Ex vivo Vitamin D supplementation improves viscoelastic profiles in prostate cancer patients.

Background: Increased risk of thromboembolic events is associated with prostate cancer, specifically linked to activation of tissue factor. Vitamin D has potential anticoagulant effects by the downregulation of tissue factor expression.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects on clot formation, the morphological and viscoelastic profiles of prostate cancer patients, before and after ex vivo supplementation of Vitamin D was studied.

Poorly controlled type 2 diabetes is accompanied by significant morphological and ultrastructural changes in both erythrocytes and in thrombin-generated fibrin: implications for diagnostics.

We have noted in previous work, in a variety of inflammatory diseases, where iron dysregulation occurs, a strong tendency for erythrocytes to lose their normal discoid shape and to adopt a skewed morphology (as judged by their axial ratios in the light microscope and by their ultrastructure in the SEM). Similarly, the polymerization of fibrinogen, as induced in vitro by added thrombin, leads not to the common 'spaghetti-like' structures but to dense matted deposits. Type 2 diabetes is a known inflammatory disease.