OBJECTIVE: Nutritional deficiencies are very significant to the overall health of humans at all ages and for both genders, yet in infants, children and women of childbearing age these deficiencies can seriously affect growth and development. The present work is aimed to assess homocysteine and vitamin B12 status in females with iron deficiency anemia from the Gaza Strip.METHODS: Venous blood samples were randomly collected from 240 female university students (18-22 years old) and parameters of the complete blood count, serum ferritin, homocysteine and vitamin B12 were measured. Statistical analysis included the t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the IBM SPSS software (version 18). Statistical significance was set for p-values <0.05.RESULTS: The results revealed that 20.4% of the students have iron deficiency anemia. The mean serum vitamin B12 level in females with iron deficiency anemia (212.9 ± 62.8 pg/mL) was significantly lower than in normal controls (286.9 ± 57.1 pg/mL) and subjects with microcytic anemia and normal ferritin (256.7 ± 71.1 pg/mL). Significantly higher serum homocysteine levels were reported in the iron deficiency anemia group (27.0 ± 4.6 µmol/L) compared to normal controls (15.5 ± 2.9 µmol/L) and in subjects with microcytic anemia and normal ferritin (18.1 ± 2.7 µmol/L). Statistically significant negative correlations were reported for serum homocysteine with serum ferritin, vitamin B12, hemoglobin, and hematocrit levels.CONCLUSION: Important associations were found between serum homocysteine and markers of iron deficiency. Monitoring homocysteine levels might be essential to understand the development of different clinical conditions including anemia. It seems necessary to conduct prospective trials to determine whether treating anemia ameliorates homocysteine levels.

Background: iron deficiency anemia is the most common type of nutritional anemia; it has been recognized as an important health problem in Palestine. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence and to identify possible risk factors of iron deficiency anemia among kindergarten children living in the marginalized areas of the Gaza Strip and to evaluate the effectiveness of supplementing oral iron formula in the anemic children. Methods: the study included 735 (384 male and 351 female) kindergarten children. Data was collected by questionnaire interviews, anthropometric measurements, and complete blood count analysis. All iron deficient anemic children were treated using an oral iron formula (50 mg ferrous carbonate + 100 mg vitamin C /5 mL) and the complete blood count was reassessed after three months. A univariate analysis and a multiple logistic regression model were constructed; crude and adjusted odds ratios (OR), and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated. Results: the overall prevalence of iron deficiency anemia was 33.5% with no significant differences between boys and girls. Significantly different prevalences of iron deficiency anemia were reported between different governorates of the Gaza Strip. Governorate, low education level of the parents and smoking are significant risk factors for children developing anemia. Significantly lower complete blood count parameters, except for WBC, were reported in anemic children. The oral iron treatment significantly improved hemoglobin concentrations, and normalized the iron deficiency marker. Conclusions: iron deficiency anemia is a serious health problem among children living in the marginalized areas of the Gaza Strip, which justifies the necessity for national intervention programs to improve the health status for the less fortunate development areas.

BACKGROUND: The complete blood count is one of the most common routine tests. This study aimed to evaluate possible effects of the antioxidant taurine on the complete blood count of whole blood stored at room temperature and at 4ºC over seven days. METHODS: Venous blood samples of 25 healthy males were distributed into two sets of tubes with each set of four tubes containing 50 µL of solutions with zero, 2.5 g/L, 5 g/L, 10 g/L taurine. The tubes were kept at room temperature or at 4ºC. Complete blood counts were performed on seven successive days. The mean percentage changes [Δ = (mean value - mean baseline value) / mean baseline value x 100] were calculated and compared. RESULTS: Complete blood count parameters exhibited different patterns of behavior which were affected by the storage temperature, time and taurine concentration. Taurine at room temperature significantly enhancedthe stability of: the platelet count over seven days (Δ7 at 2.5, 5 and 10 g/L taurine were 5.45, 6.11, and 5.80 x 10(9) cells/L, respectively); the red blood cell count over five days (Δ5 at 2.5, 5 and 10 g/L taurine were 1.59, 2.79, and 1.98 x 10(12) cells/L, respectively); mean corpuscular hemoglobin over five days (Δ5 at 2.5, 5 and 10 g/L taurine were -0.91,-1.52 and -0.84 fl respectively); and red cell distribution width over two days (Δ2 at 2.5, 5 and 10 g/L taurine were 0.90%, 1.30% and -0.1%, respectively). No additional stabilizing effects of taurine were reported for the mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit and hemoglobin, while it negatively affected the white blood cell stability. CONCLUSION: Complete blood count parameters exhibited variable stability patterns in respect to temperature, time and taurine concentration.