Iron deficiency and infection risk in Danish blood donors.

Background: We aimed to investigate if iron deficiency was associated with infection susceptibility in a large cohort of healthy individuals.

Study Design And Methods: The Danish Blood Donor Study is a national ongoing prospective study of blood donors. We included 94,628 donors with 338,290 ferritin measurements from March 2010 to October 2022.

Distinguishing functional from primary tics: a study of expert video assessments.

Background: Reliably applied criteria to differentiate functional from primary tics are lacking. In the absence of biological markers, the development of new diagnostic criteria to assist clinicians is predicated on expert judgement and consensus. This study examines the level of diagnostic agreement of experts in tic disorders using video footage and clinical descriptions.

S1P receptor modulators in Multiple Sclerosis: Detecting a potential skin cancer safety signal.

Introduction: S1P receptor modulators are oral Disease-Modifying Therapies (DMTs) for Multiple Sclerosis, which were associated with cases of basal cell carcinoma in clinical trials. This study aims at investigating in a real-world adverse event reporting system whether S1P receptor modulators increase the risk of skin cancer reporting, compared to other DMTs.

Methods: Adverse event reports from the FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) were extracted, cleaned, and analyzed from 2004Q1 until 2020Q4.

The association between water hardness and xerosis-Results from the Danish Blood Donor Study.

Background: The pathophysiology of xerosis depends on extrinsic and intrinsic exposures. Residential hard water may constitute such an exposure.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of xerosis and to compare water hardness exposure in blood donors with and without xerosis.

Mixed Models as a Tool for Comparing Groups of Time Series in Plant Sciences.

Plants adapt to continual changes in environmental conditions throughout their life spans. High-throughput phenotyping methods have been developed to noninvasively monitor the physiological responses to abiotic/biotic stresses on a scale spanning a long time, covering most of the vegetative and reproductive stages. However, some of the physiological events comprise almost immediate and very fast responses towards the changing environment which might be overlooked in long-term observations.

A genome-wide meta-analysis yields 46 new loci associating with biomarkers of iron homeostasis.

Iron is essential for many biological functions and iron deficiency and overload have major health implications. We performed a meta-analysis of three genome-wide association studies from Iceland, the UK and Denmark of blood levels of ferritin (N = 246,139), total iron binding capacity (N = 135,430), iron (N = 163,511) and transferrin saturation (N = 131,471). We found 62 independent sequence variants associating with iron homeostasis parameters at 56 loci, including 46 novel loci.

Contributi scientifici in memoria di Antonio Fusco.

Come si leggerà nell'Introduzione della sezione propriamente scientifica del Volume, il presente testo nasce dalla volontà e, soprattutto, dall'esigenza culturale di omaggiare il fu Prof. Antonio Fusco. Un debito scientifico ed umano che trova il suo locus naturale in questa prima parte del testo stesso, cui farà poi seguito la parte propriamente scientifica.

Serum ferritin level is inversely related to number of previous pregnancy losses in women with recurrent pregnancy loss.

Objective: To study whether low serum ferritin (s-ferritin) levels are associated with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), and whether low s-ferritin predicts the risk of another pregnancy loss or the ability to conceive.

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Fertility clinic at a university hospital.

Antimicrobial Properties on Non-Antibiotic Drugs in the Era of Increased Bacterial Resistance.

In recent years, due to the dramatic increase in and global spread of bacterial resistance to a number of commonly used antibacterial agents, many studies have been directed at investigating drugs whose primary therapeutic purpose is not antimicrobial action. In an era where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find new antimicrobial drugs, it is important to understand these antimicrobial effects and their potential clinical implications. Numerous studies report the antibacterial activity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, local anaesthetics, phenothiazines such as chlorpromazine, levomepromazine, promethazine, trifluoperazine, methdilazine and thioridazine, antidepressants, antiplatelets and statins.

The donors perceived positive and negative effects of blood donation.

Background: Occasionally blood donation has a negative influence on some donors, while others express feelings of increased energy or wellbeing after donation. Some donors even report symptoms such as headache or feelings of unease indicating "it is time to donate blood again." This study aims to determine symptoms and frequencies of blood donors experiencing positive and negative effects of blood donation, and study possible associations with sex, age, body mass index, smoking status, and hemoglobin level.

Differential effects of earthquakes on patients with bipolar disorder versus schizophrenia: Findings from Crete, Greece, 2008-2010.

Electromagnetic radiation influences in many ways humans and animals, while earthquakes are known to be related with electromagnetic phenomena. We recently showed that large earthquakes reduced admissions of psychiatric patients, whereas small earthquakes were associated with increased number of admissions. Our aim was to examine the effect of seismic-related electromagnetic activity on two chronic and severe psychiatric disorders varying in terms of etiology and treatment, i.

Oral iron supplementation is not associated with short-term risk of infections: results from the Danish Blood Donor Study.

Background: Blood donors are at increased risk of developing iron deficiency, and several studies have recommended iron supplementation for this group. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of oral iron supplementation on risk of infections among healthy blood donors.

Study Design And Methods: We included 82,062 participants from the Danish Blood Donor Study who completed a questionnaire on health-related items including use of oral iron supplementation.

Frequent blood donation and offspring scholastic attainment: an assessment of long-term consequences of prenatal iron deficiency.

Background: Due to physiological demands, children and premenopausal women are at risk of developing iron deficiency. In premenopausal women, the risk may be further increased by repeated whole blood donations. Short-term consequences of iron deficiency in infancy include impaired cognitive development and lower IQ scores.

Genetic factors influencing hemoglobin levels in 15,567 blood donors: results from the Danish Blood Donor Study.

Background: Blood donors have an increased risk of low hemoglobin (Hb) levels due to iron deficiency. Therefore, knowledge of genetic variants associated with low Hb could facilitate individualized donation intervals. We have previously reported three specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms that were associated with ferritin levels in blood donors.

Frequent blood donation and offspring birth weight-a next-generation association?

Background: The prevalence of iron depletion is high among premenopausal women who donate blood frequently. Studies in nondonor populations indicate that iron deficiency anemia is associated with an increased risk of low birth weight. This prompts concerns that iron deficiency induced by frequent blood donation might impair subsequent fetal development.

Rare Case of Hepatic Endometriosis as an Incidental Finding: Difficult Diagnosis of a Diagnostic Dilemma.

Endometriosis is the abnormal existence of functional uterine mucosal tissue outside the uterus. It is a usual disorder of women in reproductive age which is mainly located in the female genital tract. Hepatic endometriosis is one of the rarest disorders characterized by the presence of ectopic endometrium in the liver.

Evaluation of Bayesian classifiers in asthma exacerbation prediction after medication discontinuation.

Objective: The achievement of the optimal control of the disease is of cardinal importance in asthma treatment. As the control of the disease is sustained the medication should be gradually reduced and then stopped. Nevertheless, the discontinuation of asthma medication may lead to loss of disease control and eventually to an exacerbation of the disease.

Restless legs syndrome is associated with major comorbidities in a population of Danish blood donors.

Background: Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is characterized by uncomfortable nocturnal sensations in the legs making sedentary activities and sleep difficult, and is thus linked with psychosocial distress. Due to the symptomatology and neurobiology of RLS (disrupting brain iron and dopamine) it is likely that RLS associates with poorer health-related quality of life (HRQL) and depressive disorder. The objective of this study was to investigate the RLS-HRQL and the RLS-depressive disorder links in a generally healthy population that is not biased by medications.

Calcium in drinking water: effect on iron stores in Danish blood donors-results from the Danish Blood Donor Study.

Background: Studies confirm that calcium inhibits iron absorption. Danish tap water comes from groundwater, which contains varying amounts of calcium depending on the subsoil. We investigated the association of calcium in drinking water with iron levels in Danish blood donors.

Hypothalamic dysfunction in heart failure: pathogenetic mechanisms and therapeutic implications.

Neurohumoral activation is an important feature of heart failure. Recent advances in molecular biology and imaging techniques permitted a better understanding of the central role that hypothalamus plays in the modulation of dysfunctional mechanisms, as well as the occurrence of comorbidities, such as depression, in heart failure patients. This review summarizes the commonly reported neural reflexes and molecular signaling pathways at the level of the hypothalamus along with the dysfunctional mechanisms within the paraventricular nucleus and other areas of the hypothalamus in heart failure and describes some relevant therapeutic implications.