A randomized cross-over study of cryopreserved platelets in prophylactic transfusions of thrombocytopenic patients.

Background: The short shelf-life of liquid-stored platelets (LP) at 20-24°C poses shortage and wastage challenges. Cryopreserved platelets have significantly extended shelf-life, and were safe and efficacious for therapeutic transfusions of bleeding patients in the Afghanistan conflict and phase 2 randomized studies. Although hematology patients account for half of platelets demand, there is no randomized study on prophylactic cryopreserved platelet transfusions in them.

Evaluation of a prototype ration aimed at increasing caloric intake in a field environment.

Underconsumption is a common problem among militaries around the world. The purpose of this study was to review and modify the current field ration (FR) to encourage energy intake in the field. Military servicemen from the Singapore Armed forces (N = 232) were interviewed on their perception of the current FR.

Deep whole-genome sequencing of 100 southeast Asian Malays.

Whole-genome sequencing across multiple samples in a population provides an unprecedented opportunity for comprehensively characterizing the polymorphic variants in the population. Although the 1000 Genomes Project (1KGP) has offered brief insights into the value of population-level sequencing, the low coverage has compromised the ability to confidently detect rare and low-frequency variants. In addition, the composition of populations in the 1KGP is not complete, despite the fact that the study design has been extended to more than 2,500 samples from more than 20 population groups.

Rapid identification of chloroquine and atovaquone drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum using high-resolution melt polymerase chain reaction.

Background: Drug resistance determination for Plasmodium falciparum infections are important to determining the type of treatment to be given. Besides in vivo experiments, molecular methods, such as sequencing and PCR, are now increasingly being used. Here a cheaper alternative to sequencing or the use of multiplex 5'nuclease PCR assay for detection and differentiation of drug resistance haplotypes for chloroquine and atovaquone using polymerase chain reaction-high resolution melt (PCR-HRM) is reported.