No abstract available.
Ultrasonography*

BACKGROUND: Microlymphocytotoxicity test is most widely used for HLA Class l typing but almost all laboratories depend on imported HLA Class 1 typing trays. Matching criteria for the selection of HLA- matched platelets to treat platelet refractoriness is not as strict as for bone marrow transplantation. Therefore, with the acquisition of various antisera against high frequency HLA antigens, self-made HLA typing trays can be used for HLA typing of HLA-matched platelet donors. METHODS: 140 samples obtained during placental delivery were tested for the presence of HLA antibodies against a well-characterized panel of 90 cells. Specificity of HLA antisera were determined by evaluating the correlation coefficient r of the 2 x 2 table, x2 test. Antisera strength was evaluated by the strength index. RESULTS: HLA antibodies were detected in 25 samples by primary screening and 23 samples also showed a positive reaction in secondary screening(16%). Among 23 samples, 1 1 antisera were of reagent grade quality and 7 were monospecific antisera. DISCUSSION: Imported HLA typing trays can be replaced by harvesting HLA antisera against HLA antigens which are relatively common in Koreans through continuous HLA antibody screening using gushed out blood during placental delivery. (Korean J Blood Transfusion 10(1): 53-60, 1999)
Antibodies ; Blood Platelets ; Blood Transfusion ; Bone Marrow Transplantation ; Histocompatibility Testing ; HLA Antigens ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Mass Screening ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors

The 33rd International Congress of the ISBT was held in conjunction with the 33rd Congress of the Korean Society of Blood Transfusion (KSBT) and the 2014 Congress of the Korean Hematology Societies in Seoul. The idea to host an ISBT congress came to birth among KSBT members whilst attending the 18th Regional ISBT Congress held in Hanoi in 2007. Finally after 4 years, this idea became reality when Seoul was awarded to host the 2014 International Congress. After a short period of excitement, we soon had to realize that organising an international congress is a huge challenge with tremendous work involved! During the 3 years of preparation the ISBT headquarters and the local organising committee had several meetings that were not easy. But at the end, our concentrated and energetic discussions turned out to be most productive and made this congress a huge success. Highest appreciation again for their marvelous support goes to Peter Flanagan, ISBT President, and Judith Chapman, ISBT Executive Director. During the Korean day, three parallel sessions were held, attracting not only participants from the field of transfusion medicine but also many clinicians working in the field of hematology and transplantation. Martin Olsson, ISBT Scientific Secretary, and the local scientific committee did a great job in preparing an excellent scientific program that not only dealt with traditional topics of transfusion medicine but also hot topics like cellular therapy and clinical aspects of transfusion medicine. A total of 55 sessions were run in five tracks dealing with immunobiology of blood cells, blood safety, clinical aspects, donors & donation, and cellular therapies. 758 abstracts from 68 countries were submitted, among which 93 high quality abstracts were chosen for oral presentations and 603 for poster presentations. With 77 esteemed invited speakers presenting their cutting-edge research, all sessions were well attended and followed by lively discussions between speakers and the audience. Industry was also well presented and participants had the opportunity to exchange their experiences and take home information about the latest developments provided by the 74 exhibitors. But a congress isn't only about science! The opening ceremony started with the traditional presentation of the talking stick to the Congress President, Prof. Kyou-Sup Han. Afterwards, participants enjoyed the serenity and the flowing movements of Seoungmu, the Buddhist monk's dance, and Pungmulnori, a Korean folk music and dance tradition. All participants were greeted with a taste of Korean cuisine at the welcome reception. During the Speakers Dinner, guests had the chance to learn about the history of Korea and the Korean alphabet. The congress party, however, was the highlight of the social events. Since the congress took place in the middle of Gangnam, the southern part of Seoul, it was a must for everybody to learn dancing "Gangnam Style". Participants were invited onto stage to compete for the best dancer award and soon the stage was filled with joyously dancing participants and within seconds the party hall turned into a twilight zone. The party is over. It is time now to prepare calmly for the next stage. Hopefully ISBT Seoul 2014 will serve as a starting point to motivate many researchers working in the field of transfusion medicine and blood program to become more engaged at an international level.
Awards and Prizes ; Blood Cells ; Blood Safety ; Blood Transfusion ; Dancing ; Hematology ; Humans ; Korea ; Meals ; Music ; Parturition ; Seoul ; Tissue Donors ; Transfusion Medicine

Although application of multiple safety measures like donor screening and screening for infectious agents has made blood transfusion safer than ever, blood safety remains a hot topic in transfusion medicine. Emerging pathogens constantly threaten the safety of blood and current safety measures have their limitations in addressing these matters. Pathogen reduction technologies have been developed as a proactive approach to overcoming these limitations. This paper outlines the efficacy of pathogen reduction technologies that are currently applied for platelets for clinical use. Their clinical efficacy and safety issues and other effects are also reviewed.
Blood Safety ; Blood Transfusion ; Donor Selection ; Mass Screening ; Transfusion Medicine

No abstract available.
Blood Donors* ; Female ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Third* ; Pregnancy*

BACKGROUND: HLA-B5102 is a newly approved antigen at the meeting of the WHO Nomenclature Committee held after the Eleventh International Histocompatibility Workshop. It had been called B5l.35 because it was defined by both B5l and B35 antisera. HLA-B5102 antigen cannot be accurately determined by current commercial HLA typing trays. This study was carried out to assess the frequency of HLA-B5102 antigen in Koreans and serological reaction patterns of HLA-B5102 on commercial HLA trays. METHODS: We performed HLA-A, B, C serological typing for 2,000 Koreans registered for KMDP (Korean Marrow Donor Program) donors using the Terasaki Oriental Tray (One Lambda, USA). Selected samples (17/2000) which showed atypical B5 reaction patterns were tested against Japan Central Block HLA Workshop tray to detect the presence of HLA-B5102. RESULTS: HLA-B5102 showed a phenotype (antigen) frequency of 0.45% (9/2000) and an allele frequency of 0.23%. Two locus HLA haplotype and linkage analysis showed that HLA-B5102 was in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-A3l (p<0.01). The serological patterns of HLA-B5102 on Terasaki Oriental Tray were 1) Lot 14, 15 : B5(+), 2) Lot 15 B : B5(+), B35+53(+), and 3) Lot 16 : B5(+), B5l(+), B35+53(+), and therefore could be identified as HLA-B5, B5l, B52, B35 or B53. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of HLA-B5102 in the Korean population (antigen frequency 0.45%, allele frequency 0.23%) is similar to that of Japanese. The presence of HLA-B5102 can be suspected when atypical BS reaction patterns are encountered in commercial HLA typing trays, and B5 or BSI had better been assigned to these cases when additional confirmatory typing is not available.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bone Marrow ; Education ; Gene Frequency ; Haplotypes ; Histocompatibility ; Histocompatibility Testing ; HLA-A Antigens ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Japan ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; Phenotype ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: HLA-B5102 is a newly approved antigen at the meeting of the WHO Nomenclature Committee held after the Eleventh International Histocompatibility Workshop. It had been called B5l.35 because it was defined by both B5l and B35 antisera. HLA-B5102 antigen cannot be accurately determined by current commercial HLA typing trays. This study was carried out to assess the frequency of HLA-B5102 antigen in Koreans and serological reaction patterns of HLA-B5102 on commercial HLA trays. METHODS: We performed HLA-A, B, C serological typing for 2,000 Koreans registered for KMDP (Korean Marrow Donor Program) donors using the Terasaki Oriental Tray (One Lambda, USA). Selected samples (17/2000) which showed atypical B5 reaction patterns were tested against Japan Central Block HLA Workshop tray to detect the presence of HLA-B5102. RESULTS: HLA-B5102 showed a phenotype (antigen) frequency of 0.45% (9/2000) and an allele frequency of 0.23%. Two locus HLA haplotype and linkage analysis showed that HLA-B5102 was in linkage disequilibrium with HLA-A3l (p<0.01). The serological patterns of HLA-B5102 on Terasaki Oriental Tray were 1) Lot 14, 15 : B5(+), 2) Lot 15 B : B5(+), B35+53(+), and 3) Lot 16 : B5(+), B5l(+), B35+53(+), and therefore could be identified as HLA-B5, B5l, B52, B35 or B53. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of HLA-B5102 in the Korean population (antigen frequency 0.45%, allele frequency 0.23%) is similar to that of Japanese. The presence of HLA-B5102 can be suspected when atypical BS reaction patterns are encountered in commercial HLA typing trays, and B5 or BSI had better been assigned to these cases when additional confirmatory typing is not available.
Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bone Marrow ; Education ; Gene Frequency ; Haplotypes ; Histocompatibility ; Histocompatibility Testing ; HLA-A Antigens ; Humans ; Immune Sera ; Japan ; Linkage Disequilibrium ; Phenotype ; Tissue Donors

BACKGROUND: As the number of malaria patients has increased in Korea, the number of blood donors who are diagnosed as malaria after donation has also increased. And during 1997~2001, ten cases of transfusion-transmitted malaria were reported. We investigated the transfusion safety of blood that was donated by malaria patients before diagnosis. METHODS: For a total of 2,552 malaria patients diagnosed in 2001, blood donation history of past one year before diagnosis was inquired at the beginning of 2002. Then we inquired informations about recipients of the hospitals through the regional Red Cross blood centers. we also inquired development of malaria after transfusion for the recipients in the August of 2002. Malaria antibody test results of donated blood were also analyzed to determine the status of immunity of donors in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon area. RESULTS: Among 2,552 malaria patients, 162 (6.3%) patients had donated within one year before diagnosis and they were all man. Their blood was processed into 292 units of blood components and supplied to 90 hospitals, where it was transfused 286 patients. Among these 286 patients, no one was diagnosed as malaria until time of database retrieving. Among 162 malaria patient, enzyme immunoassay malaria antibody test results of 107 (66.0%) patients were available, and all were negative. CONCLUSION: No one has developed malaria among the recipients transfused with blood that was donated by malaria patients before diagnosis. Therefore, the infectivity of blood donated before malaria diagnosis is thought to be very low. As antibody to malaria was not produced in some of malaria patients before diagnosis, this finding could be useful for the study of immunology of malaria infection.
Allergy and Immunology ; Blood Donors ; Diagnosis* ; Gangwon-do ; Gyeonggi-do ; Humans ; Immunoenzyme Techniques ; Korea ; Malaria* ; Red Cross ; Seoul ; Tissue Donors

Campylobacter fetus subsp. fetus is a rare human pathogen, but can cause serious extraintestinal infections. Effective antimicrobial agent is required for the therapy, but we have very limited knowledge on the susceptibility of the organism. In this study, the susceptibility of 25 isolates of the organism to 14 antimicrobial agents was tested by an agar dilution method. Antimicrobial agents with low MIC ranges, in micrograms/ml, were: meropenem Y or = 0.25, dirithromycin < or = 0.5, gentamicin > or = 1, amikacin, ofloxacin, tetracycline and erythromycin < or = 2. The MIC range of cefepime was 0.5-8 micrograms/ml, but those of other beta-lactams were relatively high. All of the isolates were interpreted to be susceptible to cefepime, meropenem, amikacin, gentamicin, ofloxacin, tetracycline and dirithromycin. A significant proportion of the isolates were either intermediate or resistant to ampicillin, cephalothin, cefotaxime, aztreonam, loracarbef and erythromycin. In conclusion, the organism remains susceptible to aminoglycosides and tetracycline. Greater in vitro activity of meropenem, ofloxacin and dirithromycin require clinical evaluation.
Antibiotics/*pharmacology ; Blood/*microbiology ; Campylobacter fetus/*drug effects/isolation & purification ; Human ; Microbial Sensitivity Tests ; Synovial Fluid/*microbiology

BACKGROUND: HLA antisera are procured mainly from placental blood or blood of multiparous women. The latter has a merit that a large volume of antisera could be obtained, once the antisera are found to be of good quality. METHODS: A total of 1,437 multiparous blood donors were screened for the presence of anti- HLA antibodies. After the first screening with 20 panel cells, initially reactive sera were re- screened with 30 panel cells. RESULTS: Of 1,437 sera, 50 sera (3.5%) were reactive to both the first and the second screening panel cells. Among 50 sera, 25 (50.0%) sera could be assigned for their antibody specificity with r value of 0.8 or more. Only 14 samples (1.0%) showed reactivity to two or more panels with same antigen specificity and strength index of 80% or more. Four donors repeatedly donated blood with specificities of A24, A26, B7, and B7+B40, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Screening of HLA class I antibodies in multiparous blood donors showed that HLA antisera of good quality could be obtained in about 1% of the donors in Korea.
Antibodies ; Antibody Specificity ; Blood Donors* ; Female ; Humans ; Immune Sera* ; Korea ; Mass Screening ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Tissue Donors