Supplying whole blood with drones for prehospital transfusion at trauma sites in Finland: A simulation.

Background And Objectives: Prehospital transfusion is now increasingly used in civilian and military medicine. Blood products are, however, perishable and rarely needed in civilian settings. Given the rapid development of drone-based logistics and Finland's low population density, we aimed to build a computational framework to assess the feasibility and requirements of drone-based delivery of blood products to trauma sites.

Coagulation Profile of Convalescent Plasma Donors and Recipients.

Convalescent plasma (CP) therapy for COVID-19 infection may have favorable safety but varying efficacy, with concerns about its procoagulant impact. We investigated whether administration of CP to hospitalized patients affects their coagulation profile. Fifty-four patients randomized in a double-blinded fashion received either placebo, low-titer CP (LCP) or high-titer CP (HCP).

Convalescent plasma therapy for COVID-19 - Donor selection strategies and establishment of a plasma bank.

Background: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, convalescent plasma (CP) emerged as a potentially effective treatment neutralising SARS-CoV-2. Early CP therapy with high neutralising antibody (NAb) titre may benefit COVID-19 outpatients and, in sufficient quantities even some hospitalised patients. This study details the process of setting up a CP bank, containing high- and low-titre CP for a clinical trial.

Simulated effects of ferritin screening on C-reactive protein levels in recruited blood donors.

Background And Objectives: Ferritin is commonly measured to evaluate iron stores in the body. Some countries have added or considered adding ferritin lower bounds to donor eligibility criteria. Ferritin is also elevated by inflammation.

Hepatitis E Virus in Finland: Epidemiology and Risk in Blood Donors and in the General Population.

Autochthonous hepatitis E (HEV) cases have been increasingly recognized and reported in Europe, caused predominantly by the zoonotic HEV genotype 3. The clinical picture is highly variable, from asymptomatic to acute severe or prolonged hepatitis in immunocompromised patients. The main route of transmission to humans in Europe is the ingestion of undercooked pork meat.

Determining optimal locations for blood distribution centers.

Background: Blood banks have to be thoughtful about supply chain decisions to effectively satisfy the blood product demand of hospitals. These decisions include the number and locations of distribution centers (DC), as this has a strong impact on both transportation cost and the ability to deliver emergency orders in time.

Study Design And Methods: We propose a mixed-integer linear programming approach to find optimal DC locations for supplying individual hospitals.

Retrospective analysis of capillary hemoglobin recovery in nearly 1 200 000 blood donor returns.

Measuring the concentration of capillary hemoglobin (cHb) is a standard procedure before blood donation. To further assess the time period needed for cHb recovery after blood donation and to have a more in-depth understanding of features of recovery, we used data-mining tools in a large, retrospective data pool containing all 1 163 524 donor returns that took place in Finland in 2010 to 2015. The results show that the average recovery times for cHb to return back to the level preceding donation were substantially longer, over 200 days in all age groups, than were the minimum allowed donation intervals.

Applications of genomic medicine in the treatment of diseases.

Individualized medicine, based on a detailed mapping of the patient's disease mechanisms, is becoming an essential part of treatment for an increasing number of diseases. In the past few years, the possibility to determine the abnormal genome and transcriptome of diseased cells at a reasonable cost has been the major advance. The vast amount of data accumulated from one patient will set requirements for data extraction tools, in order to have the essential information affecting the treatment of the patient information quickly and reliably at the disposal of attending physicians.

[Changes in consumption of blood products in Finland from 2007 to 2014].

The Finnish Red Cross Blood Service (FRCBS) collects and distributes all cellular blood products in Finland. The use of red cells in Finland follows neither the aging of the Finnish population nor morbidity. The use of red blood cells has diminished 34% during the last 20 years and half of this decrease has taken place during the last three years.

Phosphorylated IGFBP-1 as a non-invasive predictor of liver fat in NAFLD.

Insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP-1) is a potentially interesting marker for liver fat in NAFLD as it is exclusively produced by the liver, and insulin is its main regulator. We determined whether measurement of fasting serum phosphorylated IGFBP-1 (fS-pIGFBP-1) helps to predict liver fat compared to routinely available clinical parameters and PNPLA3 genotype at rs738409. Liver fat content (proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy) was measured in 378 subjects (62% women, age 43 [30-54] years, BMI 32.

Season and time of day affect capillary blood hemoglobin level and low hemoglobin deferral in blood donors: analysis in a national blood bank.

Background: Low hemoglobin (Hb) is the most common reason for temporary blood donor deferral. However, factors that affect Hb measurement may not portray donor health but reflect external circumstances.

Study Design And Methods: The effects of season, time of day, donor age, ABO, and D on capillary blood Hb level (cHb) and low Hb deferral were analyzed in 1,396,645 donor registrations from the years 2010 to 2014 in a national blood bank.

Clinical laboratory sciences data transmission: the NPU coding system.

In health care services, technology requires that correct information be duly available to professionals, citizens and authorities, worldwide. Thus, clinical laboratory sciences require standardized electronic exchanges for results of laboratory examinations. The NPU (Nomenclature, Properties and Units) coding system provides a terminology for identification of result values (property values).