We present the prediction of malaria infection in human plasma using Raman spectroscopy. Raman spectra of malaria-infected samples are compared with those of healthy and dengue virus infected ones for disease recognition. Raman spectra were acquired using a laser at 532 nm as an excitation source and 10 distinct spectral signatures that statistically differentiated malaria from healthy and dengue-infected cases were found. A multivariate regression model has been developed that utilized Raman spectra of 20 malaria-infected, 10 non-malarial with fever, 10 healthy, and 6 dengue-infected samples to optically predict the malaria infection. The model yields the correlation coefficient r(2) value of 0.981 between the predicted values and clinically known results of trainee samples, and the root mean square error in cross validation was found to be 0.09; both these parameters validated the model. The model was further blindly tested for 30 unknown suspected samples and found to be 86% accurate compared with the clinical results, with the inaccuracy due to three samples which were predicted in the gray region. Standard deviation and root mean square error in prediction for unknown samples were found to be 0.150 and 0.149, which are accepted for the clinical validation of the model.

Key Points• In low-risk BMT for thalassemia, ATGBuCy seems as effective as Tt-BuCy in the prevention of rejection and may decrease transplant-related mortality. received ATG-BuCy. All patients were ,15 years and had no hepatomegaly (liver #2 cm from costal margin). Actuarial overall survival in the Tt-BuCy and ATG-BuCy groups was 87% and 94% and thalassemia-free survival was 80% and 85% at a median follow-up of 37 and 17 months, respectively, with no significant differences by log-rank statistics. SubstitutingTt with ATG in the standard BuCy context seems safe and effective and may decrease transplant-related mortality. Higher fertility rates are expected for patients who received ATG-BuCy.

Introduction Type 3 von Willebrand disease (VWD), a severe autosomal recessive hereditary bleeding disorder, is described by the virtual absence of von Willebrand factor (VWF). In consanguineous populations, for example Pakistan, the disease is reported with a higher incidence rate than the worldwide prevalence. Aims This study aims to characterize molecular pathology and clinical profile of type 3 VWD cohort of Pakistani origin. Methods In total, 48 patients were enrolled in the current study. Initially, the index patients (IPs) were evaluated by a standardized questionnaire for recording bleeding manifestations and by performing conventional coagulation tests. The diagnosis of VWD type 3 was confirmed by VWF antigens less than 5 IU/dL. Direct sequencing of VWF gene (VWF) was carried out to identify causative gene variations. We evaluated the potential consequence of novel splice site and missense variations by predictive computational programs and in silico structural analysis. Results VWF mutations were detected in 46 out of 48 IPs (95.8%), predominantly as homozygous variants. In total, twenty‐nine different gene defects were characterized in this cohort from which 10 (34.5%) are novel. The majority of the mutations were null alleles (66%; including gene conversions, nonsense, splice site variations, small deletions and insertions), and 34% of them were missense substitutions. Conclusion Herein, we reported for the first time, the pattern of gene defects in Pakistani type 3 VWD cohort. We identified a wide heterogeneous mutation spectrum along with variability in the type of bleeding episodes.

Vancomycin has been considered mainstay treatment of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The reports of the emergence of vancomycin intermediate and vancomycin resistant S. aureus from various parts of the world have been of great clinical concern. This study was performed to monitor the status of glycopeptide susceptibility against methicillin resistant S. aureus in our set up. All non-duplicate methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates recovered during the period of study from various wards of Military Hospital Rawalpindi and PAEC General Hospital Islamabad, were subjected to the detection of minimum inhibitory concentrations of vancomycin using E-strips. Results were analyzed to evaluate the possible presence of vancomycin intermediate and resistant strains in the set up. A total of 276 methicillin-resistant S. aureus isolates were studied. The range of vancomycin minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) was 0.19 to 3 ug/mL. MIC 50 came out to be 0.75 ug/mL whereas the MIC 90 was 1.5 ug/ mL. 128 out of 276 (46%) isolates had vancomycin MIC equal to or greater than 1 ug/mL. Majority of the isolates (69%) were from pus samples. No vancomycin resistant or intermediate strain of MRSA was isolated during the study but there were a significant number of isolates having ≥ 1 µg/ml MIC of vancomycin.

Introduction: Von Willebrand disease (VWD) type III is the second most common inherited bleeding disorder in Pakistan. It is caused by severe quantitative deficiency of plasma Von Willebrand factor (VWF). Absence of VWF increases the severity of disease and is caused by homozygous/ compound heterozygous mutations in Von Willebrand factor gene. Objective: The aim of study is to characterize molecular genetics of Von Willebrand type III in Pakistani population. Setting: NIBD & BMT Karachi, Chughtais lab, Children's Hospital Lahore, PAEC Islamabad and HMC Peshawar. Material And Method: In this cohort study of Von Willebrand disease (VWD) type III, Blood samples of 48 unrelated patients of type III VWD were collected in National Institute Of Blood Disease & Bone Marrow Transplant (NIBD) Karachi, Chughtais lab, Children's Hospital Lahore, PAEC Islamabad and HMC Peshawar. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood by QIAamp DNA Blood mini kit (Qiagen) and Exon specific PCR was done for VWF gene and Direct gene sequenced on automated ABI-3130 Genetic Analyzer (Applied Biosystems). Sequence Variations in VWF were checked on ISTH-SSC VWD homepage (http://www.vwf.group.shef.ac.uk/), Ensemble genome browser (http://www.ensembl.org/), VWFdb hemobase and biobase biological database (http://www.hgmd.cf.ac.uk/ac/index.php). We have adopted the nomenclature for numbering amino acids of Human genome variation society (HGVS). Statistics analysis was done SPSSv17. Results: Sequence analysis detected mutations in 46 (95.83%) out of 48 samples. VWD type III has led to identification of 28 cases (60.8%) homozygous and 18 (39.1%) were compound heterozygous. We have indentified total 31 Mutations distributed as 17 missense mutations (54%), 7 nonsense mutations (22%) 2 small deletions (6%) , 2 insertion mutations (6%) and 3 splice site mutations (9%).19 of these were newly mutations in this cohort study.. Further method multiplex ligation dependent probe amplification (MLPA) is needed for detection of large deletions in two patients. Nonsense c.3931C>T, p.Q1311*was founder mutation in Pakistani patients. Conclusion: In cohort study, missense mutations are detected as common in among patients and most of the mutations identified in this cohort were homozygous due to Consanguinity in the family of the patients. Disclosures Oldenburg: SOBI: Consultancy.