[Blood donor infected VHB detected by NAT probable phase in clinical resolution].

Background: In Mexico, the detection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in blood donors is achieved by screening for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). However there is still a residual risk of HBV transmission by blood components of donor suffering from occult HBV infection (OBI) or during the window period before seroconversion; in both the antigen expression can be undetectable.

Clinical Case: A 55 year old female donated whole blood in our blood bank,at health history and physical examination no health risk factors were detected.

[Clinical pathology: between the clinic and basic sciences].

The specialty in clinical pathology is the interconsultant specialty of the other specialties, so clinical pathologists are required to be experts in the art of using basic sciences to carry out an adequate interpretation of laboratory studies with the clinic. Knowledge and proper handling of terms such as quality control, interferences and biological variability, allows for better advice in various fields of medicine. In the field of transfusion medicine, the specialty is the one with the most experience; since the knowledge acquired during academic training includes the entire transfusion chain, which offers the advantage of better evaluating not only transfusion needs, but also their adverse effects.

[Implementation of isotermic PCR for detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus].

During the SARS CoV-2 pandemic, measures were implemented to reduce contagion in hospitals. Among those measures it was included RT-PCR (reverse transcriptose polymerase chain reaction) tests, with an estimated result delivery time of approximately 3 hours. The Abbott ID NOW™ COVID-19 assay (Abbott Laboratories Chicago, IL) is performed on a portable device using isothermal technology for nucleic acid amplification that can produce a qualitative result in 13 minutes.

Serum levels of inflammatory cytokines in mercury mining workers in a precarious situation: A preliminary study.

Mercury is a ubiquitous environmental xenobiotic; the primary sources of exposure to this metal are artisanal gold mining and the direct production of mercury. In Mexico, artisanal mercury mining continues to be an important activity in different regions of the country. Exposure to mercury vapors releases can have severe health impacts, including immunotoxic effects such as alterations in cytokine profiling.

[Iron in pre-operative stage and transfusion in patients undergoing hysterectomy].

Background: The correction of preoperative anemia is part of the patient blood management program, in order to improve the patient's clinical results by reducing the number of transfusions in surgery. Uterine fibroids can cause anemia, so the application of iron before hysterectomy could reduce transfusion.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of iron treatment in the preoperative stage on the need for transfusion in patients with anemia secondary to myomatosis in the trans and postoperative stage of hysterectomy.

[Comment on article: "Laboratories as predictors of length of hospital stay in patients with pneumonia"].

Laboratory studies are a useful tool for both diagnosis and prognosis of pathologies, especially in the emergency room. In the article they seek to establish an association between laboratory studies and hospital stay in patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Some suggestions are made to improve the structured review of the article.

[Comment on article "Variability of hemoglobin and hematocrit determined in blood gas equipment"].

´The analysis of samples on different equipment may lead to variation between results; in the article "Variability of hemoglobin and hematocrit determined in blood gas equipment", the authors talk about the variability of hemoglobin and hematocrit between an automated hematology analyzer and an arterial blood gas analyzer. Information is requested on some aspects considered relevant to improve the understanding of the conclusions.

[History of the 60 years of the 21th Century National Medical Center's Central Blood Bank].

The Blood Bank of the 21th Century National Medical Center is an important piece in the field of transfusion medicine at the national level. Its history shows that it has been in constant change to be able to meet the needs in an adequate and safe manner for both donors and patients. This article shows the advances that the Central Blood Bank has had since its inauguration.

[External Quality Control in Immunohematology of National Medical Center's Blood Bank. History and present].

For the proper functioning of the Immunohematology Area, an External Quality Control was established since 1973 through a program that evaluates the performance of the laboratories of the Blood Bank and transfusion services that carry out immunohematology tests. This program consists of sending panel cells to participating blood banks or services, which are phenotyped erythrocyte samples previously studied as problem cases but whose results are unknown by the participating laboratories. The processes in which the program is of most importance are determination of the ABO group, determination of Rh, performance of the direct and indirect Coombs test, and pre-transfusion compatibility tests.

[Obtaining blood components in blood banks].

After the first successful blood transfusion, different difficulties of a liquid tissue were overcome; this liquid required special conditions to keep its characteristics with minimal alterations and, thus, to be able to be used in patients who needed it. Subsequently, techniques that also made possible to separate this liquid into its different components for its use were discovered, allowing a more specific treatment of the deficiencies of patients when administering cellular or non-cellular elements. With this, a new area arose within the blood banks to obtaining components.

[Molecular biology in a blood bank].

Medicine has had a vertiginous advance in the last two centuries. After the first successful transfusions, transfusional medicine and blood banks arose. The ladder perform vital functions, from donor screening to the studies for the analysis of blood that are carried out before its use for transfusion and the follow-up of patients who receive blood components.

[PCR for COVID in the transplant protocol].

Background: Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, identifying the COVID-19 pathophysiology not only has been addressed to applying diagnostic tests or preventing through vaccines, but also to the timely detection, especially of patients in risk groups such as those in transplants areas (renal, hematology, etcetera). In the case of these patients, using RT-PCR tests avoids putting them at risk by subjecting them to states of immunosuppression that could aggravate their situation if they were faced with an onset of a COVID-19 infection.

Objective: To present the results of patients of a transplant unit tested for SARS-CoV-2.

[Seroprevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies in resident physicians].

Background: COVID-19 pandemic spread around the world swiftly; there are several diagnostic strategies available. Health workers, especially medical residents (MR), are a high-risk population for acquiring this infection.

Objective: To estimate the seroprevalence of antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 and the associated factors in MR of a third level hospital.

[Systematization of interviews with altruistic blood donors during mobile campaign].

Background: The mobile campaigns of altruistic blood donation are one of the main actions of the Blood Bank of the Hospital de Especialidades "Dr. Bernardo Sepúlveda Gutiérrez". With the arrival of the new normal, after the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to reactivate these actions according to the population's characteristics.

[Antiproliferative, apoptotic, and antimigratory activities of kafirins on cervical cancer-derived cell lines].

Background: Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women worldwide, both in developed and developing countries. Therefore, effective treatment of cervical cancer with potential anti-tumor drugs is important. However, new treatments inspired by nutritional medicine are needed.

[Vital impetus… the blood].

In 2022, 2 years on from the start of the pandemic, the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS, Mexican Institute for Social Security) has been reorganizing its services at full, out of which blood banks play a key role. In addition, on June 14 it is celebrated the World Blood Donor Day by the World Health Organization and this year Mexico was the host country for the celebration. Therefore, it is important to highlight the work carried out in blood banks, ranging from their main activity, which is the recruitment of blood donors and the blood components production, to the different interventions they have in the field of transplantation, diseases emerging diagnosis and the development of new therapeutic modalities, such as, for example, cell therapy.

[Blood donors, risk factors and sexual orientation].

In order to reach high-quality blood-components, it is necessary that people who wish to be a blood donor shall observe a series of conditions that guarantee the least possible risk for the recipient and themselves. According to international standards, an adequate and reliable supply of safe blood can be assured by a stable base of regular, voluntary, unpaid blood donors (altruistic), which is a goal set by the World Health Organization; unfortunately in our country it only represents around 3%, despite the efforts of different institutions. In addition, the population is unaware of risk factors that prevent donating, due to the low culture of this issue.

[Anti-SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in administrative staff of the Mexican Institute for Social Security].

Background: Asymptomatic subjects, the lack of diagnostic tests and, in countries like Mexico, the epidemiological surveillance method does not allow to establish the real number of infections in the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontline health personnel, as well as other groups related to priority activities are considered of high risk. We included administrative workers in contact with health personnel in the hospital units of the Mexican Institute for Social Security (IMSS, according to its initials in Spanish).

Genetic diversity of HLA system in six populations from Mexico City Metropolitan Area, Mexico: Mexico City North, Mexico City South, Mexico City East, Mexico City West, Mexico City Center and rural Mexico City.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 1217 Mexicans from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area living in the northern (N = 751), southern (N = 52), eastern (N = 79), western (N = 33), and central (N = 152) Mexico City, and rural communities (N = 150), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We found that the most frequent haplotypes include 11 Native American haplotypes. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components are Native American (63.

Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Querétaro, Mexico: Querétaro city and rural Querétaro.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 88 Mexicans from the state of Querétaro living in the city of Querétaro (N = 45) and rural communities (N = 43), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We find that the most frequent haplotypes in the state of Querétaro include seven Native American, two European and one Asian haplotype. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in the state of Querétaro are Native American (51.

Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Morelos, Mexico: Cuernavaca and rural Morelos.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 112 Mexicans from the state of Morelos living in the city of Cuernavaca (N = 82) and rural communities (N = 30), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. The most frequent haplotypes in Morelos include seven Native American, one European, one African and one Asian haplotype. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in Morelos are Native American (60.

Genetic diversity of HLA system in seven populations from Veracruz, Mexico: Veracruz city, Coatzacoalcos, Córdoba, Orizaba, Poza Rica, Xalapa and rural Veracruz.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 1113 Mexicans from the state of Veracruz living in the cities of Coatzacoalcos (N = 55), Orizaba (N = 60), Córdoba (N = 56), Poza Rica (N = 45), Veracruz (N = 171), Xalapa (N = 187) and rural communities (N = 539) to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We found that the most frequent haplotypes include 12 Native American haplotypes. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components are Native American (64.

Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Hidalgo, Mexico: Pachuca and rural Hidalgo.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 122 Mexicans from the state of Hidalgo living in the city of Pachuca (N = 41) and rural communities (N = 81), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We find that the most frequent haplotypes in Hidalgo include eight Native American and one European haplotypes. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in Hidalgo are Native American (58.

Genetic diversity of HLA system in two populations from Chiapas, Mexico: Tuxtla Gutiérrez and rural Chiapas.

We studied HLA class I (HLA-A, -B) and class II (HLA-DRB1, -DQB1) alleles by PCR-SSP based typing in 173 Mexicans from the state of Chiapas living in the city of Tuxtla Gutiérrez (N = 52) and rural communities (N = 121), to obtain information regarding allelic and haplotypic frequencies. We found that the most frequent haplotypes in Chiapas include 12 Native American and one European haplotype. Admixture estimates revealed that the main genetic components in Chiapas are Native American (71.