PubMed · 3891810
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V H Carter. 1985. A new method for preparing tissue blocks for cryostat sectioning.. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1524-4725.1985.tb01647.x
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The cryohemolysis test has been proposed as a new method of identifying hereditary spherocytosis. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the sensitivity and specificity of this method in comparison to the measurement of osmotic fragility. The examination included 61 patients suffering from hereditary spherocytosis and 58 patients with other hemolytic and nonhemolytic anemias. Hereditary spherocytosis patients showed significantly higher cryohemolysis values (median 29.7%, range 12.3-50.2%) than both normal subjects (median 3%, range 0.5-27%) and all other anemic patients excepting those with immune hemolytic anemia (median 4%, range 0.5-10.1%). Analysis of immune hemolytic anemia revealed broadly scattered values ranging from 1.4% to 53.5% (median 8.6%). Taking 15% as the threshold value, the sensitivity and specificity of the cryohemolysis test for hereditary spherocytosis were 95% and 96%, respectively. It is concluded that the simple-to-perform cryohemolysis test is quite comparable to the estimation of red cell osmotic fragility and therefore very useful as a diagnostic measure of hereditary spherocytosis.
The biased amino acid composition and aperiodic (random coil) configuration of Group 1 late embryogenesis-abundant (LEA) proteins imply that these proteins are capable of binding large amounts of water. While Group 1 LEAs have been predicted to contribute to osmotic stress protection in both embryonic and vegetative tissues, biochemical support has been lacking. We have used Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system to test the putative osmoprotective function of a wheat Group 1 LEA protein, Em. We demonstrate that expression of Em protein in yeast cells is not deleterious to growth in media of normal osmolarity and attenuates the growth inhibition normally observed in media of high osmolarity. Enhanced growth is observed in the presence of a variety of osmotically active compounds indicating that Em protein is capable of mitigating the detrimental effect of low water potential in a relatively non-specific manner. These results are the first biochemical demonstration of an osmoprotective function for a Group 1 LEA and suggest that the yeast expression system will be useful in dissecting the mechanism of protection through structure-function studies.
BACKGROUND: We intended to evaluate the stability of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 virions in whole blood and in culture medium. MATERIALS AND METHOD: EDTA whole-blood samples taken from 12 patients were left at room temperature for up to 7 days, and aliquots of a laboratory virus stock spiked in EDTA, in heparinized or in citrated whole blood, with or without the addition of Triton X-100, or spiked in culture medium were left at room temperature for up to 120 days before plasma was separated and frozen at -80 degrees C. Viral load was measured for all frozen plasma samples using different viral load assays. p24 antigen and infectivity were also measured in the spiked samples. RESULTS: The patient whole-blood samples did not show any decrease in viral load during this 7-day period. The spiked samples decayed by not more than 1 log after 120 days (about 4 months), with the fastest decay in medium. Virus infectivity decayed very slowly from 20,000 units mL-1 to undetectable amounts after 56 days. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that HIV-1 virions in whole blood possess a long-term stability in terms of viral load, p24 antigen level and infectivity, which is not sufficiently recognized by laboratory and health care workers.