Evaluating the effect of donor anxiety levels and lifestyle characteristics on the activation of platelet concentrates

BACKGROUND: Smoking, alcohol use, performing regular physical exercise, dietary habits, and anxiety level may cause platelet activation. We aimed to evaluate the anxiety levels, smoking status, alcohol intake, and sportive habits of donors, and determine their impact on the quality of apheresis-platelets.METHODS: State and Transient Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to determine the level of donors' anxiety. STAI has two subscales: S-anxiety scale (STAI-I) and T-anxiety scale (STAI-II), each comprising 20 questions rated on a 4-point Likert scale. Data on smoking, alcohol consumption, and performing regular physical exercise were obtained from a questionnaire filled out before donation. Flow cytometric analysis was used to quantify activated platelets.RESULTS: The STAI-I level of 86 participants was normal, while that of 12 was higher. No significant difference was found in the active platelet absolute count [1.8×10¹¹ (2.7) and 1.4×10¹¹ (1.3), respectively; P=0.665] between donors with normal STAI-I levels and those with higher STAI-I levels. Of 98 donors, 42 had normal STAI-II levels, while 56 had higher STAI-II levels. No significant difference was found in the active platelet absolute count [2.3×10¹¹ (3.1) and 1.5×10¹¹ (2.3), respectively; P=0.224] between donors with normal STAI-II levels and those with higher STAI-II levels. Platelet counts of individuals who perform regular physical exercise were significantly higher than those of individuals who did not perform regular physical exercise (6.3±1.4×10¹¹ vs. 5.5±1.4×10¹¹).CONCLUSION: The quality of apheresis platelets is not affected by anxiety levels and lifestyle characteristics of blood donors. There is no need to organize apheresis blood donor pool considering with these subjects.

unusual bacteroides distasonis related corneal ulcer: questions to be answered

We herein present an unusual case of Bacteroides distasonis related corneal ulcer. A 70-year-old male farmer presented with decreased vision, pain and redness in the left eye that had persisted for 1 week. Ophthalmic examination was highly suggestive of keratitis with corneal ulcer. Empirical fortified antibiotic therapy with fungal coverage was started after corneal swab and microbiological sampling. Since two attempts at pathogen detection were unrevealing and there was no good sign of healing, third attempt was performed with the presence of attending microbiologist. This time, sampling for anaerobic culturing was also performed, which detected B. distasonis as the causative agent. The patient disagreed to be followed as inpatient at this point. Despite pathogen-targeted metranidazole treatment, severe corneal scarring with prominent vascularization was observed forty days after initial presentation. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first reported case of B. distasonis related corneal ulcer with a detailed clinical course. In conclusion, it is very crucial to be in close collaboration with the microbiologists to isolate unusual corneal pathogens. Corneal ulcers related with unusual bacterias should be followed up closely with hospitalization