomarkers of Ageing: Support for Treatment of COVID-19?

Youth, working age and the elderly: On a timeline, chronological age (CA) and biological age (BA) may dissociate; nosological entities manifest themselves at different BAs. In determining which disease corresponds to a given age decade, statistical registries of causes of death are unreliable and this does not change with SARS CoV-2 infection. Beyond adolescence, ageing metrics involve estimations of changes in fitness, including prediction models to estimate the number of remaining years left to live.

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.

Diagnostic Characteristics of 3-Parameter and 2-Parameter Equations for the Calculation of a Combined Indicator of Vitamin B12 Status to Predict Cobalamin Deficiency in a Large Mixed Patient Population.

Background: A combined indicator for the determination of vitamin B12 status (4cB12) that employs four markers of vitamin B12 status (i.e., holotranscobalamin, HoloTC; vitamin B12, B12; methyl malonic acid, MMA; and homocysteine, Hcy) has been proposed for the comprehensive assessment of B12 status.

A consideration of convalescent plasma and plasma derivatives in the care of Severely-ill patients with COVID-19.

The pathogenesis and immunopathological damage of severe forms of COVID-19 resemble acute autoimmune disease sparked by SARS-CoV-2, including an early systemic overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines. Such immunopathological features provide a rationale for the use of passive immunotherapy with convalescent plasma as a source of neutralizing anti-viral antibodies and of anti-inflammatory plasma components. While convalescent plasma therapy is now being evaluated in prospective clinical trials, we further consider the therapeutic potential of human hyper immune globulins, and of heterologous, engineered and monoclonal neutralizing antibodies as anti-viral agents to treat COVID-19.

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.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Holotranscobalamin, Vitamin B12, Methylmalonic Acid, and Homocysteine in Detecting B12 Deficiency in a Large, Mixed Patient Population.

Four biomarkers are commonly employed to diagnose B12 deficiency: vitamin B12 (B12), holotranscobalamin (HoloTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA), and homocysteine (Hcy). 4cB12, a combined index of the B12 status, has been suggested to improve the recognition of B12 deficiency. We aimed to evaluate the four different markers for detecting B12 deficiency, as determined by 4cB12.

Glycaemic patterns in healthy elderly individuals and in those with impaired glucose metabolism - exploring the relationship with nonglycaemic variables.

Objective: The SENIORLABOR study data were explored (i) to examine the evolution during senescence of the differences between measured glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) values and the values predicted by using regression to extrapolate from measured fructosamine levels; (ii) to scrutinise the relationship between the glycation gap and insulin resistance using a homeostasis model assessment, and between the glycation gap and a low-grade inflammation marker (C-reactive protein serum concentration); and (iii) to investigate the glycation gap ranges in relation to triglyceride levels and kidney function.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 1432 Swiss individuals aged >60 years and classified as healthy (547), prediabetic (701) or diabetic (184) based on their fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c values were included in the study. The glycation gap was evaluated and assigned to one of four categories: <−0.

The utility of complement assays in clinical immunology: A comprehensive review.

The multi-tasking organ liver, which is the major synthesis site of most serum proteins, supplies humoral components of the innate, - including proteins of the complement system; and, less intensely, also of the acquired immune system. In addition to hepatocyte origins, C1q, factor D, C3, C7 and other protein components of the complement system are produced at various body locations by monocytes/macrophages, lymphocytes, adipocytes, endometrium, enterocytes, keratinocytes and epithelial cells; but the contribution of these alternate sites to the total serum concentrations is slight. The two major exceptions are factor D, which cleaves factor B of the alternative pathway derived largely from adipocytes, and C7, derived largely from polymorphonuclear leukocytes and monocytes/macrophages.

Complement systems C4, C3 and CH50 not subject to a circadian rhythm.

Background: The circadian fluctuations in the blood levels of selected components of the complement system are ill-defined. Some authors found nadir serum levels of C4 and C3 components, together with C3a at nighttime, while others reported insomnia when pro-inflammatory components exhibited increased serum levels. In this study, we quantitatively estimate the morning and evening daytime serum levels of CH50, C4, C3, put into context with C-reactive protein (CRP), cortisol, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and 25(OH)vitamin D at 07:00 A.

Osteoporosis, diabetes, and hypertension are major risk factors for mortality in older adults: an intermediate report on a prospective survey of 1467 community-dwelling elderly healthy pensioners in Switzerland.

Background: Osteoporosis is an important morbidity factor for ageing populations in developed countries. However, compared to the amount of information available on diabetes and cardiovascular disease, little is known about the direct impact of osteoporosis on general mortality in older age.

Methods: We obtained data from a prospective population-based cohort of pensioners from the SENIORLAB study who were subjectively healthy.

SENIORLAB: a prospective observational study investigating laboratory parameters and their reference intervals in the elderly.

Background: In clinical practice, laboratory results are often important for making diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic decisions. Interpreting individual results relies on accurate reference intervals and decision limits. Despite the considerable amount of resources in clinical medicine spent on elderly patients, accurate reference intervals for the elderly are rarely available.

Hepatitis C virus epidemiology and prevention in Polish and Swiss population - similar and contrasting experiences.

Objective: The aim of the study was to review available data on HCV in Poland and Switzerland, in order to compare the two European countries with respect to epidemiological situation and efficiency of the response systems.

Materials And Method: A search of registries, published and grey literature was performed to assemble data on prevalence, rate of detection of new cases, identified risk factors for transmission, mortality due to HCV, prevalence of HCC and the consequent liver transplantations, as well as data on treatment in Poland and Switzerland.

Results: Overall, the prevalence of anti-HCV antibodies was similar, not exceeding 1%.

Inflammation Thread Runs across Medical Laboratory Specialities.

We work on the assumption that four major specialities or sectors of medical laboratory assays, comprising clinical chemistry, haematology, immunology, and microbiology, embraced by genome sequencing techniques, are routinely in use. Medical laboratory markers for inflammation serve as model: they are allotted to most fields of medical lab assays including genomics. Incessant coding of assays aligns each of them in the long lists of big data.

The cystatin C/creatinine ratio, a marker of glomerular filtration quality: associated factors, reference intervals, and prediction of morbidity and mortality in healthy seniors.

The ratio of cystatin C (cysC) to creatinine (crea) is regarded as a marker of glomerular filtration quality associated with cardiovascular morbidities. We sought to determine reference intervals for serum cysC-crea ratio in seniors. Furthermore, we sought to determine whether other low-molecular weight molecules exhibit a similar behavior in individuals with altered glomerular filtration quality.

Impaired glucose metabolism and type 2 diabetes in apparently healthy senior citizens.

Study Principle: To estimate the prevalence of unknown impaired glucose metabolism, also referred to as prediabetes (PreD), and unknown type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) among subjectively healthy Swiss senior citizens. The fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and glycated haemoglobin A(1c) (HbA(1c)) levels were used for screening. A total of 1 362 subjects were included (613 men and 749 women; age range 60-99 years).

Incidence of preeclampsia in pregnant Swiss women.

Question Under Study: The epidemiology of preeclampsia in Switzerland is known only from a retrospective registry study. This analysis aimed to prospectively determine the incidence of preeclampsia in a cohort of pregnant women in Switzerland.

Methods: Pregnant women presenting at gestational week 11-14 at their obstetrician's office were consecutively included and prospectively followed-up until the end of pregnancy.

Vitamin B12 and folate levels in healthy Swiss senior citizens: a prospective study evaluating reference intervals and decision limits.

Background: The vitamin B12 and folate status in nonanaemic healthy older persons needs attention the more so as decrease in levels may be anticipated from reduced haematinic provision and/or impaired intestinal uptake.

Methods: A total of 1143 subjectively healthy Swiss midlands participants (637 females and 506 males), ≥60 years of age were included in this study. Levels of vitamin B12, holotranscobalamin (holoTC), methylmalonic acid (MMA), homocysteine (Hcy), serum folate, red blood cell (RBC) folate were measured.

The aging human recipient of transfusion products.

In this review the different mechanisms of aging and frailty such as DNA defects due to impaired DNA repair, inflammatory processes, disturbances of oxidative phosphorylation are discussed together with mechanisms of cell repair. Components of blood plasma, such as the growth-differentiation protein GDF11, were shown to enhance neurogenesis and to improve the vasculature in the animal cortex and to rejuvenate muscle tissue. Advances in laboratory assays allow to identify plasma proteins that may affect tissue regeneration.

Chronobiology and circadian rhythms establish a connection to diagnosis.

Circadian rhythms are synchronized by the light/dark (L/D) cycle over the 24-h day. A suprachiasmatic nucleus in the hypothalamus governs time keeping based on melanopsin messages from the retina in the eyes and transduces regulatory signals to tissues through an array of hormonal, metabolic and neural outputs. Currently, vague impressions on circadian regulation in health and disease are replaced by scientific facts: in addition to L/D cyling, oscillation is maintained by genetic (Clock, Bmal1, Csnk1, CHRONO, Cry, Per) programs, autonomous feedback loops, including melatonin activities, aerobic glycolysis intensity and lipid signalling, among others.