No abstract

No abstract

In the U.K., blood donations have been routinely screened for anti-HCV since September 1991. In order to get the most epidemiological benefit from these extensive screening data, the histories obtained at counselling from donors confirmed to be anti-HCV positive, 'indeterminate' and falsely positive have been analysed in detail. In addition, the associations with potential risk factors have been investigated by comparing these groups of donors with a control group of 771 routine donors bled on one day during the study, at North London Blood Transfusion Centre. This paper documents the prevalence and demography of HCV infection in asymptomatic blood donors, to assess various possible sources of infection and the association between liver function test results and alcohol consumption in donors. One in 1400 previously untested donors was confirmed positive for anti-HCV. Age (the group 30-49 years being highest), tattooing and intravenous drug use in both sexes, ear-piercing in males and blood transfusion in females were all significantly associated with an increased risk of HCV infection. Intravenous drug use proved to be the factor most strongly associated with risk. Liver function tests (alanine aminotransferase) were elevated in a significant number of donors confirmed to be anti-HCV positive but no clear correlation between alanine aminotransferase level and either time since infection or alcohol consumption was found. Alcohol consumption was significantly higher in donors confirmed to be anti-HCV positive and was particularly marked in those admitting to previous intravenous drug use.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

No abstract

None of the 3 sonographic formulas is ideal for estimating fetal weight in fetuses with AWDs. The Siemer formula should be used when accuracy in the absolute EFW is the goal. For the purpose of making the more clinically relevant diagnosis of IUGR, use of the Hadlock formula is justified.

Over 12 months, 1,484 (87%) of 1,706 eligible women were offered CL screening, and 1,119 (75%) were actually screened. Women were more likely to accept CL screening if they were nulliparous versus multiparous (83 vs. 68%, p < 0.001) and if the sonographer was female versus male (83 vs. 42%, p < 0.001). Implementation of an "opt-out" protocol did not increase the overall number of women accepting CL screening compared with an "opt-in" approach (76 vs. 75%, p = 0.81) CONCLUSION: Universal CL screening can be feasibly implemented and is acceptable to most women.

OBJECTIVE: Somatic abnormalities involving chromosome 21, 18, and 13 are found in cancers and are detectable in circulating cfDNA. Previous publications have suggested increased risks of maternal neoplasm when multiple aneuploidies are detected on non-SNPbased NIPTs with normal fetal karyotypes. SNP-based NIPT distinguishes maternal/fetal cfDNA, allowing for CNV origin identification. This study reviewed maternal/fetal outcome SNP-based NIPT data to determine if multiple maternal copy number variants (CNVs) can predict increased risk of maternal neoplasms. STUDY DESIGN: Fetal/maternal outcomes were retrospectively collected for SNP-based NIPT cases accessioned from 7/1/2017 to 3/ 30/2021. Cases reported as unspecified atypical findings with data suggesting multiple maternal CNVs were included. RESULTS: Of 2,004,428 cases with results, 38 (0.002%) had unspecified atypical results with internal data consistent with maternal CNVs. Fetal/maternal health outcomes were obtained in 26/38 (68.4%) cases. A malignancy was diagnosed before, during, or after delivery in 14/26 cases. Positive predictive values (PPVs) for maternal neoplasm ranged from 39% (15/38 all cases) to 58% (15/26 known outcomes). One case of leiomyoma (1/26, 3.8%), and one case of lymphadenopathy (1/26, 3.8%) were observed. Fetal triploidy without reported maternal health issues was seen in 2 cases (2/26; 7.7%). 8/26 (30.8%) cases had no reported fetal/maternal health issues, including one with a family history of a BRCA mutation with patient mutation status unknown. (Table 1) CONCLUSION: SNP-based NIPT can incidentally identify maternal neoplasm presence/recurrence. When maternal CNVs are identified on SNP-based NIPT, our data suggests an increased risk of maternal neoplasm with PPVs ranging from 39-59%. Neoplasms in this cohort could be underdiagnosed due to limited follow-up time post NIPT (2-48 months). Reporting this incidental finding allows for better informed maternal clinical management, with possible earlier neoplasm detection.

No abstract