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Biomedical subjects

A Kitchen

Publications and source records attributed to A Kitchen.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Serological pattern "anti-HBc alone": report on a workshop.

In areas with low hepatitis B virus (HBV) endemicity such as most parts of Europe and the United States "anti-HBc alone" is found in 10-20% of all individuals with HBV markers, i.e., 1-4% of the population. In about 10% of these individuals HBV DNA is detected by PCR, the proportions varying greatly depending on the population studied, being highest in individuals coinfected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) (above 35%) and HIV (above 85%). A small proportion of individuals with "anti-HBc alone" are in the window phase of an HBV infection or in a stage of late HBV immunity. For the large proportion of these individuals this is not the case and they are thought to have an unresolved HBV-infection or a chronic infection in a late or "low grade" productive state. Currently, limited studies have been performed concerning the clinical aspects of individuals with "anti-HBc alone" and suspected chronic HBV infection. The majority of these individuals seem to be healthy. Some chronic carriers with "anti-HBc alone," however, do present signs of chronic hepatitis. Individuals with "anti-HBc alone" are potentially infectious. This is exemplified by a few case reports of HBV transmission to sexual contacts, perinatal transmission between mother and newborns and in blood recipients. Recommendations are given in relation to both the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in the individuals with "anti-HBc alone" and in the blood banking and transplantation services.

Blood Banks↗
PubMed2000

Cautionary note.

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Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed2000

Effects of handling and storage of blood on the stability of hepatitis C virus RNA: implications for NAT testing in transfusion practice.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To determine the stability of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA during transport and storage of blood samples from donors, prior to screening for HCV by nucleic acid amplification technology. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Various blood and plasma sample types were stored for up to 120 h at different temperatures and the HCV RNA level was measured using an in house quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: No decline in HCV RNA level was observed after 72 h of storage of whole blood at 4 degrees C in EDTA tubes (Greiner) and Plasma Preparation Tubes (PPT; Becton Dickinson), while insignificant declines of 0.2 log10 and 0. 25 log10 occurred at 25 degrees C after 72 h in the EDTA tubes and PPT tubes, respectively. When whole blood was stored with mixed anticoagulants CPDA-1 and EDTA for up to 120 h, no decline in HCV RNA level was observed at 4 degrees C and 25 degrees C, while a significant decline of 0.37 log10 occurred at 37 degrees C after 120 h. The temperature during transportation was investigated with a 12-hour period at 25 degrees C and 37 degrees C before storage at 4 degrees C for 108 h. Neither temperature resulted in any loss of HCV RNA in comparison with 120 h of storage at 4 degrees C. CONCLUSION: Whole blood anticoagulated with EDTA or CPDA-1/EDTA may be stored at up to 25 degrees C (room temperature) for up to 5 days without any significant loss in plasma HCV RNA level.

Adenine↗
PubMed1998

Hepatitis B and blood safety.

The safety of blood and blood products is a global issue. Blood transfusion is an important part of modern medicine, but it is also an efficient route of transmission for a number of infectious agents. Although many countries screen all blood donations for a number of infectious agents, a significant proportion of the world's blood supply is either unscreened or poorly screened, with the resultant risk to recipients of transfusion transmitted infections (TTI). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is of concern because it is transmitted parenterally, many HBV infections are asymptomatic (and infected individuals may thus unwittingly present as blood donors) and the virus is stable in blood and blood products over long periods. The transmission of HBV is minimized by the screening of donors prior to donation, exclusion of high-risk donors, followed by the in-vitro screening of donations for HBsAg (+anti-HBc in some countries) prior to transfusion. However, even in countries with good quality, active screening programmes, there is still a small residual risk of transmission of HBV from undetected donors with early acute infection, resolving infection, silent infection or infection with atypical virus serology. Unfortunately, as with so many infectious agents, the prevalence of HBV is most often higher in those countries with poorly developed healthcare systems and limited resources. In these countries, the safety of the blood supply is compromised frequently, either because of lack of resources with which to purchase screening assays, or because of acute blood shortages and insufficient time to screen blood prior to transfusion. In such situations it is important to encourage and actively support the introduction of appropriate screening programmes which can be based upon simple assay formats, such as agglutination, rather than the favoured but more complex enzyme immunoassays which are more expensive, require specific equipment and support, and take longer to perform. Such approaches will help reduce greatly the transfusion transmission of HBV.

Blood Banks↗
PubMed1996

Self-recognition and abstraction abilities in the common chimpanzee studied with distorting mirrors.

The reactions of chimpanzees to regular mirrors and the results of the standard Gallup mark test have been well documented. In addition to using the mark test to demonstrate self-recognition in a regular mirror, we exposed six female chimpanzees to mirrors that produced distorted or multiplied self-images. Their reactions to their self-images, in terms of mirror-guided self-referenced behaviors, indicated that correct assessment of the source of the mirror image was made by each subject in each of the mirrors. Recognition of a distorted self-image implies an ability for abstraction in the subjects in that the distortion must be rationalized before self-recognition occurs. The implications of these results in terms of illuminating the relative importance of feature and contingency of movement cues to self-recognition are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Safety and efficacy of hepatitis C virus antibody screening of blood donors with two sequential screening assays.

BACKGROUND: Reactive samples in hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody screening of blood donors are currently referred for a confirmatory assay. This scheme is not optimally efficient and is expensive because of the lack of specificity and cost of confirmatory tests, as well as the need to discard false-positive donations. As in some human immunodeficiency virus antibody-confirmatory schemes, the safety and efficacy of confirming anti-HCV with two sequential screening assays were evaluated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Three combinations of two anti-HCV screening assays were used to test 75,874 blood donors. Results were compared with the routine testing scheme and HCV RNA detection in any enzyme immunoassay-repeatably reactive samples. RESULTS: The use of an alternative screening assay for repeat testing decreased the proportion of enzyme immunoassay-positive donors from 0.28 to 0.05 percent. All samples that were "confirmed" as positive by the standard combination of immunoassays and all HCV RNA-positive samples were detected by the sequential screening assays. No samples that had discordant results on primary and secondary screening assays were confirmed by recombinant immunoblot assay or were found to contain detectable HCV RNA. CONCLUSION: The combination of screening assays for anti-HCV confirmation was as safe as, cheaper than, and nearly as efficient as the standard testing scheme.

Blood Donors↗
PubMed1995

Pediatric discharge planning: complications, efficiency, and adequacy.

The complications encountered in discharge planning in an acute care pediatric hospital were documented. The cases of 105 children hospitalized on selected units of an acute care, regional, pediatric hospital in the Midwest were studied. The most frequently encountered complications were financial, family unavailability and lack of cooperation, family inability/unwillingness to learn patient care, custody issues, unexpected medical developments, and transportation problems. Team differences in understanding the child's psychosocial situation and custody disputes were associated with delays in discharge. Private insurance, late referral, and lack of family availability were associated with the adequacy of the discharge plan, as rated by the discharge planner at discharge. Results show discharge planning to be a complex process, affected by family, resource, and team work issues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Studies on cell motility in inflammation. I. The chemotactic activity of experimental, immunological and non-immunological, inflammatory exudates.

The accumulation of leucocytes at the site of inflammation may be brought about by chemotaxis or proliferation in the extravascular tissues. The present paper focuses on the chemotactic properties of different types of experimental inflammatory pleural exudates, using a modified Boyden chamber. The time-course of carrageenan-induced exudate chemotactic activity for polymorphs was maximal at 4 h, thereafter diminishing towards 24 and 48 h. Chemotactic activity for mononuclear cells remained unchanged throughout the 4--48 h time-course. Heating the exudates to 56 degrees C for 1 h partially reduced chemotactic activity. These results correlate well with the migration of polymorph and mononuclear cells into the pleural cavity during carrageenan-induced pleurisy. The potency of polymorph and mononuclear cell chemotactic activity of different exudates was of the following order: carrageenan greater than calcium pyrophosphate greater than reverse passive Arthus greater than dextran. The results are discussed in order to elucidate the differences between the underlying mechanisms responsible for leucocyte accumulation in different types of inflammatory reaction.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Studies on cell motility in inflammation. II. The in vivo effect of anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic drugs on chemotaxis in vitro.

Two systems were used to test the effect of anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic drugs on chemotactic activity of cell-free exudates and also on the chemotactic responsiveness of exudate leucocytes. (1) Inflammatory cell-free exudates from treated rats were tested for their chemotactic activity on exudate leucocytes from untreated rats. (2) Polymorph and mononuclear cells from treated rats were tested for their responsiveness to the chemotactic activity of cell-free exudates from untreated rats. Levamisole, coumarin and D-penicillamine were ineffective in (1) and (2). Colchicine reduced chemotaxis of polymorphs in both systems (1) and (2), whereas no effect was observed on mononuclears. Naproxen was more effective in reducing the chemotaxis of polymorphs compared with mononuclears in systems (1) and (2). In contrast, indomethacin and dexamethasone reduced the chemotaxis of both polymorph and mononuclear cells in systems (1) and (21. Of the drugs tested dexamethasone exhibited the highest potency. These results emphasize the necessity for studying both cellular and humoral factors in the evaluation of the action of anti-inflammatory drugs on chemotaxis.

Animals↗