Background: This study aimed to assess the basic red blood cell variables and hematological indices in children and adolescents and analyze the differences regarding age and sex. Methods: Overall, 320 young participants, age 8 to 18 yr, were enrolled at Laboratory of Sport’s Medicine, Medical Faculty, Skopje, Macedonia in 2016. Capillary blood samples were drawn and following hematologic parameters were measured: the red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin concentration (Hb), hematocrit level (Hct) and hematological indexes: mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean hemoglobin concentration (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and red cell distribution width (RDW). Results: RBC variables in male group showed high statistical level of significance between age different groups (P=0.001) for all studied parameters except MCHC (P=0.423) and RDW (P=0.174). ANOVA test and multivariate tests in female group showed that there was no significant difference for all hematological parameters between age different groups. Regarding the sex differences, male participants had significantly higher red blood count (P<0.001), hemoglobin content (P<0.001) and hematocrit (P<0.001). Conclusion: Hematological parameters in adolescent as inhomogeneous population are not quantified sufficiently, especially hematological indices. RBC variables, regardless of the age, differ very much between male and female examinees, in favor of the male examinees. Hematological indices were insignificantly higher in males. Regarding the age of examinees, RBC variables showed significant inter-groups differences only within male adolescents. While with girls, ages span 8 to 18 yr, we did not find significant differences for most of the hematological variables.

No abstract

Aim:This study aims to analyze body composition in adult male football players and its changes during adulthood.Methods:Adult male football players (n=942, mean age 24.11 ±4.69y), all members of national competitive clubs from Macedonia were included in the study. The absolute and the relative body components were calculated: lean body mass (LBMkg), muscle mass (MMkg; MM%), bone mass (BMkg; BM%) and fat components (FMkg; FM%), using the anthropometric protocol by Matiegka.Results:Mean values of anthropometric measures for all included participants were as follows: height=178.39±6.11cm; weight=77.02±7.57; LBM=65.65±6.38; MM%=53.23±2.78; BM%=17.05±1.27; FM%=14.58±1.48. Descriptive statistics for these parameters was made for age specific groups.Conclusions:The results obtained could be used as reference values for adult football players in Republic of Macedonia. In the examined age span (18-35 years) a slight increase of absolute values of all three body components has been registered with advancing age. The most significant increase in the absolute values was registered for the muscle component, followed by the fat and bone components, respectively. Regarding the relative values (%), the muscle and the fat components showed an equally slight positive correlation with the age increase of 1 year, whilst the bone component decreased with advancing age.

The estimation of tissue perfusion as a hemodynamic consequence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in diabetic patients is of great importance in the management of these patients.We present a noninvasive, functional method of 99mTc-MIBI (methoxy-isobutyl-isonitrile) tissue-muscle perfusion scintigraphy (TMPS) of the lower limbs, which assesses tissue perfusion in basal conditions (“rest” study) and exercise conditions (“stress” study). Emphasis is given on perfusion reserve (PR) as an important indicator of preservation of microcirculation and its local autoregulatory mechanisms in PAD. We present a case of a 71-year-old male diabetic patient with skin ulcers of the right foot and an ankle-brachial index >1.2 (0.9-1.1). Dynamic phase TMPS of the lower limbs showed decreased and late arterial vascularization of the right calf (RC) with lower percentage of radioactivity in the 1st minute: RC 66%, left calf (LC) 84%. PR was borderline with a value of 57% for LC and decreased for RC (42%). Functional assessment of hemodynamic consequences of PAD is important in evaluating both advanced and early PAD, especially the asymptomatic form. The method used to determine the TMPS of the lower limbs, can differentiate subtle changes in microcirculation and tissue perfusion.