Flow Cytometry as a New Accessible Method to Evaluate Diagnostic Osmotic Changes in Patients with Red Blood Cell Membrane Defects.

Hereditary spherocytosis (HS) is a membranopathy that impacts the vertical junctions between the cytoskeleton and the plasma membrane of erythrocytes. The gold standard method for diagnosing it is osmotic gradient ektacytometry (OGE). However, access to this technique is scarce.

Oxidative imbalance in low/intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic syndrome patients: The influence of iron overload.

Objective: To assess the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the involvement of the main antioxidant pathways in low/intermediate-1-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with iron overload (IOL).

Methods: We examined the levels of superoxide anion (O), hydrogen peroxide (HO), antioxidants (glutathione, GSH; superoxide dismutase, SOD; catalase, CAT; and glutathione peroxidase, GPx), mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm), and by-products of oxidative damage (8-isoprostanes and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2'-deoxyguanosine, 8-oxo-dG) in 42 MDS patients (28 without IOL at diagnosis, and 14 who developed IOL) and 20 healthy subjects.

Results: Patients with IOL showed higher O levels (39.

Canine leishmaniasis. Immunophenotypic profile of leukocytes in different compartments of symptomatic, asymptomatic and treated dogs.

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CanL) is an emerging disease, expanding in various parts of the world. The infection caused by Leishmania, an intracellular protozoan parasite, can show different clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic or subclinical to symptomatic dogs, in which a wide spectrum of clinical signs is evident. The fact that the parasite replicates in different organs raises the hypothesis that each organ may have a specific immune response.

[Regulatory cells].

The role of regulatory T cells in the induction and maintenance of peripheral tolerance has received growing attention during the last years. Several subsets of regulatory T cells were described based on their surface markers and cytokine production, but nevertheless, there are no specific markers for any subsets and their classification relies on their suppression mechanism. It is unknown which of the subgroups of regulatory T cells is more important in the prevention and control of allergic diseases, being commonly accepted its importance in homeostasis.

The combined effect of platelet storage media and intercept pathogen reduction technology on platelet activation/activability and cellular apoptosis/necrosis: Lisbon-RBS experience.

Platelets are known to undergo shape change, activation, a release reaction and apoptosis/necrosis during processing and storage, all of which are collectively known as the platelet storage lesion. Any additional processing may have some deleterious impact on platelet activability and functional integrity, which need to be investigated. This preliminary investigation was undertaken to establish the combined effects of standard platelet storage media and the intercept pathogen reduction technology on platelet activation and activability during 7 day storage, using buffy-coat derived platelets in standard storage media containing 35% plasma (N=24).