Publications by authors named "Sophie Waldvogel"

Background: Retention of first-time donors is pivotal for blood collection centers. The present study built on research showing the importance of donor identity among regular donors and sought to compare the effectiveness of various communication strategies on return rate.

Study Design And Methods: Postal letters were sent to a large sample of first-time whole blood donors (N = 1219) a few weeks following their first donation.

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The RBC storage lesion is a multiparametric response that occurs during storage at 4°C, but its impact on transfused patients remains unclear. In studies of the RBC storage lesion, the temperature transition from cold storage to normal body temperature that occurs during transfusion has received limited attention. We hypothesized that multiple deleterious events might occur in this period of increasing temperature.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is becoming more important in transfusion medicine due to high seroprevalence rates, particularly in Switzerland, where a study analyzed anti-HEV IgG in blood donations using a sensitive diagnostic method.
  • The study found that about 20.4% of the blood samples taken from 2014-2016 tested positive for anti-HEV IgG, with variations across different regions and a higher prevalence in older populations.
  • Overall seroprevalence in the Bern canton has decreased from 30.3% in 1997/98 to 22.3% in 2015/16, highlighting the risk to transfusion recipients, prompting the implementation of nucle
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Immune-mediated hemolytic anemia following SOT is a rare disorder, the risk factors for which are unknown. Our purpose was to analyze a seemingly increased incidence in our center with the aim to identify predisposing factors. This recipients single-center retrospective study reviewed the medical records of 96 pediatric LT between 2000 and 2013.

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Peripheral natural killer (NK) cells upregulate T-bet and downregulate Eomes, the key transcription factors regulating NK cell maturation and function during the last maturation steps toward terminally differentiated effector cells. During this process, NK cells acquire killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR) and effector functions, such as cytotoxicity and target cell-induced cytokine production. Inhibitory KIR are pivotal in the control of effector functions, but whether they also modulate T-bet/Eomes expression is unknown.

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Efficient and persisting immune memory is essential for long-term protection from infectious and malignant diseases. The yellow fever (YF) vaccine is a live attenuated virus that mediates lifelong protection, with recent studies showing that the CD8(+) T cell response is particularly robust. Yet, limited data exist regarding the long-term CD8(+) T cell response, with no studies beyond 5 years after vaccination.

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Background: The rare S-s- phenotype is typically found in persons of African origin. Three genetic bases underlying this phenotype have been identified so far: a large deletion including the GYPB gene, which encodes the S and s antigens, and two mutations affecting GYPB splicing (commonly called "P2" and "NY"). The discovery of the S-s- phenotype in a Swiss patient prompted this study.

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Background: Hepcidin, a 25 amino acid peptide, plays an important role in iron homeostasis. Some hepcidin truncated peptides have antibiotic effects.

Results: A new analytical method for hepcidin determination in human plasma using LC-HRMS operating in full-scan acquisition mode has been validated.

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Background: The true benefit of iron supplementation for nonanemic menstruating women with fatigue is unknown. We studied the effect of oral iron therapy on fatigue and quality of life, as well as on hemoglobin, ferritin and soluble transferrin receptor levels, in nonanemic iron-deficient women with unexplained fatigue.

Methods: We performed a multicentre, parallel, randomized controlled, closed-label, observer-blinded trial.

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Background: Iron deficiency without anemia is related to adverse symptoms that can be relieved by supplementation. Since a blood donation can induce such an iron deficiency, we investigated the clinical impact of iron treatment after a blood donation.

Methods: One week after donation, we randomly assigned 154 female donors with iron deficiency without anemia, aged below 50 years, to a four-week oral treatment of ferrous sulfate versus a placebo.

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Background: There is no recommendation to screen ferritin level in blood donors, even though several studies have noted the high prevalence of iron deficiency after blood donation, particularly among menstruating females. Furthermore, some clinical trials have shown that non-anaemic women with unexplained fatigue may benefit from iron supplementation. Our objective is to determine the clinical effect of iron supplementation on fatigue in female blood donors without anaemia, but with a mean serum ferritin < or = 30 ng/ml.

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We report the development of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a patient treated for acute myeloid leukaemia during empirical voriconazole therapy for febrile neutropenia. The patient failed to respond to the institution of salvage combination therapy with amphotericin B and voriconazole, but survived after adjunctive surgical resection.

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