Biological risk accidents among undergraduate healthcare students. Five years experience Undergraduate healthcare students are exposed to bloodborne pathogens, and data from developing countries is scarce. We report the experience of a comprehensive program dedicated to the management of this risk. The program includes financial coverage, a 24-hour attention system, HIV, HBV, HCV testing, and free provision of post-exposure antiretroviral drugs. During 2003-2007, incidence rates of these exposures reached 0.9 per 100 student-years. Events were only observed among medicine, nursing, and midwifery students, with rates highest among nursing students (RR 3.5 IC95 1.93-6.51). Cuts and needle stick injuries predominated (74.7% of accidents). Three students were exposed to HIV patients (1.9%), all of them received prophylactic drugs, infection was discarded after follow up, and also discarded after exposures to HBV or HCV (0.6% of all accidents). Cost per 1000 student-year was less than 2000 USD. Healthcare students are exposed to biological risks during their studies and a comprehensive program is feasible in a developing country.
Thiopurine S-methyltransferase gene polymorphism in Chilean blood donors Background: Thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) is a cytosolic enzyme that catalyzes the S-methylation of 6-mercaptopurine and azathioprine. Lowactivity phenotypes are correlated with polymorphism in the TPMT gene. Patients with low or undetectable TMPT activity could develop severe myelosuppression when they are treated with standard doses of thiopurine drugs. Since ethnic differences in the TPMT gen polymorphism have been demonstrated worldwide, its assessment in the Chilean population is worthwhile. Aim: To investigate the TMPT gene polymorphism in a Chilean blood donor individuals. Subjects and Methods: The frequency of four allelic variants of the TPMT gene, *2 (G238C), *3A (G460A and A719G), *3B (G460A) and *3C (A719G) were analyzed in 210 Chilean blood donors, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and allele-specific PCR-based assays. Results: TPMT variants associated to low enzymatic activity, were detected in 16 subjects (8%), who had a heterozygous genotype (*3A in 12; *3C in three and *2 in one subject). No TPMT*3B allelic variant was found. The normal allele (wild-type) was found in 92% of studied individuals. Conclusions: The allele TPMT*3A, is the most prevalent in this group of Chilean blood donors, as in Caucasian populations (Rev Méd Chile 2009; 137: 185-92).
Frecuencia génica de antígenos menores de histocompatibilidad en la población chilena y estimación de sus efectos inmunológicos en el trasplante alogénico de progenitores hematopoyéticosFrequency of minor histocompatibility antigens among Chilean blood donors (Rev Med Chile 2012; 140: 555-560).
Background: Minor histocompatibility antigens (mHAgs) play a critical role in the immune responses associated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation, such as graft versus host disease (GVHD) and graft-versus-tumor (GVT
Platelet rich plasma (PRP) is used to speed up tissue repair. Despite its widespread use, the therapeutic application of PRP generates controversies in clinical results due to the variability in methods of obtaining the different preparations and differences between the components of different types of PRP, so it’s recommended to mention the type of platelet preparation used. In this article, we describe technical and biologics characteristics of our platelet product, and we compare them to different commercial preparations described in order to validate their clinical use. Our results determine that the preparation can be considered a platelet rich plasma with biological activity in vivo and in vitro, which supports its use as a valid therapeutic tool, alternative to products currently available in Regenerative Medicine.
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