1) All students but 1 correctly typed the ABO blood groups, but only 33.2% of students and 63.9% of physicians properly performed cross-matching.
2) Most failures in cross-matching were due to the inability to detect allogeneic antibodies, but 5.2% of students and 2.9% of physicians failed to detect ABO mismatching.
3) Although laboratory practice is suggested to help students to solidify knowledge and comprehend principles, achieving an official goal of residency - gaining competence in performing and interpreting cross-matching independently - appeared difficult.

PURPOSE: This retrospective cohort study was conducted to demonstrate how allocation of nurses specialized in HIV care influences clinical outcomes of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLWH). METHODS: The medical records of 116 PLWH who started ART between January 2002 and December 2004 were analyzed. Occurrence of viral suppression and viral relapse after suppression achievement and their time from baseline were observed as clinical outcomes related to ART. Clinical outcomes were obtained from medical records between January 2002 and December 2006. PLWH were classified into two groups according to allocation (n = 95, nurse allocated group) or nonallocation (n = 21, nurse nonallocated group) of nurses specialized in HIV. RESULTS: Survival analysis showed that HIV viral load was suppressed more rapidly and continuously in nurse allocated group than nonallocated group (p < .0001). Viral relapse after suppression achievement occurred easily in nurse nonallocated group than allocated group (p = .003). CONCLUSIONS: The present findings demonstrated that the role of specialized nurses is critically important from the viewpoint of clinical outcome.
Achievement ; Antiretroviral Therapy, Highly Active ; Cohort Studies ; HIV ; HIV Infections ; Japan ; Medical Records ; Nursing Service, Hospital ; Recurrence ; Retrospective Studies ; Viral Load

To investigate the tumoricidal activity of dendritic cell (DC) stimulated by interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) against freshly isolated myeloid leukemia cells and its mechanism, the peripheral blood monocytes collected from healthy donors were cocultured with interleukin-4 and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in medium to induce DC for 7 days. After 12 hour culture in the absence or presence of IFN-gamma, the changes of costimulatory molecules were analyzed with flow cytometry. To assay the cytotoxicity of DC against freshly isolated acute myeloid cells, they were cocultured at various effector-to-target ratio for 18 hours, then the percentage of tumoricidal activity was measured with (51)Cr release assay. To explore the mechanism of DC-mediated cytotoxicity, the change of DC surface or intracellular protein expression of Fas ligand (Fas L), TNF-alpha and TNF related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) were analyzed with flow cytometry. The results showed that IFN-gamma enhanced cytotoxicity of DC against AML cells was (33.8 +/- 1.6)% at E:T as 20:1, compared with unstimulated DC (P < 0.05); IFN-gamma up-regulated expression of costimulatory molecules of DC surface such as CD86 and CD83; after stimulation with IFN-gamma, expression of intracellular TRAIL of DC was significantly enhanced, but expression of TRAIL on cell surface of DC was low; while the significant changes of Fas L and TNF-alpha expression neither on cell surface or in cells were not observed before or after stimulation with IFN-gamma. It is concluded that DC stimulated by IFN-gamma exhibit tumoricidal activity against AML cells. The cytotoxicity is partially related to maturation of DC and TRAIL inducing apoptosis, but not associated with death domain-independent mechanism of Fas L and TNF-alpha.
Acute Disease ; Antigens, CD ; analysis ; B7-2 Antigen ; analysis ; Coculture Techniques ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; drug effects ; immunology ; Dendritic Cells ; drug effects ; immunology ; metabolism ; Fas Ligand Protein ; analysis ; Flow Cytometry ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; analysis ; Interferon-gamma ; pharmacology ; Leukemia, Myeloid ; immunology ; pathology ; Membrane Glycoproteins ; analysis ; TNF-Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand ; analysis ; Tumor Cells, Cultured ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; analysis