Background: Prothrombin complex concentrate (PCC) is used to reverse vitamin K antagonist (VKA)-induced anticoagulation. Prothrombin time-derived international normalized ratio (INR) measurements are widely used in determining the required PCC dose, but this approach requires reappraisal. The aim of the present study was to determine the added value of the thrombin generation assay (TGA) compared with the INR in guidance of VKA reversal by PCC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is an antibody deficiency with an equal sex distribution and a high variability in clinical presentation. The main features include respiratory tract infections and their associated complications, enteropathy, autoimmunity, and lymphoproliferative disorders.
Objective: This study analyzes the clinical presentation, association between clinical features, and differences and effects of immunoglobulin treatment in Europe.
Background: In patients with cirrhosis, the synthesis of coagulation factors can fall short, reflected by a prolonged prothrombin time. Although anticoagulants factors are decreased as well, blood loss during orthotopic liver transplantation can still be excessive. Blood loss during orthotopic liver transplantation is currently managed by transfusion of red blood cell concentrates, platelet concentrates, fresh frozen plasma, and fibrinogen concentrate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: It is widely accepted that atherosclerosis and inflammation are intimately linked. Monocytes play a key role in both of these processes and we hypothesized that activation of inflammatory pathways in monocytes would lead to, among others, proatherogenic changes in the monocyte transcriptome. Such differentially expressed genes in circulating monocytes would be strong candidates for further investigation in disease association studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Circulating endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) counts were determined in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to elucidate their role in SCD-related ischemia-induced angiogenesis and reendothelialization.
Materials And Methods: Circulating EPC counts (KDR(+)/CD34(+)/Cd45(dim) cells) and their relation to serum levels of EPC mobilizing growth factors erythropoietin, vascular endothelial growth factor, and interleukin-8 were investigated in SCD patients during asymptomatic state (n=66) and painful crisis (n=36) and compared to healthy controls (n=13).
Results: EPC counts were comparable between controls (0; range, 0-1.
Aims: Clinical trials showed contradictory results in functional recovery after intracoronary infusion of autologous mononuclear (bone marrow) cells in patients with acute myocardial infarction. A recent study suggests that this might be related to the isolation protocol used. In The Netherlands, a comparable randomised multicentre trial (HEBE) was designed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe number of colony forming unit-endothelial cells (CFU-EC) in human peripheral blood was found to be a biological marker for several vascular diseases. In this study, the heterogeneous composition of immune cells in the CFU-ECs was investigated. We confirmed that monocytes are essential for the formation of CFU-ECs.
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