BackgroundIn modern health services, blood transfusion is an essentially life-saving manoeuvre. With this situation healthy donor compilation is the cornerstone of transfusion medicine. Henceforth, a provision for strict criterion in recruitment and deferral of blood donors, particularly emphasizing transfusion transmissible infections (TTI), may improve safe transfusion practice.ObjectivesThe present study was executed to assess the prevalence of TTIs within blood donors at a sub-Himalayan rural tertiary care institution in Darjeeling, India; which can ultimately aid in determination of the population subset to be targeted for enhancing donor pool.MethodsThe present study was a three-year (2010–2012) retrospective study. Data was accumulated and analysed from blood bank records, pertaining to all donors who were screened for various TTIs using respective immunological methods. Then the tabulated seropositive donors were correlated with relevant epidemiological profiles.ResultsTotal 28,364 blood donors were examined, comprising of 25,517 (89.96%) males and 20,985 (73.98%) voluntary donors. Cumulative seroprevalence of HIV, HBV, HCV and syphilis were 0.42%, 1.24%, 0.62% and 0.65% respectively; with solitary malaria-infected donor. The overall seroreactivity in present study significantly diminished through successive years.ConclusionsDeployment of implicit inclusion-exclusion criteria is high on demand for reducing the prevalence of TTIs, to increase the donor subpopulation strength and ultimately to institute a safe transfusion protocol.

Reed's syndrome or familial leiomyomatosis cutis et uteri is an autosomal dominant disorder, characterized by multiple cutaneous and uterine leiomyomas. We report here a case of a 53-year-old woman who presented to us with multiple painful nodules over different parts of her body. Based on the histopathological examination, imaging, and past medical records, a diagnosis of Reed's syndrome was made. Three of her sisters had similar disease. Subsequently, it was found that a total of nine members of their family in two successive generations were affected with cutaneous leiomyomas. The present case series has been reported for its interesting clinical presentations and rarity.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is an annual herbaceous, self-pollinated species. Potato belongs to family solanaceae and the genus Solanum with a basic set of 12 chromosomes (x = 12). It is used as vegetable and in industries for manufacturing starch, alcoholic beverages and other processed products like French fries, chips etc. Afresh potato contains 16-20% carbohydrates 2.5-3.2% crude protein. Even though potato contains little amount of protein, nutritional quality of potato is better than cereals. Potato has potential to produce more calories and protein per unit land area with little time and water than most of the major food crop s. Therefore, understanding its genetic diversity is important for the improvement of this crop and as well as for effective utiliz ation of germplasm. Diversity analysis based on molecular characterization is better than morphological characterization as it is highly influenced by the environment. Hence, in-depth studies based on both morphological and molecular markers will help in better understanding the genetic diversity of potato germplasm.

New generation technologies provide alternative ways of assessing the female pelvis, and provide improved estimates of the incidence of uterine leiomyoma. To determine the incidence of uterine leiomyoma and other incidental findings, the request forms for pelvic ultrasound scan and the scan results of 2,034 consecutive women was reviewed. There were 586 women with scan-detected uterine leiomyoma giving an incidence of 29.9%, although only 3% of the women had clinically suspected leiomyoma. Pain was the leading indication for a pelvic ultrasound scan in women without a uterus, whereas in women with a uterus, bleeding was the leading indication. Other scan findings included ovarian cyst, 11.4% and polycystic ovaries, 7.5%. Uterine leiomyoma was four times more frequent in women over 40 years (odds ratio 4.1, 95% confidence interval, 3.3-5.0). These women were two times more likely to have multiple leiomyomas (OR 2.01, 95% CI, 1.4-2.8) and 30% more likely to have large leiomyomas (OR 1.3, 95% CI, 1.0-2.1).

Waardenburg syndrome (WS) is a rare autosomally inherited and genetically heterogeneous disorder of neural crest cell development with distinct cutaneous manifestations. Based on the clinical presentations, four subtypes of the disease are recognized. A careful clinical evaluation is required to differentiate various types of WS and other associated auditory-pigmentary syndromes. We describe a case series of WS to highlight the wide spectrum of manifestations of the syndrome including a rare association.