bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Self help for platelet serologists: the Australian platelet antibody workshops
Authors: Minchinton R.M. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. The first three Australian Platelet Antibody Workshops (APAW) were held under the auspices of the Australasian Society of Blood Transfusion (ASBT) in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Participants submitted serum samples to the convenor who coded and distributed samples to laboratories routinely performing platelet serology. Results were summarized and discussed at the annual ASBT meetings.This report documents the evolution of platelet antibody tests in Australia and demonstrates the marked improvements in the participants' ability to differentiate platelet‐specific antibodies from HLA antibodies and to identify the alloantigenic specificity of platelet antibodies. Five reference laboratories in Australia now hold panels typed for at least three platelet alloantigens.
Serum ferritin, blood donation, iron stores and haemochromatosis
Authors: Worwood M. , Darke C. 
Published: April 2008

Summary. Serum iron and ferritin concentrations were measured in 1,532 regular blood donors from South Wales who were undergoing HLA typing prior to registration on the British Bone Marrow and Platelet Donor Panel. Serum transferrin concentrations were determined for donors with serum iron concentrations > 24 µmol/1. There were 25 donors with transferrin saturations > 50% and 11 with transferrin saturations > 60%. There were five donors with serum ferritin concentrations > 200 µg/1 (women) or > 300 µg/1 (men). Two of the male donors had transferrin saturations > 50% and serum ferritin >300 µg/1 on repeat blood samples and are being treated by venesection. Donors with HLA‐A3 did not differ from those without A3 in serum iron or ferritin concentrations. Even in the group of donors who were apparently homozygous for A3 there were neither abnormal serum iron nor ferritin concentrations.Although it is well established that measurements of transferrin saturation are required to detect homozygous haemochromatosis (HFE) in its earlier stages, the number of ‘false‐positive’ results is likely to be unacceptably high for screening blood donors. Serum ferritin assays should identify donors with HFE and iron overload before the onset of liver damage. With two million regular donors and 300,000 new donors each year, a significant proportion of the U.K. population will be screened within 10 years. The assay of serum ferritin identifies donors with low levels of storage iron who are at risk of developing iron‐deficiency anaemia. Furthermore, donation frequency may be increased for those donors with higher ferritin concentrations when blood supplies are low.
Post‐transfusion purpura: a survey of 12 Danish cases with special reference to immunoglobulin G subclasses of the platelet antibodies
Authors: Taaning E. , Svejgaard A. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY.The clinical and immunological data of 12 Danish cases of post‐transfusion purpura (PTP) are summarized. All patients but one were women. All except one had thrombocytopenic purpura which occurred 4–11 days after transfusion, usually with a nadir of the platelet count below 10times1091‐1. The typical haemorrhagic symptoms were cutaneous bleedings, melena and haematuria lasting from 3 to 12 days. The time until normalization of platelet count varied from 3 to 50 days after onset. One patient had recurrence of PTP and one patient died due to intracranial haemorrhage.Ten of the HPA‐la negative patients (83%) had platelet‐specific HPA‐la antibodies and two HPA‐lapositive individuals had anti‐HPA‐lbantibodies. In 10 patients, HLA antibodies were also detectable and in one patient a delayed haemolytic transfusion reaction due to anti‐E was seen.All of seven patients investigated had anti‐HPA antibodies of both IgGl and IgG3 subclasses during the thrombocytopenic period while all of 10 patients had anti‐HPA of only the IgGl subclass after recovery from PTP Thus, the destruction of autologous platelets in PTP seems to be associated with the presence of anti‐HPA of the IgG3 subclass which may be of importance in the pathogenesis of PTP.
A comparative study of plateletpheresis using Baxter Autopheresis C and Haemonetics PCS Plus
Authors: Walton J. D. , Caffrey E. A. , Allain J. P. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. This study compared plateletpheresis on the Haemonetics PCS Plus (PCS Plus) and the Baxter Autopheresis C (Auto C) using the same 100 selected donors. The number of packs meeting UK BTS/NIBSC specification (>2.2 times 1011 platelets per pack) was achieved by 99% of PCS Plus and 82% of Auto C procedures. The positive correlation found between donor precount and final platelet yield was better for the PCS Plus. Both machines met U.K. specification for white‐cell contamination but this was significantly greater for the Auto C. Plasma yields were similar.As a result of this study we chose to use the PCS Plus for routine plateletpheresis in our unit. This has enabled us not only to comply with UK BTS/NIBSC specifications for apheresis platelets easily and cost effectively but also to meet our own higher specification (2.75 times 1011 platelets per pack) using existing staff and without extending the working day.
Prevalence and epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis C in Scottish blood donors
Authors: Crawford R. J. , Gillon J. , Yap P. L. , Brookes E. , McOmish F. , Simmonds P. , Dow B. C. , Follett E. A. C. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. All blood donors in Scotland who were found to be infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the first 6 months of routine testing of all donations for anti‐HCV were contacted. Those who attended were counselled, a history of exposure to risk was sought, and blood was taken for alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level as a measure of liver function. The epidemiological features were then correlated with the virological findings and ALT.In the period under study between September 1991 and February 1992, 180658 blood donors attended. The prevalence of HCV infection was 0.088%. Of the 151 donors who attended for counselling, 101 (68%) were male. Intravenous drug use was the most common risk activity (39%), followed by previous blood transfusion (15.2%), other parenteral exposure (11.2%) and heterosexual contact with a parenterally infected partner (8.6%); 29.1% of donors gave no history of possible exposure.Elevated ALT levels were found in 59%. ALT levels were higher in donors with HCV types 1 and 3 than in HCV type 2 or non‐viraemic donors.The prevalence of HCV in Scottish blood donors is thus relatively low. This may relate to the effectiveness of donor selection procedures, but donors with risk activities which should debar them continue to donate. The combination of ALT and PCR appears to be useful in counselling and assessing infected donors.
Quantification of anti‐c in haemolytic disease of the newborn
Authors: Kozlowski C. L. , Lee D. , Shwe K. H. , Love E. M. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. Anti‐c is an important Rh antibody that causes haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN). We have carried out a retrospective analysis of the clinical outcome of pregnancy in 120 mothers with anti‐c. Of these, 100 gave birth to c‐positive infants, of whom 14 had severe HDN requiring exchange transfusion. In all of these, the maternal level was 9.5iu/ml or greater. Of the 29 women with anti‐c levels of 9.5iu/ml or above, in addition to the 14 with severely affected infants, 15 had infants requiring only phototherapy or no treatment. Our observations suggest that when the anti‐c level is below 7.5iu/ml, the fetus is unlikely to be seriously affected and invasive obstetric intervention is unnecessary.Of the 120 women studied, 50% had had a blood transfusion, in most cases for obstetric complications in a previous pregnancy. Although it was not possible to attribute alloimmunization to blood transfusion rather than previous pregnancy in any individual case, this observation points to the value of routine c typing as part of antenatal screening, so that c‐negative blood can be selected.
Use of autologous blood in support of orthopaedic surgery using a hospital‐based autologous donor programme
Authors: Pinkerton P. H. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. The use of autologous blood in support of orthopaedic surgery has been assessed for 296 patients; 150 underwent hip arthroplasty, 69 underwent knee arthroplasty, 37 underwent spinal procedures and 40 underwent miscellaneous operations. Overall, 87% of patients received no allogeneic blood and 23% of the autologous blood collected was not used. For hip and knee arthroplasty, there appears to be an increased willingness to transfuse patients when autologous blood is available, and a decreased proportion of patients receiving more than 3 units for hip arthroplasty and 2 units for knee surgery, when compared with an audit of blood usewhen almost all blood used was allogeneic. Wastage of autologous blood in support of spinal surgery was 66%, prompting a review of ordering practices. Assessment of avoidance of allogeneic transfusion by the standard schedule of 3 units for hip arthroplasty and 2 units for knee arthroplasty appears justified by the calculation that collection of an additional unit in each case would avoid allogeneic transfusion in 11 (5%) more patients with the unnecessary collection of 208 units.
AIDS awareness in blood donors in North India
Authors: Choudhury N. , Singh P. , Chandra H. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. Prevention of AIDS can only be achieved by a successful public awareness programme. This study was carried out to establish the level of awareness of AIDS and HIV infection through blood transfusion among Indian blood donors of various socioeconomic groups. A questionnaire consisting of 20 questions pertaining to various aspects of AIDS and HIV infection was circulated to 1012 voluntary blood donors. The responses were categorized as good, average and poor knowledge according to the number of correct responses. The majority of the donors were males (93.5%), married (69.7%) and belonged to the Hindu community. Of the donors, 44.4% were educated, 49.9% were highly educated and 5.8% were illiterate. Overall, only 205 (20.3%) showed good awareness of AIDS and the majority of these 168 (16.6%) were highly educated. Approximately 80% of our population did not have sufficient knowledge about AIDS or the danger of contracting as well as disseminating this disease in the community.One hundred and ninetyone (18.9%) donors were in the higher income group and only 13 of them showed good awareness. Most of the donors, 384 (38.0%), were government white collar workers and belonged to the middle income group. In this group 154 had good awareness.The majority of donors with good awareness (176 out of 205) preferred to receive HIVtested banked blood or blood from their own relatives during emergencies. None of the blood donors had any knowledge of autologous blood donations.This study showed that awareness of AIDS was not satisfactory in Indian society. More intensive public awareness campaigns by the Government with the help of Non‐Governmental Organizations is required in India to prevent an explosive AIDS situation in the near future.
Red cell antibodies in pregnancy: there is no ‘critical titre’
Authors: van Dijk B. A. , Dooren M. C. , Overbeeke M. A. M. 
Published: April 2008

SUMMARY. The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value and reliability of using a ‘critical titre’ when assessing the ability of red cell alloantibodies to cause haemolytic disease of the newborn. Titration studies and clinical follow‐up of 418 antenatal cases where the mothers had red cell antibodies were studied retrospectively. The antibody specificities were anti‐D (n= 359), anti‐c (n= 34), anti‐E (n= 19) and anti‐K (n= 6). Depending on the titre being lower or higher than 16 in the indirect antiglobulin test, the severity of disease was established on the given therapy.Anti‐D antibodies with a titre 16 were present in 20% of all cases associated with transfusion need of the child; for anti‐c, ‐E and ‐K the figure was 4%. Titres ≥ 16 resulted in both groups in 50% of the cases in phototherapy only, or no therapy at all. Titres are therefore not reliable indicators for predicting the severity of haemolytic disease of the newborn. Neither should they be used as a guide to whether or not antenatal intervention is indicated. Alternative quantitative or functional assays that measure cytotoxic lysis or phagocytosis or a combination of both should be performed instead.
Autologous blood transfusion in radical hysterectomy
Authors: Pinkerton P. H. , Covens A. 
Published: April 2008

Summary. The application of a hospital‐based presurgical autologous blood deposit programme to support of radical hysterectomy is described over 4 years (1991–95), during which 48 patients participated in the autologous blood programme, and 63 did not to do so. All but one of the autologous donors received autologous blood but only two received allogeneic blood. Forty‐three of the autologous nondonors received no transfusion and 20 received allogeneic blood. These differences are highly significant.For the 48 autologous donors, 91% of the blood requested was collected, and of that 91% was used, for a ‘wastage’ rate of 9%. The mean blood use was significantly greater in the autologous donors. Blood loss was not significantly different between the two groups.The data confirm the validity of the autologous blood order schedule of 2 units for radical hysterectomy.
Use of prostaglandin E1 during preparation of platelet concentrates
Authors: Hawker R. J. , Turner V. S. , Mitchell S. G. 
Published: April 2008

Summary. A paired study in 10 autologous volunteer donors was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of adding prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) in vitro during routine platelet concentrate (PC) production. After 5 days storage, PCs prepared with PGE1 were compared with control PCs. In vivo platelet recovery, survival and biodistribution were determined following autologous infusion of indium‐111 labelled platelets into volunteers, together with the in vitro evaluation of platelet function and biochemistry.PGE1 facilitated easier and faster platelet resuspension following centrifugation. After storage there were few significant in vitro differences between PCs prepared with PGE1 and control PCs. The artifactual leucocyte concentration was significantly lower in the presence of PGE1, suggesting less platelet aggregates had been formed during storage and β‐thromboglobulin release was significantly reduced by PGE1, 14.0±6.0 μg per 109platelets compared with 22.3±9.8μg per 109platelets in control PCs, (P < 0.01), indicating PGE1 reduced both platelet aggregation and activation probably at the initial preparation stage, known to produce the greatest trauma.Initial in vivo platelet recovery for PCs prepared with PGE1 was similar to that of control PCs, 41.1 ± 12.5% vs. 44.4±80%, respectively, and there were no differences in organ distribution at 24h. However, in vivo multiple hit survival was reduced in the presence of PGE1, 5.8 ± 1.6 days compared with 6.9 ± 1.4 days in control PCs (P < 0.05).Despite the ability of PGE1 to facilitate platelet resuspension and inhibit platelet aggregation and activation during preparation of the PCs, the reduced in vivo survival time may preclude the use of PGE1 during routine PC preparation.
Unstable CA1 place cell representation in rats with entorhinal cortex lesions
Authors: Van Cauter Tiffany , Poucet Bruno , Save Etienne 
Published: April 2008

AbstractRecent studies emphasize the importance of the entorhinal cortex in spatial representation and navigation. Furthermore, evidence is accumulating to show that spatial processing depends on interactions between the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampus. To investigate these interactions, we examined the effects of entorhinal cortex lesions on the activity of hippocampal CA1 place cells. Rats received bilateral radiofrequency lesions of the entorhinal cortex or sham lesions before place cell recording. Place cells were recorded as the rats performed a pellet‐chasing task in a cylinder containing three cue‐objects. Entorhinal cortex lesions did not abolish place cell spatial firing but reduced noticeably discharge rate and field size. Most importantly, the lesions affected firing field stability when cells were recorded both in constant conditions and following cue manipulations (object rotation, object removal). These findings indicate that the entorhinal cortex is necessary for the stability of hippocampal representations across exposures to a familiar environment. Consistent with the recent discovery of grid cells in the medial entorhinal cortex, our results suggest that the entorhinal cortex contributes to providing a spatial framework that would enable the hippocampus to maintain stable environment‐specific representations.
Stress‐induced analgesia in mice: evidence for interaction between endocannabinoids and cholecystokinin
Authors: Kurrikoff Kaido , Inno Jan , Matsui Toshimitsu , Vasar Eero 
Published: April 2008

AbstractStress‐induced analgesia (SIA) is an important endogenous mechanism in response to stressful stimuli. Opioid peptides, as well as endocannabinoids, are known mediators of SIA. We were interested in whether the endocannabinoid tone and the resulting SIA could be influenced by changing the activity of cholecystokinin (CCK) in mice. This hypothesis is related to recent evidence showing a cellular colocalization of neuropeptide CCK and cannabinoid type 1 (CB1) receptors in many central nervous system structures. However, the physiological relevance of this colocalization is unknown. Our aim was to test whether abolishing the endogenous CCK tone might influence the cannabinoid‐mediated form of SIA. As expected, the CB1 antagonist rimonabant prevented the development of analgesia in response to footshock‐induced stress in wild‐type mice. In contrast, CCK type 2 (CCK2) receptor‐deficient mice developed SIA regardless of rimonabant treatment. Naloxone, an opioid antagonist, antagonized SIA in both wild‐type and CCK2 receptor‐deficient homozygous mice. This finding suggests that CCK, through CCK2 receptors, modulates the action of endocannabinoids. Gene expression analysis revealed an up‐regulation of CCK2 receptor gene in the lumbar spinal cord and mesolimbic area in wild‐type mice in response to stress. In addition, wild‐type mice displayed up‐regulation of genes implicated in endocannabinoid‐mediated neurotransmission (elevation of CB1 receptor, 2‐arachidonoylglycerol and the anandamide‐synthesizing enzymes sn‐1‐diacylglycerol lipase alpha and N‐acyl‐phosphatidylethanolamine‐hydrolysing phospholipase D) in response to stress in the lumbar spinal cord and mesolimbic area. We did not find any of these changes in CCK2 receptor‐deficient homozygous mice. Altogether, behavioural and gene expression studies reflect an involvement of CCK2 receptors in the development of endocannabinoid‐mediated SIA.
A circulating ghrelin mimetic attenuates light‐induced phase delay of mice and light‐induced Fos expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of rats
Authors: Yi Chun‐Xia , Challet Etienne , Pévet Paul , Kalsbeek Andries , Escobar Carolina , Buijs Ruud M. 
Published: April 2008

AbstractAnatomical evidence suggests that the ventromedial arcuate nucleus (vmARC) is a route for circulating hormonal communications to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Whether this vmARC–SCN connection is involved in the modulation of circadian activity of the SCN is not yet known. We recently demonstrated, in rats, that intravenous (i.v.) injection of a ghrelin mimetic, GHRP‐6, during the daytime activated neurons in the vmARC and reduced the normal endogenous daytime Fos expression in the SCN. In the present study we show that i.v. administration of GHRP‐6 decreases light‐induced Fos expression at ZT13 in the rat SCN by 50%, indicating that light‐induced changes in the SCN Fos expression can also be reduced by GHRP‐6. Because it is difficult to study light‐induced phase changes in rats, we examined the functional effects of GHRP‐6 on light‐induced phase shifts in mice and demonstrated that peripherally injected GHRP‐6 attenuates light‐induced phase delays at ZT13 by 45%. However, light‐induced Fos expression in the mice SCN was not blocked by GHRP‐6. These results illustrate that acute stimulation of the ghrelinergic system may modulate SCN activity, but that its effect on light‐induced phase shifts and Fos expression in the SCN might be species related.
Diversity, function and evolution of genes coding for putative Ni‐containing superoxide dismutases
Authors: Dupont C. L. , Neupane K. , Shearer J. , Palenik B. 
Published: April 2008

SummaryWe examined the phylogenetic distribution, functionality and evolution of the sodN gene family, which has been shown to code for a unique Ni‐containing isoform of superoxide dismutase (Ni‐SOD) in Streptomyces. Many of the putative sodN sequences retrieved from public domain genomic and metagenomic databases are quite divergent from structurally and functionally characterized Ni‐SOD. Structural bioinformatics studies verified that the divergent members of the sodN protein family code for similar three‐dimensional structures and identified evolutionarily conserved amino acid residues. Structural and biochemical studies of the N‐terminus ‘Ni‐hook’ motif coded for by the putative sodN sequences confirmed both Ni (II) ligating and superoxide dismutase activity. Both environmental and organismal genomes expanded the previously noted phylogenetic distribution of sodN, and the sequences form four well‐separated clusters, with multiple subclusters. The phylogenetic distribution of sodN suggests that the gene has been acquired via horizontal gene transfer by numerous organisms of diverse phylogenetic background, including both Eukaryotes and Prokaryotes. The presence of sodN correlates with the genomic absence of the gene coding for Fe‐SOD, a structurally and evolutionarily distinct isoform of SOD. Given the low levels of Fe found in the marine environment from where many sequences were attained, we suggest that the replacement of Fe‐SOD with Ni‐SOD may be an evolutionary adaptation to reduce iron requirements.