Publications by authors named "C Styles"
Background: COVID-19 caused a huge backlog of patients in glaucoma clinics. This study describes redesign of an entire glaucoma service with electronic patient triage to three levels and utilisation of the Scottish optometry infrastructure of upskilled optometrists.
Methods: 2276 patients in glaucoma clinics were identified and triaged to three levels in keeping with Glauc-strat-fast guidance with local amendments.
Article Synopsis
- Hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc) screening is used in blood establishments worldwide to help prevent the transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV), especially from donors with occult HBV infection (OBI).
- A survey conducted revealed varied practices in HBV screening across 30 responses from 25 countries, with some establishments screening all donations for anti-HBc and HBV DNA, while others had different approaches, leading to inconsistencies in donor deferral strategies.
- The findings highlight the need for improved confirmation of anti-HBc results to minimize unnecessary donor deferrals while balancing the risk of transmission from anti-HBc negative OBI donors, particularly in high-endemic regions where sensitive HBV DNA testing is crucial.
Unlabelled: Using sequential immunoassays for the screening of blood donors is well described for viral serology testing but not for the screening of syphilis. In this study, we report the evaluation results and 2-year sequential testing data using two highly sensitive automated serology assays, the Alinity s Syphilis chemiluminescent immunoassay for screening, with all repeatedly reactive samples then tested on the Elecsys Syphilis electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. We screened 1,767,782 blood donor samples between 7 July 2021 and 6 July 2023 and found the Alinity false-positive rate to be low at 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Tattooing is one of the leading donor deferral reasons in Australia. Until September 2020, donors were deferred from all donation types for 4 months after a tattoo. At this time, our guideline changed such that donations of plasma for further manufacture were accepted immediately, provided the tattoo was administered in a licensed or regulated Australian establishment.
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