Frequencies of maternal red blood cell alloantibodies in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Background: Alloantibodies of clinical importance can cause transfusion reactions or hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). The frequencies of these antibodies have not been reported in our locality.

Aims: To determine the frequency of occurrence of alloantibodies among pregnant women in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Sero-epidemiology of transfusion-transmissible infectious diseases among blood donors in Osogbo, south-west Nigeria.

Background: Transfusion-transmissible infectious agents such as hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and syphilis are among the greatest threats to blood safety for transfusion recipients and pose a serious public health problem. This cross-sectional study was undertaken with the aim of determining the seroprevalence of HIV, HCV, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and syphilis and correlates the findings with sex and age to ascertain the associations, if any, in the occurrence of the pathogens.

Materials And Methods: HBsAg, antibodies to Treponema pallidum and HCV were determined using Clinotech test strips.

Plasma levels of some blood coagulation parameters in Nigerian homozygous sickle cell patients (HbSS) in steady state.

The plasma levels of some blood coagulation parameters; prothrombin time, (PT), partial thromboplastin time with kaolin (PTTK), thrombin clotting time, (TCT), fibrinogen and factor X assay were determined in 50 Nigerian homozygous (HbSS) patients and 50 HbAA healthy individuals for the purpose of assessing their baseline values and susceptibility of patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) to hyper coagulability. Standard procedures were used for all variables. The mean age of the study participants was 21.

Iron deficiency anaemia and evaluation of the utility of iron deficiency indicators among healthy Nigerian children.

The hemoglobin (Hb), serum iron (SI), total iron binding capacity (TIBC), transferrin saturation (TS) and serum ferritin (SF) values of 240 apparently healthy children were determined in a prospective cross-sectional study conducted in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Standard colorimetric and enzyme immunoassay procedures were used for the estimation all variables. The mean values of all parameters in this study population were; Hb (11.

Plasma fibrinogen levels in Nigerian homozygous (Hb SS) sickle cell patients.

The plasma fibrinogen levels in 50 Nigerian sickle cell disease (Hb SS) patients in steady state and 50 healthy age and sex-matched (Hb AA) control subjects were determined for the purpose of assessing their baseline values. The fibrinogen levels were assessed using two methods, the clot weight and Clauss, on all the samples for the purpose of comparison. It was observed in this study that the Hb SS patients had significantly higher fibrinogen levels than the healthy Hb AA control subjects, both by the clot weight method (p < 0.