Body-wide chimerism and mosaicism are predominant causes of naturally occurring ABO discrepancies.

Routine ABO blood group typing of apparently healthy individuals sporadically uncovers unexplained mixed-field reactions. Such blood group discrepancies can either result from a haematopoiesis-confined or body-wide dispersed chimerism or mosaicism. Taking the distinct clinical consequences of these four different possibilities into account, we explored the responsible cause in nine affected individuals.

Vessel Formation Through Cross-Talk of Blood-Derived Cells and Mesenchymal Stromal Cells in the Absence of Pre-existing Vascular Structures.

Background: The generation of functional blood vessels remains a key challenge for regenerative medicine. Optimized culture set-ups mimicking the perivascular niche environment during tissue repair may provide information about the biological function and contribution of progenitor cells to postnatal vasculogenesis, thereby enhancing their therapeutic potential.

Aim: We established a fibrin-based xeno-free human 3D vascular niche model to study the interaction of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) with peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) including circulating progenitor cells in the absence of endothelial cells (EC), and to investigate the contribution of this cross-talk to neo-vessel formation.

Air filters for indoor environments: Interlaboratory evaluation of the new international filter testing standard ISO 16890.

Electret filters are widely used in HVAC systems to decrease particulate matter in indoor environments. The previous standard in Europe for testing air filters for general ventilation was EN 779. In July 2018, it was replaced by the new international standard ISO 16890.

Quantitative PCR of INDELs to measure donor-derived cell-free DNA-a potential method to detect acute rejection in kidney transplantation: a pilot study.

The quantification of donor-derived cell-free DNA (ddcfDNA) in recipient's plasma is a novel, but technically challenging noninvasive method to assist the diagnosis of acute rejection (AR). A quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) approach targeting insertion/deletion polymorphisms (INDEL) was adapted to measure ddcfNA in plasma samples from 29 kidney transplant recipients obtained at time of clinically indicated biopsies (eight patients with a histologically verified AR, nine with borderline rejection and 12 without evidence of rejection). Measured ddcfDNA levels of smaller INDEL amplicon targets differed significantly (P = 0.

Prosthetic Valve Endocarditis with in a Human European Patient and Its Detection in Red Squirrels ().

Members of the genus are fastidious Gram-negative facultative intracellular bacteria that are typically transmitted by arthropod vectors. Several spp. have been found to cause culture-negative endocarditis in humans.

Allograft and patient survival after sequential HSCT and kidney transplantation from the same donor-A multicenter analysis.

Tolerance induction through simultaneous hematopoietic stem cell and renal transplantation has shown promising results, but it is hampered by the toxicity of preconditioning therapies and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Moreover, renal function has never been compared to conventionally transplanted patients, thus, whether donor-specific tolerance results in improved outcomes remains unanswered. We collected follow-up data of published cases of renal transplantations after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from the same donor and compared patient and transplant kidney survival as well as function with caliper-matched living-donor renal transplantations from the Austrian dialysis and transplant registry.

Kidney Transplantation With Corticosteroids Alone After Haploidentical HSCT From The Same Donor.

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can lead to donor-specific tolerance. Patients reported in the literature that underwent kidney transplantation (KT) after a previous HSCT from the same haploidentical donor typically received short-term immunosuppression, mainly for safety reasons and concerns of triggering graft-versus-host disease.

Methods: We describe the case of a 22-year-old patient who developed chronic kidney failure after receiving haploidentical HSCT from his father for the treatment of metastatic rhabdomyosarcoma.

Standardized genotyping of HLA STR by CE as surrogate for HLA class I and II markers and for identification of HLA identical siblings.

Linkage disequilibria (LD) between alleles and haplotypes of human leucocyte antigen, locus A (HLA) and STR loci located in the human major histocompatibility complex were analyzed in order to investigate whether or not HLA alleles and haplotypes are predictable by alleles or haplotypes of HLA STRs. Standardized genotyping of eight STR loci (D6S2972, D6S2906, D6S2691, D6S2678, D6S2792, D6S2789, D6S273, and DQIV) was performed by CE on 600 individuals from 150 Austrian Caucasoid families with known HLA-A,-B,-C and -DRB1 typing. From those, 576 full haplotypes of four HLA and eight STR loci were obtained.

Microstructure analysis of complex CuO/ZnO@carbon adsorbers: what are the limits of powder diffraction methods?

Activate carbon impregnated with a mixture of copper oxide and zinc oxide performs well as active adsorber for NO2 removal in automotive cabin air filters. The oxide-loaded activated carbon exhibits superior long-term stability in comparison to pure activated carbon as has been shown in previous studies. The carbon material was loaded only with 2.

Detection of granulocyte-reactive antibodies: a comparison of different methods.

Background And Objectives: Granulocyte-reactive antibodies can cause autoimmune and neonatal immune neutropenias as well as transfusion-related acute lung injury. The classical antibody-detection methods granulocyte aggregation test (GAT), granulocyte immunofluorescence test (GIFT) and monoclonal antibody-specific immobilization of granulocyte antigens (MAIGA) are time-consuming and technically challenging. In recent years, flow cytometric white blood cell immunofluorescence test (Flow-WIFT) and the microbeads assay LabScreen® Multi have emerged and are still subject of evaluation.

Sequence-based definition of eight short tandem repeat loci located within the HLA-region in an Austrian population.

Sequenced allelic ladders are a prerequisite for reliable genotyping of short tandem repeat (STR) polymorphisms and consistent results across instrument platforms. For eight STR-loci located on the short arm of chromosome 6 (6p21.3), a sequenced based nomenclature was established according to international recommendations.

Granulocyte-reactive antibodies are associated with red blood cell alloimmunization.

Granulocyte-reactive antibodies may cause transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) and immune neutropenias. Risk factors for their acquisition other than previous alloexposition are largely unknown. In addition to the known association between human leucocyte antigen alloantibodies and red blood cell alloimmunization in selected cohorts of transfused patients, this study investigated a possible extension of this association to granulocyte-reactive antibodies in women with a history of pregnancy.

Germline mutations of STR-alleles include multi-step mutations as defined by sequencing of repeat and flanking regions.

Well defined estimates of mutation rates are a prerequisite for the use of short tandem repeat (STR-) loci in relationship testing. We investigated 65 isolated genetic inconsistencies, which were observed within 50,796 allelic transfers at 23 STR-loci (ACTBP2 (SE33), CD4, CSF1PO, F13A1, F13B, FES, FGA, vWA, TH01, TPOX, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1132, D8S1179, D12S391, D13S317, D16S539, D17S976, D18S51, D19S433, D21S11) in Caucasoid families residing in Austria and Switzerland. Sequencing data of repeat and flanking regions and the median of all theoretically possible mutational steps showed valuable information to characterise the mutational events with regard to parental origin, change of repeat number (mutational step size) and direction of mutation (losses and gains of repeats).

Binding to complement factors and activation of the alternative pathway by Acanthamoeba.

Acanthamoeba can cause severe ocular and cerebral diseases in healthy and immunocompromised individuals, respectively. Activation of complement appears to play an important role in host defence against infection. The exact mechanism, however, is still unclear.

High resolution definition of HLA-DRB haplotypes by a simplified microsatellite typing technique.

In humans, the region configurations DR1, DR8, DR51, DR52 and DR53 are known to display copy number as well as allelic variation, rendering high resolution typing of HLA-DRB haplotypes cumbersome. Advantage was taken of microsatellite D6S2878, present in all DRB genes/pseudogenes with an intact exon 2-intron 2 segment. This DRB-STR is highly polymorphic in composition and length.

Adoptive transfer of protective immunity from Cryptosporidium parvum-infected interferon-gamma and interleukin-12-deficient mice to naive recipients.

We investigated the possibility of transfer immunity from Cryptosporidium parvum-infected interferon-gamma (GKO) and interleukin-12p40 (IL-12KO) deficient C57BL/6 mice to naive mice by transfer of intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) and CD4(+) T cells from spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs). Three days after the transfer recipients were infected with C. parvum.

Mosaicism due to myeloid lineage restricted loss of heterozygosity as cause of spontaneous Rh phenotype splitting.

Spontaneous Rh phenotype alteration interferes with pretransfusion and prenatal blood group examinations and may potentially indicate hematologic disease. In this study, the molecular background of this biologic phenomenon was investigated. In 9 patients (3 with hematologic disease), routine RhD typing showed a mixture of D-positive and D-negative red cells not attributable to transfusion or hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation.

Nomenclature for HLA microsatellites.

A proposal for a standardized nomenclature for human leukocyte antigen (HLA) microsatellites is presented. It provides recommendations for Microsatellites as regards to locus name, primer names, and denominations for alleles.

Graft versus host disease after orthotopic liver transplantation documented by analysis of short tandem repeat polymorphisms.

We report a case of graft versus host disease after liver transplantation in which the diagnosis was made by short tandem repeat analysis. A retrospective analysis using a bone marrow sample showed the presence of chimerism already at a time when the characteristic full clinical picture of graft versus host disease had not yet developed, opening the way for the early diagnosis and treatment.

Mother-child exclusion due to paternal uniparental disomy 6.

In a mother-child pair, false exclusions in markers on chromosome 6 have been observed. The genetic incompatibilities have been caused by paternal uniparental disomy. The consequences of such cases for investigations of parentage are discussed.

Tetragametic chimerism detected in a healthy woman with mixed-field agglutination reactions in ABO blood grouping.

Background: The case of a healthy woman with serologic blood group AB and her biologic father showing blood group O was investigated. Further analysis, including blood, buccal swabs, and nail clippings, revealed a tetragametic chimerism.

Study Design And Methods: Blood grouping was performed with standard gel centrifugation test cards, ABO genotyping by sequence-specific primers (SSPs) and sequence-based typing, and HLA Class I and II typing by standard NIH cytotoxicity testing and SSP.

ACTBP2 (alias ACTBP8) is localized on chromosome 6 (band 6q14).

The locus ACTBP2 (SE33) is localized on chromosome 6 (band 6q14). This has been demonstrated by typing a large Caucasoid three-generation kindred of Austrian origin for SE33 and several chromosome 6 markers.

Haplotype studies support slippage as the mechanism of germline mutations in short tandem repeats.

Germline mutations of human short tandem repeat (STR) loci are expansions or contractions of repeat arrays which are not well understood in terms of the mechanism(s) underlying such mutations. Although polymerase slippage is generally accepted as a mechanism capable to explain most features of such mutations, it is still possible that unequal crossing over plays some role in those events, as most studies in humans could not exclude unequal crossing over (UCO). Crossing over can be studied by analyzing haplotypes using flanking markers.

C2_4_4 microheterogeneity and HLA Class I.

The microheterogeneity of the tetranucleotide repeat locus C2_4_4 situated in the HLA class I region (6p21.3) was investigated by sequencing 50 alleles in an Austrian population sample of 240 unrelated Caucasoid individuals. Several different sequences were found in alleles of the same length.