Human leukocyte antigen alloimmunization in a randomized trial of amustaline/glutathione pathogen-reduced red cells in complex cardiac surgery patients.

Background: Although alloimmunization risk of pathogen-reduced (PR) platelets has been studied, the risk has not been reported with PR red blood cells (RBCs).

Study Design And Methods: In a Phase III, randomized, controlled trial (Red Cell Pathogen Inactivation), cardiac or thoracic-aorta surgery patients were randomized to transfusion with amustaline/glutathione PR versus conventional RBCs. Pre-transfusion and Day 28 samples were evaluated for Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) Class I and Class II antibodies at low, medium, and high cutoff values.

Syphilis reactivity among blood donors in Brazil: associated factors and implications for public health monitoring.

Background: Increasing syphilis infection rates are a concerning issue worldwide. Blood donation screening is an opportunity to monitor the burden of asymptomatic infections, providing information on contemporary factors associated with infection and public health insights into transmission.

Methods: Blood donations collected at five Brazilian blood centers between January 2020 and February 2022 were screened with treponemal or non-treponemal assays according to local protocols, followed by alternate Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA); samples with reactive or indeterminate results in the alternate ELISA were further tested with the rapid plasma reagin (RPR), and categorized as RPR-positive or RPR-negative.

Exploring Quality of Life in Adults Living With Late-onset Pompe Disease: A Combined Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis of Patient Perceptions from Australia, France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

Late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD) is a rare, autosomal recessive metabolic disorder that is heterogeneous in disease presentation and progression. People with LOPD report a significantly lower physical, psychological, and social quality of life (QoL) than the general population. This study investigated how individuals' self-reported LOPD status (improving, stable, declining) relates to their QoL.