Anti-M induced severe haemolytic disease of foetus and newborn in a Malay woman with recurrent pregnancy loss.

Haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN) is caused by maternal red blood cells (RBC) alloimmunisation resulted from incompatibility of maternal and foetal RBCs. However, only a few HDFN attributed to anti-M were reported, varying from asymptomatic to severe anaemia with hydrops foetalis and even intrauterine death. A case of severe HDFN due to anti-M alloantibody from an alloimmunized grandmultiparous Malay woman with recurrent pregnancy loss is reported here.

Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Gene Rearrangement in Non B-cell Haematological Malignancies.

Objective: Clonality detection through amplifying immunoglobulin heavy chain (IGH) gene rearrangements by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a useful tool in diagnosis of various B-lymphoid malignancies. Immunoglobulin heavy chain gene rearrangement can be an optimal target for clonality detection in B-lymphoid malignancies. In the present study, we evaluated the presence of IGH gene rearrangement in non B-cell haemato-oncology patients including T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (T-ALL), acute myeloblastic leukaemia (AML) and biphenotypic leukaemia.

Seroprevalence of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in a teaching hospital in northeastern Malaysia.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of HCV infection and the signal/cutoff (S/CO) value for false reactive, false positive, indeterminate and true positive HCV infection among apparently healthy blood donors in our area. This retrospective study was conducted at the Transfusion Medicine Unit, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from June 2008 to June 2009. Blood samples were screened for anti-HCV using enzyme immunoassay (EIA).

Detection of common deletional alpha-thalassemia spectrum by molecular technique in kelantan, northeastern malaysia.

Thalassemia is a hereditary blood disorder that results from genetic defects causing deficient synthesis of hemoglobin polypeptide chains. Although thalassemia mostly affects developing countries, there is limited knowledge of its accurate frequency and distribution in these regions. Knowing the prevalence of thalassemia and the frequency of responsible mutations is therefore an important step in the prevention and control program as well as treatment strategies.