An Association between BK Virus Replication in Bone Marrow and Cytopenia in Kidney-Transplant Recipients.

The human polyomavirus BK (BKV) is associated with severe complications, such as ureteric stenosis and polyomavirus-associated nephropathy (PVAN), which often occur in kidney-transplant patients. However, it is unknown if BKV can replicate within bone marrow. The aim of this study was to search for BKV replication within the bone marrow of kidney-transplant patients presenting with a hematological disorder.

Linezolid-related pancytopenia in organ-transplant patients: report of two cases.

Linezolid is a recent oral antibiotic used in drug-resistant Gram-positive cocci infection. We herein report on the first two cases of linezolid-related pancytopenia in organ-transplant patients. Both patients had methicillineresistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.

Predictive factors of anemia within the first year post renal transplant.

Background: The aim of our study was to identify the independent factors that might predict anemia at 6 (M6) and 12 (M12) months posttransplantation.

Methods: Postrenal transplant anemia (PTA) was defined as having a hemoglobin (Hb) level below 13 g/dl for men and below 12 g/dL for women. In this study, we included all the recipients who received a renal transplant in 2001 at our department, and for whom the graft was still functioning 1 year later (n=92).

Predictive factors of postrenal transplant anemia.

Objective: The aim of our study was to identify independent factors that might predict anemia at 6 months' (M6) and 12 (M12) months' posttransplantation. Postrenal transplant anemia was defined as a hemoglobin (Hb) level below 13 g/dL for men, and below 12 g/dL for women. We included 99 renal transplants performed in our department in 2001, for whom the graft was still functioning at 1 year.

[Value of of fine-needle aspiration cytology and MRI in parotid gland masses].

Introduction: The objective of our study was to discuss the valve of fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the diagnosis and treatment of parotid gland masses.

Materials And Methods: Forty patients were included in the prospective study. They had undergone clinical examination, FNAC and MRI before parotidectomy.

Carcinocythemia as the single extension of breast cancer: report of a case and review of the literature.

Carcinocythemia (carcinoma cell leukemia) has been previously described as a rare, late and dramatic event occurring in widespread tumoral disease. We report a case of carcinocythemia occurring in a patient with a particularly indolent breast cancer. When a large amount of circulating tumor cells (CTC) appeared in the blood smears, neither visceral macrometastases nor massive bone marrow infiltration could be detected.

[CD30 positive pilotropic lymphoma].

Background: We report an unusual case of cutaneous CD30-positive lymphoma with pilar tropism and circulating Sezary cells which had a rapidly fatal course.

Case Report: A 78-year-old man presented erythematous infiltration of the face, a pruriginous eruption on the trunk and proximal portions of the limbs with small erythematopurpuric follicular papulae, and node enlargement in the inguinal and axillary areas. The rest of the clinical examination was normal.

Evaluation of the Vega haematology analyser in a university hospital setting.

The performance of the ABX Vega haematology analyser was compared with that of the Sysmex NE-8000, with specific attention to flagging performance and ergonomics. Eight hundred routine samples underwent precision and interinstrument variability studies and 168 samples corresponding to various blood disorders were studied meanwhile. Results from the two instruments gave excellent correlation (r > 0.

Atypical neutrophil alkaline phosphatase associated with impaired neutrophil functions.

We report the case of a healthy young man presenting with atypical neutrophil alkaline phosphatase (NAP) and reduced neutrophil chemotactic activity, but with no susceptibility to infection. NAP activity was low, kinetic parameters were modified and immunoreactive properties and subcellular distribution were abnormal. Neutrophil morphology was normal.

Isolation of bone marrow plasma cells by negative selection with immunomagnetic beads.

In order to isolate bone marrow plasma cells from patients presenting with multiple myeloma or monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, we developed a method for purifying these cells by negative selection using monoclonal antibodies and immunomagnetic beads. The results presented here were obtained from 75 procedures. Purity was extremely variable (2-100%) and was dependent on the percentage of plasma cells in the original bone marrow sample with a 10% cut-off, beyond which purity was over 96% in all cases.

Expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and FGF-receptors in human leukemic cells.

Recent reports have suggested that basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) could play a permissive role in hematopoiesis, in combination with specific colony-stimulating factors. We investigated the expression of bFGF and FGF-receptors (FGF-Rs) in leukemic cell lines of various hematopoietic lineages. Three protein isoforms of bFGF of approximately 18, 22 and 24 kDa were detected in the myeloid cell line K562, but not in myelomonocytic or lymphoid (T or B) cell lines.

[Computer-assisted validation system applied to hematology: Valab-hemato].

Validation of laboratory reports is the ultimate step before transmission of results to the clinician. The biologist checks the intrinsic consistency of the data as well as their possible medical value that is liable to lead to other investigations. Such a policy, when performed on all the data, is time-consuming, boring and uncertain.

Plasma fibrinogen and physiological aging.

Results of prospective studies indicate that increased fibrinogen concentration is significantly associated with the risk of arteriosclerotic vessel disease. As the fibrinogen concentration is considered to rise with aging, determination of its physiological values with various methods in strictly healthy adult and aged individuals is a prerequisite to evaluating the relative contribution of fibrinogen to cardiovascular diseases. Fibrinogen concentration was determined in 209 healthy subjects, aged 19 to 96 years.

Peripheral intramonocytic leishmanias in an AIDS patient.

Intramonocytic leishmanias were unexpectedly observed in blood smears of a Spanish AIDS patient. In immunodepressed patients from exposed countries, careful microscopic examination of blood smears should be requested by the clinician in cases of prolonged fever, and biologists must be informed that leishmanias may be fortuitously observed in the peripheral blood.

Bone marrow enrichment technique for detection and characterization of scarce abnormal cells.

A frequent problem encountered in analysis of bone marrow aspirates is the small number of suspect cells in the material. We present a method for concentration of the cells in bone marrow aspirates which yields smears suitable for immunocytochemical techniques. Bone marrow sampling is performed in two steps: a first aspirate is used to prepare conventional smears and a second aspirate is submitted to two-step centrifugation to separate and collect the nucleated cells without use of a separation medium.

Evaluation of a new haematology analyser for whole blood count and full differential (NE-8000).

We evaluated the fully automated haematology analyser TOA Sysmex NE-8000 over a three-month period according to the ICSH protocol using as reference techniques a Coulter STKR counter and microscope examination for WBC differential and cell morphology. The NE-8000 employs aperture impedance to perform cell counts, with a sheath fluid to focus cells hydrodynamically prior to counting and sizing. WBC are differentiated into five populations.

Macrophage activation syndromes.

The clinical and laboratory features of 47 cases of macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) were reviewed in a workshop within the Groupe Français d'Hématologie cellulaire. There was no predilection for a particular age group, while common symptoms at presentation included fever, hepatic and splenic enlargement and profound depression of blood count. Examination of bone marrow aspirates allowed diagnosis to be established in almost all cases.

Discovery of unsuspected pathological states using a new haematology analyser.

A new haematology analyser--the Sysmex NE-8000--provides among other results a bi-dimensional representation of leucocyte populations. Unusual patterns are frequently observed due to platelet aggregation or fibrin polymerisation, and a specific 'rocket-shaped' pattern is also sometimes noted. During a seven month period of routine use 68 such cases were investigated, revealing that this pattern is associated with either severe hepatic dysfunction responsible for patient admission or with various asymptomatic constitutional haemoglobin anomalies.

[Evaluation of an automatic analyzer of reticulocytes: the Sysmex R-1 000].

The microscopic enumeration of reticulocytes is a tedious assay with poor reproducibility. Its results provide only fragmentory information on the kinetics of erythropoiesis. Thus, attempts have been made for its automation.

Human neutrophils are not severely injured in conditions mimicking social drinking.

In an attempt to assess the effect of alcohol per se on human polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN), irrespective of other physiopathological parameters, we examined neutrophil function in healthy volunteers who had taken a single large dose of whisky. Before and at different times after ingestion, several PMN properties were simultaneously tested including random migration, in vitro chemotaxis, adherence, aggregation, cytochrome C reduction, phagocytosis, bacterial killing, intracellular cAMP and cGMP contents, myeloperoxidase, and neutrophil alkaline phosphatase scores. Only phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus was significantly depressed after alcohol ingestion.