The Scientific Journal of Iranian Blood Transfusion
Year:2016 | Volume:12 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

Background and Objectives Alloimmunization is one of the side effects of regular blood transfusion in thalassemic patients. We studied the frequency of Kell antigen in donor blood bags used in Adult Thalassemia Clinic in Tehran.Materials and Methods Our aim was to screen Kell antigen on the blood bags which came for use in Adult Thalassemia Clinic. First, we recorded the bag number with which we could access the characteristics of the blood donors such as sex, age, number of donation, and so on. Then, for Kell study, we used anti Kell kit on each cord detached from the blood bags. The results were collected and analysed by SPSS18.Results In our one year cross sectional study, we checked Kell antigen for 11557 blood bags; 98.7% were for male and 1.3% for female. The minimum age of our donors was 17 years old and maximium 65. Out of the total number of blood donors, 19.6 % were first time, 27.4% had the history of prior donation, and 52.9% were repeated donors. In our kell study for K or KEL1 antigen, we had 96.2% Kell negative bags and 3.8% were Kell positive.Conclusions We had the rate of less than 4% positivity of Kell antigen on our donors showing more than 96% Kell negativity. However, for the reduction of the risk of alloimmunization in chronically transfused patients, it is better to check all bags for Kell antigen and prevent the use of Kell positive bags.

Background and Objectives In transfusion medicine, safety and quality assurance of blood and blood components are very critical. National blood transfusion standards ratify that the quality control should be performed on at least 1% of the total preparations for each type of blood component; they also define the essential indicators for each product to be qualified. This study aims to evaluate and analyze the results of the quality control of red blood cells (RBC) in blood centers in Iran from 2013-2014.Materials and Methods This study was descriptive-sectional. The data of red blood cell components that had been qualified in Iranian Bood Transfusion Organization were gathered from all blood centers across Iran from 2013-2014 time period. Then, all data were enterd in software microsoft excel 2010. The results were compared with the standards; the percentage of parameter nonconformity, the measures for the mean ±SD of parameters, and the CV as an index of dispersion were all calculated.Results Utility functions of different parameters were as follows. Sterility: 100%, volume: 93.8%, hematocrit: 91.2%, hemoglobin: 99.6%, hemolysis index: 98.6%, no clots: 97.8%, the mean ±SD of volume: 270±20.9 mL, Hematocrit: 74.9±4%, Hb: 63±7.9 g/bag, and hemolysis index was 0.23±0.16%.Conclusions According to the evaluation and analysis results, the quality parameters of red blood cell components were consistent with national and international quality requirements.

Background and Objectives Mesenchymal Stem Cells (MSCs) are the ideal cell source for transplantation. But different stresses during MSC sin vitro expansion lead to decreased survival rate after transplantation. Therefore, applying practical strategies to enhance their viability in stressful microenvironment is quite necessary. This study aimed to survey effects of HIF-1a-Nrf2 -engineered-MSCs secretome on MSCs survival under different stress conditions.Materials and Methods Recombinant pcDNA3.1-Nrf2 and pcDNA3.1- HIF-1a were transfected and co-transfected into umbilical cord MSCs (UC-MSCs) using FUGENE HD transfection reagent. After 72 hrs, expression of Nrf2 and HIF-1a were verified by RT-PCR. Different cell groups were exposed to hypoxic, serum deprived and oxidative stress conditions. The HIF-1a-Nrf2 -engineered-MSCs secretome was harvested and concentrated. Then, UC-MSCs were cultured in presence of this secretome and their viability was assayed using trypan blue exclusion dye and WST-1 flowing by induction of the same stress conditions.Results HIF-1a-Nrf2-engineered-MSCs expressed Nrf2 and HIF-1α. HIF-1a-Nrf2 -engineered-MSCs indicated a higher survival rate (84.5±5.5%) compared with the control group (55.3±4%). Moreover, the survival rate of UC-MSCs cultured with HIF-1a-Nrf2 -engineered-MSCs secretome was 81.6±6% and it was 57.9±4.3% for the control group under the same stress conditions.Conclusions HIF-1a-Nrf2-engineered-MSCs secretome protects MSCs against oxidative, serum deprived and hypoxic stress conditions.

Background and Objectives Prevention, control and treatment of cancer using natural materials currently have been considered as the promising strategy. In this regard, caffeine as a purine alkaloid found in various plants, including coffee, cocoa, cola and tea has recently attracted great interest because of its remarkable multifunctional inhibitory effects on cancers such as leukemia.Regarding the anti-cancer effects of caffeine, we sought to investigate the effectiveness of this methylxanthine alkaloid against NB4 acute promyelocytic leukemia cells.Materials and Methods In order to examine the effects of caffeine in APL, NB4 cells were cultured in the presence of different concentrations of caffeine; subsequently, MTT, Caspase 3 activity assay, BrdU cell proliferation assay and quantitative real-time PCR were performed to assess the effect of caffeine on cell viability and the possible mechanisms of inducing cell death.Results Evaluation of DNA synthesis and cell survival using BrdU and MTT methods indicated that caffeine reduces proliferation and survival of NB4 cells in a dose and time dependent manner.The results of this study showed that elevation in the dose of caffeine induces caspase-3 activation and increases Bax and p21 gene mRNA expression levels.Conclusions Overall, our data illustrate that caffeine inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells. Thus, it can be concluded that caffeine as a substance in tea may be a useful agent for induction of cell death in malignant cells of patients with acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Background and Objectives: Warfarin and other anticoagulant medications like Coumadin are widely prescribed by physicians to prevent ischemic events. A variety of factors such as sex, age and weight can affect warfarin dosage requirements. A clinical effect of warfarin depends on highly polymorphic drug-metabolizing (CYP2C9) enzymes. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of CYP2C9*2, CYP2C9*3 polymorphisms on the variability of warfarin dosage requirements in Iranian population that were under warfarin therapy for different reasons.Materials and Methods: The study included 100 patients with the mean age of 61.3 years. The restriction fragment length polymorphism method was used to identify polymorphisms of CYP2C9 (*1, *2, *3) in Iranian patients with ischemic heart disease in Peyvand Laboratory.Results: Two-thirds (68.42%) of the patients had the wild-type (WT) CYP2C9*1*1 genotype; 10.53%, 18.95%, and 2.1% of the patients had CYP2C9 *1*2,*1*3, and *2*3 genotype, respectively. WT CYP2C9*1*1 genotype was associated with a higher daily warfarin dosage (4.58±1.57 mg/day; p=0.02) as compared to other CYP2C9 genotypes.Conclusions: The Iranian study sample is characterized by high frequency *1*1 genotypes that determine a higher warfarin-loading dose. Analysis of CYP2C9 gene variants allows the prediction of warfarin dosage. These results can be used to individualize treatment with warfarin in Iranian patients.

Background and Objectives Microarray technology represents the expression of thousands of genes simultaneously.Microarray analysis may not be possible without statistical analysis and artificial intelligence methods. The aim of this paper is to diagnose acute leukemia using microarray data and data mining algorithms.Materials and Methods The expression of 7129 genes of 72 patients with leukemia was used in this study. Then, by the selection of important genes based on correlation coefficient, information gain, gain ratio and fisher score criteria and by the use of linear discriminat, support vector machine, k nearest neighbor, naïve Bayes, Bayes net, nearest mean, logistic regression, multilayer perceptron neural network and J48 decision tree methods on the selected genes, acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia were attemted to be diagnosed.Results The methods of nearest mean, support vector machine, k nearest neighbor, naive Bayes, and multilayer perceptron neural network are able to detect acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia using 39 selected genes by the gain ratio with 100 percent accuracy. Moreover, support vector machine method using 87 selected genes by information gain and support vector machine method using 133 selected genes by information gain are able to detect acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia with 100 percent accuracy.Conclusions The results of this study showed that gene selection and data mining algorithm are able to diagnose leukemia with high accuracy. Therefore, appropriate decisions can be made using these methods about the how of the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

Background and Objectives Asymmetry as a morphological-anthropometric characteristic is developed for body axis formation. Dermatoglyphics studies the skin lines in palms, toes and fingertips accurately and systematically. The objective of this research is to investigate the relevance of the asymmetry lines of fingerprints and blood groups in a population of women living in Khorasan Razavi.Materials and Methods For this purpose, after determining the blood groups, the fingerprints of the first phalange of the left and right hands of 53 healthy pregnant women (18 to 42 years old), were printed by ink and their dermatoglyphic patterns were compared in terms of quality and quantity and the patterns’ frequencies were determined in any blood group. In analyzing the data, we used SPSS 16 & MiniTaba 15 softwares.Results The findings suggest asymmetry in women with A blood group due to a significant difference in the ridge count of dermatoglyphic patterns between their right and left indexes (Mean difference: 2.72, Standard Deviation: 1.34) (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between fingerprint patterns and the type of fingers in the right hand of women with B blood group and between fingerprint patterns and the type of fingers in the left hand of those with B and O blood groups (p<0.05). There was a significant difference between fingerprint patterns and the type of fingers in the both hands of women with Rh+blood group (p<0.01).Conclusions The present study reveals an association between the pattern of fingerprints and ABO blood groups.

Background and Objectives Thalassemia is among the most common genetic diseases in humans that can largely be prevented if adequate levels of public knowledge are obtained. This study was designed based on the educational health belief model to assess knowledge and practice of thalassemia couples in prevention of incidence of major thalassemia.Materials and Methods In this descriptive-analytical cross-sectional survey, 137 couples in Sistan area by systematic random sampling were selected. Data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were proven by health educational specialists and Cronbach Alpha test. The data were analyzed in spss.15 software using descriptive and analytical statistics including Chi square test, T-test, and spearman correlation coefficient. The significant level was set as 0.05.Results The mean scores of knowledge and practice of participants out of 20 and 14 were 13.6±2.8 and 10.8±2, respectively. Only 11.7 percent of participants had good level of knowledge, and 62.8% had good level of severity perceived; 48.9% (n=67) of them had done the first stage of prenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassemia (PND) and 38.7% the second stage of PND. There was a statistically significant relationship between the constructs of health belief model and the participants’ knowledge and practice (p<0.05).Conclusions Since majority of participants did not have adequate information about genetically preventive procedures about major thalassemia, it is necessary to hold training programs to improve their knowledge about thalassemia.

Background and Objectives: Thalassemia is a kind of anemia that causes the patient's malformation of face and lips. As a result, the patient's mental image will be distorted, which can increase the risk for hopelessness among the patients. Recently‚ research efforts have started to be conducted on the patients’ mental health conditions to which the health officials are urged to attend. The present article studied the correlation between mental image and hopelessness in 10-21 year old patients who suffer from major thalassemia in Shahrekord.Materials and Methods: In this correlational-descriptive study, the subject community included those 10-21 year old patients with major thalassemia who had referred to teaching universities of Shahrekord University of Medical University; 110 patients participated in the study and their mental image and hopelessness were both measured via two distinctive questionnaires (the Offer self-image and the Beck hopelessness scale). The data were gathered, analyzed, and investigated using parametric and non-parametric methods.Results: The findings indicated that 66.7% of the patients had average mental image and 37.3% were somehow hopeless. Thus, there was a significant correlation between the mental image average and that of hopelessness (r=0.554, p<0.001).Conclusions: To help these kind of patients overcome their problems, it is necessary to improve their awareness level by (1) providing nursing and psychosis consultative services and the related training courses (2) broadcasting training and consultative programs on radio and TV channels, and (3) offering remedial-clinical services.

Background and Objectives: Botox decreases wrinkles in face and chin. This drug minimizes muscle activity with its side effects being rare. This article presents one of this rare cases.Case: A 30-year-old woman with petosis, diplopia, dysartheria, dysphagia and muscle weakness was admitted to the hospital. She had no history of disease. She had three Botox injections during the preceding month. In the examination, muscle weakness 4.5 (cervical extensor, ocular and pharynx) was detected. Her diagnosis was myasthenia gravis. With TPE, force enhancement after muscle stretch was seen and she was separated from artificial ventilation.Conclusions: Myasthenia gravis is caused by antibody-acetylcholine receptor at the neuromuscular junction or motor end plate. Therapeutic plasmapheresis decreases the level of antibody-acetylcholine receptor.