Surrogates for Identifying Pre-School Children with Iron Deficiency Anaemia: Is Red cell indices useful?

There are difficulties in determining children with iron deficiency anaemia in developing countries due to cost of serum ferritin estimation. We sought to determine the relationship between red cell indices and serum ferritin among pre-school children. A random sample of 89 apparently healthy children was recruited. Serum ferritin was measured by ELIZA while red cell indices were determined by auto-analysis.Correlations analysis was performed to test the relationship between serum ferritin and the red cell indices. Also validity testing of red cell indices as screening tools was performed using the sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values. Weak significant positive correlations were seen between serum ferritin and MCV, and MCH irrespective of the anaemic status of study subjects anaemia status (p = 0.020, and 0.040 respectively). Following stratification according to presence or absence of anaemia, a significant positive correlation was seen between serum ferritin and MCV among subjects with anaemia. None of the red cell indices were found to reach significant correlation levels with the red cell indices in non-anaemic study subjects. There were notable difference between sensitivity, specificity, and predictive values using MCV compared with MCH in the anaemic children. MCV was observed to be a useful surrogate for predicting iron deficiency state in pre-school children with anaemia where serum ferritin is not readily available

Individualized leukemia cell-population profiles in common B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients / 癌症

Immunophenotype is critical for diagnosing common B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (common ALL) and detecting minimal residual disease. We developed a protocol to explore the immunophenotypic profiles of common ALL based on the expression levels of the antigens associated with B lymphoid development, including IL-7Rα (CD127), cytoplasmic CD79a (cCD79a), CD19, VpreB (CD179a), and sIgM, which are successive and essential for progression of B cells along their developmental pathway. Analysis of the immunophenotypes of 48 common ALL cases showed that the immunophenotypic patterns were highly heterogeneous, with the leukemic cell population differing from case to case. Through the comprehensive analysis of immunophenotypic patterns, the profiles of patient-specific composite leukemia cell populations could provide detailed information helpful for the diagnosis, therapeutic monitoring, and individualized therapies for common ALL.