Gamified versus non-gamified online educational modules for teaching clinical laboratory medicine to first-year medical students at a large allopathic medical school in the United States.

Background: Medical educators seek innovative ways to engage learners efficiently and effectively. Gamification has been explored as one way to accomplish this feat; however, questions remain about which contexts gamification would be most useful. Time constraints and student interest present major barriers for teaching laboratory medicine to students.

Use of therapeutic plasma exchange for pediatric neurological diseases.

Therapeutic plasma exchange is used to treat neurological diseases in the pediatric population. Since its first use in pediatric patients with hepatic coma in the form of manual whole blood exchange, therapeutic plasma exchange has been increasingly used to treat these disorders of the nervous system. This expansion is a result of improved techniques and apheresis instruments suitable for small children, as well as the recognition of its applicability to many diseases in the pediatric population.

Changes in Mean Corpuscular Volume and RBC Distribution Width Predict Erythrocyte Engraftment Following ABO-Incompatible Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify laboratory parameters representing erythrocyte engraftment to be used as an indicator to change the recipient to donor ABO group and Rh type following an ABO-incompatible hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Studies have shown that ABO incompatibility does not have an effect on outcome of HSCT; however, the serologic consequences of these ABO-incompatible transplants can make it difficult to decide when to begin support with donor ABO/Rh-type blood products.

Methods: This study explored the use of RBC distribution width (RDW), mean corpuscular volume, and hemoglobin as regularly tested laboratory parameters that could be used as surrogate markers for RBC engraftment in 65 patients who received ABO/Rh-incompatible HSCT.

Therapeutic plasma exchange for neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder: A multicenter retrospective study by the ASFA neurologic diseases subcommittee.

Importance: Neuromyelitis optica/neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder patients' response to therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) is currently incompletely characterized.

Objective: Our study aims to understand the clinical status improvement of neuromyelitis optica/neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder patients treated with TPE.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This is a multicenter retrospective study conducted between 1 January 2003 and 31 July 2017 at 13 US hospitals performing apheresis procedures.

Iron Deficiency Anemia in Patients Undergoing Extracorporeal Photopheresis for Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma.

Objective: To describe the indicidence and severity of iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in patients who have received extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).

Methods: We performed a retrospective study during a 9-year period of patients with CTCL who were treated with ECP. ECP was performed with UVAR XTS and CELLEX (Therakos Inc).

Attenuation of Red Blood Cell Storage Lesions with Vitamin C.

Unlabelled: Stored red blood cells (RBCs) undergo oxidative stress that induces deleterious metabolic, structural, biochemical, and molecular changes collectively referred to as "storage lesions". We hypothesized that vitamin C (VitC, reduced or oxidized) would reduce red cell storage lesions, thus prolonging their storage duration. Whole-blood-derived, leuko-reduced, SAGM (saline-adenine-glucose-mannitol)-preserved RBC concentrates were equally divided into four pediatric storage bags and the following additions made: (1) saline (saline); (2) 0.

Impact of high dose vitamin C on platelet function.

Aim: To examine the effect of high doses of vitamin C (VitC) on human platelets (PLTs).

Methods: Platelet concentrates collected for therapeutic or prophylactic transfusions were exposed to: (1) normal saline (control); (2) 0.3 mmol/L VitC (Lo VitC); or (3) 3 mmol/L VitC (Hi VitC, final concentrations) and stored appropriately.

Development and Detection of Kidd Antibodies.

Kidd antibodies have a reputation for causing hemolytic transfusion reactions and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. We present a case of an untransfused male patient who developed anti-Kidd(a) (Jk(a)) antibodies after receiving an allogenic renal transplant. The formation of this antibody was associated with exposure to the Kidd antigen expressed on the tubular epithelium of the transplanted kidney.

Harvesting autologous stem cells from a patient with red blood cell abnormalities of β-thalassemia intermedia.

Background: Autologous stem cell transplants in patients with hemoglobinopathies are limited. Previous reports used granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for mobilization of stem cells; there are no reported cases undergoing plerixafor mobilization. We report such a patient, providing guidance for peripheral blood stem cells collection when aberrant red blood cells (RBCs) disrupt normal separation.

Epigenetic induction of adaptive immune response in multiple myeloma: sequential azacitidine and lenalidomide generate cancer testis antigen-specific cellular immunity.

Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) undergoing high dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) remain at risk for disease progression. Induction of the expression of highly immunogenic cancer testis antigens (CTA) in malignant plasma cells in MM patients may trigger a protective immune response following SCT. We initiated a phase II clinical trial of the DNA hypomethylating agent, azacitidine (Aza) administered sequentially with lenalidomide (Rev) in patients with MM.

Extracorporeal photopheresis: clinical use so far.

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP or photopheresis) is an advanced therapeutic apheresis procedure in which blood is separated into its various components and the isolated buffy coat is treated with 8-methoxypsoralen (a photoactivating drug), exposed to ultraviolet light and returned to the patient. All other remaining blood components are also returned to the patient. The purpose of this procedure is immunomodulation.

Therapeutic apheresis in critically ill patients.

Therapeutic apheresis procedures in critically ill patients comprises of therapeutic plasma exchange in most cases but also less commonly, erythrocytapheresis (red cell exchange), thrombocytapheresis, or leukocytapheresis. These procedures present a number of challenges to the apheresis healthcare team, and there are myriad beneficial and adverse effects for patients. In this patient population, one has to weigh the risks against the benefits and especially in those situations where apheresis is requested as a treatment when other alternative therapies have failed.

Investigation of heparin-related hypotensive adverse events during photopheresis: utility of a patient care database.

Background: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is a procedure in which leukocytes are harvested from a patient's whole blood, treated with a DNA binding dye and ultraviolet light to inactivate lymphocytes, and then returned into the patient's circulation. In January 2008, we observed moderately severe anaphylactoid reactions in eight of 16 patients undergoing ECP.

Case Study: Each affected individual exhibited hypotension of sudden onset, usually with tachycardia, during the return of heparin-anticoagulated blood at the end of the first cycle of collection of leukocytes.

Fecal occult blood testing.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the United States. A reduction in cumulative mortality occurs when patients are routinely screened by fecal occult blood tests (FOBT) and early lesions are removed. These point-of-care tests detect minute amounts of blood released from precancerous and cancerous colon lesions.