Sulfasalazine (SASP) has often been reported to cause serious blood disorders, particularly agranulocytosis; however, little quantitative information is available to estimate the risk or to identify possible modifiers of the risk. We used comprehensive clinical information recorded on office computers by selected general practitioners in Britain to conduct a follow-up ...

Despite improved pretransfusion donor evaluation and testing, there is still residual risk of transfusion-associated viral infectious disease. Moreover, other important infectious pathogens, including bacteria, protozoa, and nonenveloped viruses, are not detected in current testing programs. Recent investigations from several laboratories have stimulated interest in decontamination of blood products as an ...

An important concern that has received little attention is the possible increased susceptibility to bacterial infections of patients infused with cell-free haemoglobin-based blood substitutes. We show that pyridoxalated polymerised human haemoglobin promotes fulminating Escherichia coli septicaemia in mice, which draws attention to the potential danger of such products in the ...

Safety monitoring and epidemiological surveillance of blood transfusion in the United States is complex and involves government agencies and independent organizations. Several systems of control are in place nationwide to ensure that blood, blood components, and plasma derivatives meet prescribed standards. Control and surveillance of drugs that are biologics, which ...

The major criteria by which any blood substitute product will be evaluated prior to commercial usefulness will include evaluations of its: oxygen transport characteristics purity and physical properties potential for and modality of toxicities efficacy in various clinical settings biologic half life metabolism immunogenicity Although a thorough review of these ...

The safety of the nation's blood supply has improved over the last several years as a result of more intensive donor screening and viral testing. Concurrently, there has been more judicious use of blood components. Although the risk is small, transmission of blood borne viruses, bacteria and parasites can occur. ...

Chemically modified haemoglobin solutions represent a potential alternative to the transfusion of donor blood. The theoretical advantages of these products include an oxygen delivery potential greater than that of conventional plasma expanders, prolonged shelf-life, universal compatibility and the absence of pathogenic viruses. Principal concerns have been safety issues including renal ...

Current EU regulations do not cover all aspects of the manufacture and control of blood products. Recent legislation coming into force on 1 January 1995 has established the European Medicines Evaluation Agency and introduced revised systems for approving pharmaceutical products, including blood products. There remains a need for comprehensive harmonized ...

There is no legislation specifically designed to compensate haemophilia patients who have been damaged by defective blood products. But there is a general regime, created as a result of the thalidomide tragedy, which deals with defective 'products'. It was introduced at the European level by the European Directive on Product ...

OBJECTIVE: This study examined optimal flow experience, a form of job satisfaction in occupational therapy practitioners employed at physical rehabilitation facilities in New England. METHOD: Factors associated with flow were measured over a 5-day work week with the Experience Sampling Method. Ninety-seven percent of the 90 subjects' responses were analyzed ...

We report on phlebotomists' safety practices in 683 institutions participating in the College of American Pathologists Q-Probes program. Participants inspected 38,357 phlebotomy tourniquets and 31,952 blood collection tube holders in use and found 2098 tourniquets and 2966 holders visibly contaminated with blood. In 67.8% of the institutions, at least one ...

A quality improvement program designed to facilitate the administration, tracking, and documentation of blood products and volume expanders resulted in improved patient safety, improved efficiency, more accurate documentation, and enhanced resource management. Key to the success of the program were the Transfusion Administration Record, the blood product administration guide, and ...

Although some hemophiliacs in other studies have reported restricting blood product use because of fear of possible transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), no overall change in the quantity of blood products infused between January 1981 through December 1985 was found in a sample of 40 hemophiliacs before or ...

The processes by which decisions are made to ensure the safety of the nation's blood supply are in disarray. Earlier decisions on the appropriate screening of donated blood, such as the test for the hepatitis B virus, were made on scientific grounds. Since 1983, because of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, ...

Injecting drug users in prisons may reuse and share contaminated injecting equipment, increasing their risk of infection with blood-borne viruses. We examined 58 syringes found in three metropolitan Adelaide prisons during a one-year period: 95 per cent were one millilitre volume; blood was visible in 24 per cent; 58 per ...

Blood donations are 'gifts' that do not fit easily into a more market-oriented health care system. The new commercial organisational arrangements in New Zealand for the collection, manufacture and distribution of blood and blood products are compared in this paper with the old organisational arrangements. The particular case of screening ...

Two procedures are now used in France to reduce the risk of viral transmission by blood plasma transfusion: either a quarantine method or a chemical method based on solvent-detergent technic. Since August 4th, 1992, a chemical virus inactivated blood plasma product from the Bordeaux blood bank has been authorized.

The public demands and deserves the safest blood products to be available when and where needed. Although absolute safety in the blood supply is a desirable goal, many intervening factors may have a bearing on its final quality. In the process of obtaining blood, the procedure for donor selection/exclusion acquires ...

Surveillance data and case reports substantiate that health care workers are at risk for occupationally acquired infection with blood-borne pathogens. The risk of transmission of blood-borne pathogens to a health care worker depends on the prevalence of blood-borne pathogen infection among patients, the likelihood of transmission of infection per blood ...

An electronic glove tester complying with safety regulations for electric current flow is described. In our laboratory, it was able to detect 100 percent of glove punctures caused by 4-0 and 6-0 surgical needles. When used regularly in the surgical suite, this device may help to minimize the surgeon's exposure ...

We have investigated the effect of various concentrations of ozone on human blood aiming to correlate the production of cytokines with depletion of reduced glutathione and hemolysis. As erythrocytes constitute the bulk of blood cells and represent the main target of ozone they have been taken as a useful marker ...

The effects of tetrandrine (Tet) on the production of 2 major metabolites of arachidonic acid (AA), the leukotriene B4 (LTB4) and the thromboxane B2 (TXB2) in rabbit whole blood were investigated by reversed phase high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and radioimmunoassay (RIA), respectively. After incubation with different doses of Tet ...

We analyzed active oxygen (hydroperoxide; H2O2) production by peripheral neutrophils in various hematological diseases by flow cytometry. One hundred microliters of heparinized fresh blood was sequentially incubated at 37 degrees C with 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate and with or without phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). After hemolysis, the pelleted white blood cells were ...

Distributed-in-space conversion of precursor substrate to product within an organ is explored when all formed product is released into the bloodstream. When precursor removal kinetics are linear (conversion occurring proportionately to concentration) and the process is uniformly distributed along the length, exponentially decreasing concentration profiles for precursor result. The vascular ...

Methods are described for the quantification of various eicosanoids (cyclooxygenase products: 6-KETO, TXB2, PGE2, PGF2 alpha, DHK; lipoxygenase products: 5-, 12-, 15-HETE, LTB4, LTC4, LTD4, LTE4) in menstrual blood collected by tampons. Samples were extracted with acidified ethanol. After purification by SEP-PACK C18 columns, the compounds were separated by reversed ...

Transfusion of small quantities of heterologous blood may cause severe pulmonary hypertensive response in certain species. To determine the responsible component in the donor blood and the main mediator, we studied the responses of goats to small quantities of rabbit blood components and observed the effects of several pharmacologic agents ...

Since our review 5 years ago, a new generation of PFC emulsion has been developed and is undergoing extensive testing. This new generation is the result of the application of physicochemical principles, applied to both the choice of the PFC itself and the emulsifier, as well as advances in emulsion-producing ...

Several straightforward, rapid and automated methods for the determination of the constant of solubility product of various inorganic salts and hydroxides and the critical micelle concentrations of both anionic and cationic surfactants are reported. The underlying methodology relies on the establishment of flow-rate gradients in completely continuous flow systems including ...

A simple, rapid and efficient method for the preparation of a potential brain blood-flow agent, N-[11C-methyl]-chlorphentermine ([11C]NMCP), is described. Optimization of the radiochemical yield of [11C]NMCP was accomplished by a Gabriel-like reaction which permits the transformation of a primary amine to a secondary amine through a sequence of acylation, deprotonation, ...

Most of the blood-borne infections that have held our attention during the last half of this century have been well characterized. Although HIV and the hepatitis viruses have enormous world-wide public health implications, there has been considerable success in their prevention of transmission by transfusion. The technology is available to ...

The procedures used in the preparation of blood components together with the processes used in the manufacture of multiple blood bag systems impose a unique combination of requirements that severely limits the selection of plastics. Plasticized PVC, the plastic used in the first blood bags introduced by Carl Walter over ...

This is a review of events when the medical community realized that AIDS was an infectious disease which might be transmitted by blood transfusions and the response by the various organizations and agencies to curb the potential spread of HIV via blood products. It became possible through a number of ...

Several excellent reviews have described the role of biotechnological procedures in the production of pharmaceuticals derived from human blood plasma (Meulien and Tuddenham 1990, Brodniewicz-Proba 1991). The system of blood collection and fractionation is driven by the need to manufacture concentrates of coagulation Factor VIII. This review will analyse the ...

Vacuum erection devices are an acceptable alternative for the management of erectile dysfunction. The safety of such devices has been questioned because of their effects on penile blood flow. We report the use of Doppler ultrasonography to assess arterial flow and its value in ensuring long-term safety of a new ...

The processing of blood into various components and the knowledge of component usage enables veterinarians to support and beneficially treat more animals. Blood products include packed red blood cells; fresh frozen, fresh, and modified plasma; cryoprecipitate; platelets; and concentrates. Some methods of preparation of blood products and storage are presented.

Despite the low risk of transfusion-transmitted infection currently present in the blood supply, processes to inactivate contaminating viruses and bacteria may improve the safety of transfusion even further. A variety of techniques, using both physical and chemical processes, are being explored. Particularly promising is adaptation of the solvent/detergent technique (already ...

Sevoflurane, a new inhalational anesthetic agent has been shown to produce degradation products upon interaction with CO2 absorbants. Quantification of these sevoflurane degradation products during low-flow or closed circuit anesthesia in patients has not been well evaluated. The production of sevoflurane degradation products was evaluated using a low-flow anesthetic technique ...

The use of blood and blood products has revolutionized medical care over the last century. Without this capacity, many medical and surgical procedures would not be possible. The safety of these procedures is predicated, in part, on an appreciation of the complications of transfusions, including transmission of infectious disease. Assuring ...

Devil's Claw (Harpagophytum procumbens), an herbal product being marketed in Canada and in Europe as a home remedy for the relief of arthritic disease, was investigated in healthy humans on eicosanoid production during spontaneously blood clotting. Volunteers took H. procumbens (daily 4 capsules of 500 mg powder containing 3% of ...

Modern transfusion therapy offers the seriously ill patient an array of blood products, designed to improve oxygen delivery, maintain intravascular volume, suppress infection, and induce hemostasis. Depending on the patient's clinical circumstance, the choice of product may need to incorporate consideration of the state of intravascular volume, history of prior ...

It is often necessary to transfuse blood products in shock. Use of these products can be life-saving, but they also carry considerable risk. It is important, therefore, that the physician be aware of the indications as well as possible complications, so that a proper decision can be made weighing the ...

Increasing concern over viral contamination of blood is spurring the development of a blood substitute which can effectively replace the oxygen-carrying capabilities of transfused erythrocytes. Solutions of chemically modified haemoglobin represent one option being evaluated for this role. More recently, recombinant-DNA techniques have enabled production of human haemoglobin in host ...

Health care workers, particularly surgeons, understand the importance of preventing contamination from blood of patients infected with deadly viruses. One of the most common areas of contamination is the hands and fingers due to the failure of glove protection. There are varying opinions regarding the frequency of glove failure, the ...

Guinea pigs are widely used in the study of the role of leukotrienes in airway pathophysiology. Extensive research efforts have utilized this species in the development of potential therapeutic agents associated with inhibition of leukotriene production (e.g. 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors and 5-lipoxygenase-activating protein antagonists) for the treatment of acute bronchospasm in ...

In the coming decade, it is likely that oxygen-carrying alternatives to red blood cells will become available for clinical use. The driving force behind their development is the risk of transfusion of homologous blood, which includes transmission of viral disease (HIV and hepatitis) and transfusion reactions as well as the ...

Lyophilized PHP as an oxygen carrier is prepared from outdated red cell and dicarboxymethylated polyoxyethylene. In order to apply PHP for a clinical use, a large scale production of high quality PHP has been studied. We have set up a 20 L scale production flow of PHP88. The product was ...

In von Willebrand disease, the goal of treatment is to correct the two laboratory hallmarks of abnormal hemostasis, i.e. the deficiency of factor VIII (FVIII) and the prolonged bleeding time (BT). Since desmopressin (DDAVP) is able to achieve both these goals in the majority of patients, it is the treatment ...

The influence of different process variables on the number of large particles before and after autoclaving of a 40% V/V Bis-Perfluorobutylethene emulsion stabilized by egg yolk lecithin, made isotonic with blood, was examined. The concentration of emulsifier, emulsification and autoclaving time and temperature, fill volume and the cooling gradient applied ...

Beak trimming pullets at an early age is a widespread industry practice. There is some concern that this practice may have effects on the subsequent performance of the birds in the production phase. Effects of beak treatment (trimmed or untrimmed) and rearing floor type (litter or wire) on performance of ...

The current risk of disease transmission through homologous blood transfusion has lead to a revival in the use of autologous blood. The development of a coagulopathy increases the usage of blood and blood products and therefore the risk of disease transmission. Blood salvaged at operation is subjected to physical and ...