Complement ratios C3bc/C3 and sC5b-9/C5 do not increase the sensitivity of detecting acute complement activation systemically.

Background: Complement activation plays an important pathogenic role in numerous diseases. The ratio between an activation product and its parent protein is suggested to be more sensitive to detect complement activation than the activation product itself. In the present study we explored whether the ratio between the activation product and the parent protein for C3 (C3bc/C3) and for C5 (sC5b-9/C5) increased the sensitivity to detect complement activation in acute clinical settings compared to the activation product alone.

Clinical and Complement Long-Term Follow-Up of a Pediatric Patient with C3 Mutation-Related Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

We report a pediatric patient with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome due to a C3 gain-of-function mutation diagnosed in infancy. She was treated from the start with a constant dose of 300 mg eculizumab every second week from the onset and followed by routine complement analyses for six years. Her complement system was completely inhibited and the dose interval was prolonged from 2 to 3 weeks without alteration of the dose and the complement activity continued to be completely inhibited.

Low Levels of Immunoglobulins and Mannose-Binding Lectin Are Not Associated With Etiology, Severity, or Outcome in Community-Acquired Pneumonia.

Background: Disease severity and outcome in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) depend on the host and on the challenge of the causal microorganism(s). We measured levels of immunoglobulins (Igs) and complement in 257 hospitalized adults with CAP and examined the association of low levels of Igs or complement to microbial etiology, disease severity, and short-term and long-term outcome.

Methods: Serum Igs were analyzed in blood samples obtained at admission and at 6 weeks postdischarge if admission levels were low.

Biomarkers for rheumatoid arthritis: From molecular processes to diagnostic applications-current concepts and future perspectives.

Early diagnosis and immediately started appropriate treatment are mandatory for the prevention of radiographic progression, functional disability and unfavourable disease outcome in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The current classification criteria for RA include two different types of biomarkers representing inflammatory processes, such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) or immune processes including autoantibodies, such as rheumatoid factor (RF) and antibodies against citrullinated proteins (ACPA). After the discovery of RF, the recent recognition of various autoantibodies against post-translationally modified proteins opened new avenues to diagnosing RA and predicting the course of the disease.

Effect on mother and child of eculizumab given before caesarean section in a patient with severe antiphospholipid syndrome: A case report.

Rationale: Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) in pregnancy may trigger the life-threatening catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome (CAPS). Complement activation is implicated in the pathogenesis, and inhibition of complement factor C5 is suggested as an additional treatment option.

Patient Concerns, Diagnosis And Interventions: We present a pregnant patient treated with the C5-inhibitor eculizumab due to high risk of developing devastating APS-related complications.

Gender differences in presentation rates, deferrals and return behaviour among Norwegian blood donors.

Background And Objectives: Women are under-represented among long-term blood donors. Reasons for this were sought in the donor pool of the Blood Bank of Oslo, Norway, which comprises only voluntary, non-remunerated donors and has a high degree of stability.

Methods: Three sources of data were analyzed: (1) the subsequent six-year donation patterns of 17 812 donors who donated at least once in 1999; (2) reasons for pre-donation deferral of 484 prospect donors in 2004; (3) reasons for deferrals and absence during a 6.

Recruiting and retaining young people as voluntary blood donors.

Objectives: Reasons for predonation deferral of young potential donors and prospects of recruiting and retaining young people (age 18-29) as voluntary blood donors were studied.

Study Design And Methods: Three different sources of data were analysed: (i) the subsequent donation history of 2057 donors who started their donation career at the Blood Bank of Oslo (BBO) in 1999, age and gender of all new donors accepted for donation at BBO in 2004 was retrieved from electronic data files; (ii) data on reasons for predonation deferral, age and gender of all deferred prospect donors at BBO in 2004 was obtained from original screening questionnaires; and (iii) results from a national telephone survey of the general population's attitudes regarding blood donation, conducted in 2005.

Results: Twenty-five per cent of the first-time donors recruited in 1999 remained active in 2005, but the percentage was higher among older than younger donors.

Motivation, recruitment and retention of voluntary non-remunerated blood donors: a survey-based questionnaire study.

Background And Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish which motivational and socio-demographic factors are important for the development of a long-term commitment as a voluntary, non-remunerated blood donor.

Study Design And Methods: A cross-sectional sample survey of active blood donors in Oslo, Norway, was conducted. Donors filled in a self-administered questionnaire during donation.

Predicting blood donor arrival.

Background: Keeping waiting time at blood donation short is important for making donation a good experience for the donors and hence to motivate for repeat donations. At the Blood Bank of Oslo, fixed appointments are used, and few donors arrive without appointments. On average, 59 percent of scheduled donors arrive, but day-to-day variations are large.

Guidelines for transfusion in Norway.

The Norwegian guidelines for transfusion are harmonised in terms of standards with the European directives, but we have two areas where there are substantial differences. First, in Norway a blood donor is defined as a patient in legal terms. Secondly, we have stricter criteria for geographical origin of the people who are allowed to donate blood than most other countries.

Risk behavior in Norwegian blood donors.

Background: Blood banks ensure the safety of blood components by testing them for a set of known infectious agents and by careful selection of donors based on a self-administered questionnaire and an interview. The purpose of this study is to describe the risk behavior for sexually transmitted diseases in Norwegian blood donors.

Study Design And Methods: A survey of the sexual habits of 5,859 blood donors in the capital of Norway was performed by using anonymous questionnaires.

Levels of ochratoxin A in blood from Norwegian and Swedish blood donors and their possible correlation with food consumption.

Blood levels of ochratoxin A were determined in 406 Scandinavian blood donors (206 from Oslo, Norway, and 200 from Visby on the island of Gotland, Sweden), using an HPLC method. In connection with the blood collection, the subjects were asked to fill in a food questionnaire to obtain individual dietary information relevant to ochratoxin A exposure. The mean plasma level of ochratoxin A was 0.

Risk behaviour among blood donors who give blood in order to be tested for the human immunodeficiency virus.

Background And Objectives: There has been concern that some individuals may donate blood primarily motivated by the easy access to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing, and that such donors may represent a risk to the transfusion service. In this article we focus on the risk behaviour of donors who reported that they gave blood in order to be HIV tested.

Materials And Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were given to 5859 blood donors.

mtDna and the islands of the North Atlantic: estimating the proportions of Norse and Gaelic ancestry.

A total of 1,664 new mtDNA control-region sequences were analyzed in order to estimate Gaelic and Scandinavian matrilineal ancestry in the populations of Iceland, Orkney, the Western Isles, and the Isle of Skye and to investigate other aspects of their genetic history. A relative excess of private lineages in the Icelanders is indicative of isolation, whereas the scarcity of private lineages in Scottish island populations may be explained by recent gene flow and population decline. Differences in the frequencies of lineage clusters are observed between the Scandinavian and the Gaelic source mtDNA pools, and, on a continent-wide basis, such differences between populations seem to be associated with geography.

Estimating Scandinavian and Gaelic ancestry in the male settlers of Iceland.

We present findings based on a study of Y-chromosome diallelic and microsatellite variation in 181 Icelanders, 233 Scandinavians, and 283 Gaels from Ireland and Scotland. All but one of the Icelandic Y chromosomes belong to haplogroup 1 (41.4%), haplogroup 2 (34.

Prevalence of hemochromatosis among first-time and repeat blood donors in Norway.

Background/aims: The observed prevalence of hemochromatosis has ranged considerably from 0.05 to 0.37% in studies requiring liver biopsy.

Alterations in lymphocyte subsets in blood may predict resectability in carcinoma of cardia or oesophagus.

Impaired immune responses in patients with carcinoma of cardia or oesophagus have previously been reported. However, we do not know whether resectability correlates with specific immunological variables. Immunological assessment was performed in 35 such cancer patients including measurement of total T cells (CD3+) and T cell subsets (CD4+ and CD8+), NK cells (CD16+) and B cells (CD19+) in blood.

Susceptibility to develop celiac disease is primarily associated with HLA-DQ alleles.

We have recently reported that the susceptibility to develop celiac disease (CD) seems to be primarily associated to a particular combination of an HLA-DQA1 (DQA1*0501) and an HLA-DQB1 (DQB1*0201) allele: i.e., a particular DQ alpha/beta heterodimer.

Specificity of two subsets of cytotoxic human gamma delta T-cell clones.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were enriched for gamma delta T cells by immunomagnetic separation, stimulated with cells from an allogeneic donor, and cloned. T-lymphocyte clones (TLC) of the two major gamma delta T-cell subsets, BB3+ (i.e.

Recognition of a particular HLA-DQ heterodimer by a human gamma/delta T cell clone.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a single donor were depleted of T cell receptor (TcR) alpha/beta T cells, stimulated with allogeneic cells, and gamma/delta T lymphocyte clones (TLC) were isolated by limiting dilution. Five TLC were cytotoxic against B-lymphoblastoid cell lines from the stimulating cell donor, and demonstrated a restricted allospecificity in panel cell studies. One of these, gamma/delta TLC RNG-135, was studied in more detail.

T-cell recognition of HLA class II molecules induced by gamma-interferon on a colonic adenocarcinoma cell line (HT29).

HLA class II molecules may be induced on non-lymphoid cells by gamma-interferon (IFN-gamma). We investigated if HLA class II molecules induced by IFN-gamma on the HT29 colonic carcinoma cell line are functional, i.e.

Immunomagnetic separation of infiltrating T lymphocytes from brain tumors.

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL's) were isolated from human glioma biopsy specimens by immunomagnetic separation using T cell-specific monoclonal antibodies coupled to paramagnetic beads, and were expanded in culture with feeder cells and interleukin-2 (IL-2). The infiltrating cells from five of seven patients proliferated in culture. When tested after 2 to 3 weeks of culture, virtually all of the cells stained with antibodies against the CD2 and CD3 antigens.