While donors are asked to return for donation after a suitable period, still a relevant proportion of blood donors is deferred from donation each year due to a too low hemoglobin level. Rejection of donation may demotivate the candidate donor and implies an inefficient planning of the donation process. Hence,
it is important to predict the future hemoglobin level to improve the planning of donors’ visits to the blood bank.
Methods: The development of the hemoglobin prediction rule is based on longitudinal (panel) data from blood donations collected by Sanquin (the only blood product collecting and supplying organization in the Netherlands). We explored and contrasted two popular statisticalmodels, selleck i.e. the transition (autoregressive) model and the mixed effects model as plausible models to account for the dependence among subsequent hemoglobin levels within a donor.
Results: The predictors Entinostat research buy of the future hemoglobin level are age, season, hemoglobin levels at the previous visits, and a binary variable indicating whether a donation was made at
the previous visit. Based on cross-validation, the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs) for male donors are 0.83 and 0.81 for the transition model and the mixed effects model, respectively; for female donors we obtained AUC values of 0.73 and 0.72 for the transition model and the mixed effects model, respectively.
Conclusion: We showed that the transition models and the mixed effects models provide a much better prediction compared to a multiple linear regression model. In general, the transition model provides a somewhat better prediction than the mixed effects model, especially at high visit numbers. In addition, the transition model offers a better trade-off between sensitivity and specificity when varying the cut-off values NU7441 purchase for eligibility in predicted values. Hence transition models make the prediction of hemoglobin level more precise and may lead to less deferral from donation in the future.”
“BACKGROUND: Disseminated tuberculosis (TB) is a
severe form of disease that can be difficult to diagnose or exclude. The diagnostic role of bone marrow biopsy and culture in children with suspected disseminated TB is not clearly defined.
METHODOLOGY: In a prospective hospital-based study conducted from November 2007 to October 2008, bone marrow biopsy and culture were performed in all children referred with possible disseminated TB; relevant clinical and laboratory data were reviewed.
RESULTS: Thirty-five children were included in the study. An alternative diagnosis was established in 10 (29%) and mycobacterial disease confirmed or probable in 25 (71%). Among those with mycobactcrial disease, multiple respiratory specimens provided the best yield (17/25; 68%).