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This study evaluates the sensitivity and positive predictive value of some of the morphological flags supplied by the Technicon H-1 haematological analyser to detect circulating blasts. A total of 1,269 venous blood samples from 91 paediatric patients diagnosed of acute leukemia were analysed in the Technicon H-1. A conventional microscopic manual method was used for reference. The prevalence was 17.7% for the presence of blasts. The results showed that all samples with more than 5% blasts were detected by some WBC morphological flag: only 5 samples (2.2%) with less than 5% blasts showed no morphological flag. In most cases (86%), the flags observed were either the 'Atyp' flag or the 'Blast' flag or both simultaneously. The positive predictive value obtained by the 'Blast' flag for the true presence of blasts was 66.8%, and for the 'Atyp' flag 34.9%; it was 75.8% when both flags were present simultaneously. False positives were associated with postchemotherapy monocytosis or severe neutropenia.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a complex autoimmune disease which genetic component has not been yet completely understood. IL6 encodes a cytokine with a crucial role in the development of autoimmunity and fibrosis and its actions mainly are controlled by IL-6 receptor (IL-6R). We aimed to investigate whether the functional genetic variants rs8192284 and rs2228044 previously associated with several autoimmune diseases, located within the IL-6 receptor (IL-6R) subunits IL6R and IL6ST genes, respectively, are involved in the susceptibility to SSc and/or its major clinical subphenotypes. A Spanish cohort including 1013 SSc patients and 1375 controls was genotyped using the TaqMan® allelic discrimination technology. SSc patients were subdivided according to the major clinical forms, autoantibody status and presence of fibrotic lung affection. Our data showed no influence of the selected variants in global SSc susceptibility (rs8192284: P=0.67, odds ratios (OR)=0.98; rs2228044: P=0.99, OR=1.00). Similarly, the clinical/autoantibody subphenotype analyses did not yielded significant results. Our data suggest that the analyzed polymorphisms may not play a significant role in the SSc susceptibility.

The objective was to evaluate if the preovulatory molecular ratio between progesterone and estradiol has age-dependent changes in patients undergone controlled ovarian hyperstimulation. Were studied 180 cycles of conventional in vitro fertilization. Patients were divided in three groups: Group 1 (age less than 30 years; n = 40), group 2 (age between 30 and 35 years; n = 82), and group 3 (age between 36 and 40 years; n = 58). Leuprolide acetate was used in all cases. Molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio was calculate with the following formula: [Serum progesterone (ng/mL) x 3180 (SI x 10(3) divided by serum estradiol (pg/mL) x 3.671 (SI)]. In patients with age more than 38.5 years there was positive correlation between preovulatory progesterone and estradiol (R = 0.55, R2 = 0.30). There were significant difference in molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio between group 1 compared to group 2 (P less than 0.001), group 1 compared to group 3 (P less than 0.0001), as soon as group 1 compared to group 2 plus group 3 (P less than 0.0001). It is concluded that molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio decreases before any endocrino evidence of ovarian aging. The value of this putative test of ovarian reserve is discussed.

The objective was to evaluate if the preovulatory molecular ratio between progesterone and estradiol has age-dependent changes in patients undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation. There were 180 cycles of conventional in vitro fertilization which were studied. Patients were divided in three groups: Group 1 (age less than 30 years; n = 40), group 2 (age between 30 and 35 years; n = 82), and group 3 (age between 36 and 40 years; n = 58). Leuprolide acetate was used in all cases. Molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio was calculated with the following formula: [Serum progesterone (ng/mL) x 3180 (Sl x 10(3)) + serum estradiol (pg/mL) x 3.671 (Sl)]. In patients older than 38.5 years there was positive correlation between preovulatory progesterone and estradiol (R = 0.55, R2 = 0.30). There were significant difference in molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio between group 1 compared to group 2 (P less than 0.001), group 1 compared to group 3 (P less than 0.0001), as well as group 1 compared to group 2 plus group 3 (P less than 0.0001). It is concluded that molecular progesterone/estradiol ratio decreases before any endocrine evidence of ovarian aging. The value of this putative test of ovarian reserve is discussed.