IntroductionPlatelet count estimation is an important element of the diagnostic and treatment process in many disorders. The present study aims to determine the incidence of improper impedance platelet count in severe microcytosis and to state the sensitivity and specificity of various parameters like histogram, red cell distribution width (RDW), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet flags Metho...

remaining 161 cases with an HbA2 level ≤3.5% constituted the non-BTT group. In the BTT group 3 cases had concomitant iron deficiency. In the non-BTT group 120 cases had a serum ferritin level <15 ng/mL and were diagnosed as IDA; of the remaining 41cases, 12 had associated chronic illness indicative of ACD (anemia of chronic disease) and in the other 29 the cause of microcytosis could not be ide...

For unclear reasons, anemia is more common in American blacks than whites. The authors evaluated anemia prevalence (using World Health Organization criteria) among 19,836 blacks and whites recruited in 2003-2007 for the REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke Renal Ancillary study and characterized anemia by 3 anemia-associated conditions (chronic kidney disease, inflammation, a...

BACKGROUND alpha-Thalassemia (alpha-Thal) has been poorly characterized at the molecular level in Mexico. METHODS 106 consecutive individuals identified in Laboratorios Clínicos de Puebla, with either hypochromia (MCH < 24 pg) and/or microcytosis (MCV < 75 fl in women or < 80 fl in man), without iron deficiency, with or without anemia were investigated in this study, along a 16 month-period. ...

Most α-thalassemia cases are caused by deletions of the structural α-globin genes. The degree of microcytosis and hypochromia has been correlated with the number of affected α-globin genes, suggesting a promising role of hematologic parameters as predictive diagnostic tools. However, cut-off points for these parameters to discriminate between the different subtypes of α-thalassemia are yet to b...

Iron regulatory protein 2 (IRP2)-deficient mice have been reported to suffer from late-onset neurodegeneration by an unknown mechanism. We report that young adult Irp2-/- mice display signs of iron mismanagement within the central iron recycling pathway in the mammalian body, the liver-bone marrow-spleen axis, with altered body iron distribution and compromised hematopoiesis. In comparison with...

Erythrocytosis and microcytosis have been described in strains of genetically hypertensive rats and in essentially hypertensive humans. Published discussion of these phenomena has centered around their relationship to observed alterations in ionic transport and the pathogenesis of hypertension. In presenting data for another strain of spontaneously hypertensive rats in which these findings are ...

Transferrin receptor 2 (TFR2), a protein homologous to the cell iron importer TFR1, is expressed in the liver and erythroid cells and is reported to bind diferric transferrin, although at lower affinity than TFR1. TFR2 gene is mutated in type 3 hemochromatosis, a disorder characterized by iron overload and inability to upregulate hepcidin in response to iron. Liver TFR2 is considered a sensor o...