The performances of the systems and tests indicated that both were acceptable for routine NAT by the National Blood Center, the Thai Red Cross Society. However, the Procleix Ultrio test appeared to be less sensitive than the cobas TaqScreen test for HBV.

Recently published reports indicate that the outcome of unrelated donor transplantations in patients with leukemia is currently comparable to that of transplantation from identical family donors. We investigated the possibly favorable outcomes of related and unrelated transplantation in children with severe thalassemia. We reviewed transplantation outcome in 49 consecutive children with severe thalassemia who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation with related-donor (n=28) and unrelated-donor (n=21) stem cells between September 1992 and May 2005 at the Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University (Bangkok, Thailand). Analysis of engraftment, frequency of procedure-related complications, and thalassemia-free survival showed no advantage from use of related-donor stem cells. The 2-year thalassemia-free survival estimate for recipients of related-donor stem cells was 82% compared with 71% in the unrelated-donor stem cell group (P=.42). The present study provides evidence to support the view that it is quite reasonable to consider unrelated-donor stem cell transplantation an acceptable therapeutic approach in severe thalassemia, at least for patients who are not fully compliant with conventional treatment and do not yet show irreversible severe complications of iron overload.

Background Polymorphisms of DNA repair genes can alter protein structure and may impair DNA repair capacity. Defects in repairing damaged DNA lead to genetic instability and carcinogenesis. This study was performed to evaluate the effect of the polymorphisms of DNA repair genes on risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Procedures We genotyped polymorphisms of X‐ray repair cross‐complimenting group 1 (XRCC1) codon 194 (Arg to Trp), 280 (Arg to His) and 399 (Arg to Gln), and xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD) codon 312 (Asp to Asn) and 715 (Lys to Gln) in 108 children with ALL and 317 healthy controls using PCR‐RFLP method. The allele, genotype, and haplotype frequencies of these polymorphisms were compared between cases and controls using Chi‐square or Fisher's exact test. PHASE computer software was used to analyze estimated haplotypes of the XRCC1 and XPD polymorphisms. Results The frequency of XRCC1 194Trp allele in patients was significantly lower than that in controls (odds ratio (OR) 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.47–0.97). Individuals with XRCC1 194 Trp/Trp genotype had a significantly reduced risk of ALL (OR 0.22; 95% CI, 0.05–0.96). The frequency of the XRCC1 haplotype B (194Trp‐280Arg‐399Arg) was significantly lower in children with ALL when compared to controls. The XRCC1 399Gln allele was associated with a significantly increased risk of ALL (OR 1.67; 95% CI, 1.20–2.33). The frequency of the XRCC1 haplotype C (194Arg‐280Arg‐399Gln) was significantly higher in patients. There was no difference of allele frequencies of the XRCC1 280 (Arg to His), XPD 312 (Asp to Asn), or XPD 715 (Lys to Gln) between cases and controls. Conclusion The XRCC1 194Trp allele and haplotype B showed a protective effect against development of childhood ALL. In contrast, individuals with the XRCC1 399Gln allele and haplotype C were associated with increased risk for this disease. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2007;48:16–20. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

The majority of donors detected during routine screening, who were HBsAg negative and NAT reactive, had an occult HBV infection, thus validating the decision to introduce NAT for blood donations in Thailand.

In this study, readily available antibodies that are used in standard agglutination tests were evaluated for their use in ABO blood typing by a surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPR imaging) technique. Five groups of antibodies, including mixed clones of anti-A, anti-B, and anti-AB, and single clones of anti-A and anti-B, were used to construct the five-line detection arrays using a multichannel flow cell in the SPR imager. The red blood cell (RBC) samples were applied to a multichannel flow cell that was orthogonal to the detection line arrays for blood group typing. We found that the blood samples were correctly grouped in less than 12 min by the SPR imaging technique, and the results were consistent with those of the standard agglutination technique for all 60 samples. We found that mixed clones of antibodies provided 33%–68% greater change in the SPR signal than the single-clone antibodies. Applying the SPR imaging technique using readily available antibodies may reduce the costs of the antibodies, shorten the measurement time, and increase the throughput.

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