Recommendations for diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia.

Iron is an essential nutrient and a constituent of ferroproteins and enzymes crucial for human life. Generally, nonmenstruating individuals preserve iron very efficiently, losing less than 0.1% of their body iron content each day, an amount that is replaced through dietary iron absorption.

The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Youth with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: A Systematic Review.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common endocrine disorder that affects women of reproductive age and female adolescents. The diagnosis of PCOS is difficult during puberty due to overlapping of the criteria with normal variations of menstruation during this age period. There are insufficient data on the gut microbiome and PCOS and potential mechanisms linking the two.

Large-scale screening for factor V Leiden (G1691A), prothrombin (G20210A), and MTHFR (C677T) mutations in Greek population.

Background And Aims: To provide a fair estimate of the prevalence of factor V Leiden (FVL) (G1691A), prothrombin (G20210A), and MTHFR (C677T) mutations in the Greek population.

Methods: We genotyped a representative sample of 974 apparently healthy Greek adults by the method of real-time PCR and we calculated the allele frequencies of factor V Leiden (FVL) (G1691A), prothrombin (G20210A), and MTHFR (C677T) mutations. In addition, we determined the frequency of co-occurrence of FVL (1691A) and prothrombin (20210A), FVL (1691A) and MTHFR (677T), prothrombin (20210A) and MTHFR (677T) mutations.

Immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in children: A review of the current knowledge.

Host immune responses to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), especially in children, are still under investigation. Children with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) constitute a significant study group of immune responses as they rarely present with severe clinical manifestations, require hospitalization, or develop complications such as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The deciphering of children's immune responses during COVID-19 infection will provide information about the protective mechanisms, while new potential targets for future therapies are likely to be revealed.

Musculoskeletal ultrasound in hemophilia: Results and recommendations from a global survey and consensus meeting.

Introduction: For persons with hemophilia, optimization of joint outcomes is an important unmet need. The aim of this initiative was to determine use of ultrasound in evaluating arthropathy in persons with hemophilia, and to move toward consensus among hemophilia care providers regarding the preferred ultrasound protocols for global adaptation.

Methods: A global survey of hemophilia treatment centers was conducted that focused on understanding how and why ultrasound was being used and endeavored to move toward consensus definitions of both point-of-care musculoskeletal ultrasound (POC-MSKUS) and full diagnostic ultrasound, terminology to describe structures being assessed by ultrasound, and how these assessments should be interpreted.

Brain "fog," inflammation and obesity: key aspects of neuropsychiatric disorders improved by luteolin.

Brain "fog" is a constellation of symptoms that include reduced cognition, inability to concentrate and multitask, as well as loss of short and long term memory. Brain "fog" characterizes patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), celiac disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, mastocytosis, and postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), as well as "minimal cognitive impairment," an early clinical presentation of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and other neuropsychiatric disorders. Brain "fog" may be due to inflammatory molecules, including adipocytokines and histamine released from mast cells (MCs) further stimulating microglia activation, and causing focal brain inflammation.

Concept of the aortic aneurysm repair-related surgical stress: a review of the literature.

Objective: Abdominal aorta aneurysm (AAA) is a serious threat for human life. AAA repair is a high-risk procedure which results in a severe surgical stress response. We aim to give a conceptual description of the underlying pathophysiology of stress after surgical repair of AAA.

Serum transferrin receptors: Distribution and diagnostic performance in pre-school children.

Soluble transferrin receptors have gained interest in the field of diagnosing anemias. Reference ranges differ according to the method used for the quantification of sTfR. We aim to explore the distributional properties and diagnostic performance of sTfR in pre-school healthy children as well as in children with beta-thalassemia carriers, iron deficiency with normal hematological phenotype (ID) and iron deficiency anemia (IDA).

Erythropoiesis: Hereditary Spherocytosis in Greece: Collective Data on a Large Number of Patients.

This paper summarizes data from a haematological, biochemical, and clinical study carried out in 73 patients of Greek origin (38 non-splenectomized children and 35 adults; 17 splenectomized) with Hereditary Spherocytosis (HS). Mean haemoglobin levels in the non-splenectomized patients were significantly lower (122 +/- 15 g/L) than those of the splenectomized group (144 +/- 15 g/L). In all patients with HS (non-splenectomized and splenectomized adults, and children) the MCHC values (355 +/- 22, 358 +/- 16 and 356 +/- 16 respectively) were significantly increased compared to a control group, while the percentage of microcytic and hyperchromic red cell subpopulations was significantly increased in the former group of adults.