Tissue banking in Asia Pacific region: past, present and future.

Tissue banking in the Asia Pacific regions is driven by two main forces-firstly the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) via Regional Co-operative Agreement projects and secondly by the Asia Pacific Association of Surgical Tissue Banking (APASTB). This overview is written in three sections: (1) History of tissue banking in individual country in the region. (2) History of APASTB.

Therapeutic time window of multipotent adult progenitor therapy after traumatic brain injury.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability. TBI results in a prolonged secondary central neuro-inflammatory response. Previously, we have demonstrated that multiple doses (2 and 24 h after TBI) of multipotent adult progenitor cells (MAPC) delivered intravenously preserve the blood-brain barrier (BBB), improve spatial learning, and decrease activated microglia/macrophages in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus.

Flow cytometry based rapid duplexed immunoassay for fusarium mycotoxins.

At small food processing facilities, the most frequently used test to determine if grain-derived mycotoxin concentrations are compliant with legal limits is the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Each kit is designed to detect one of the six dangerous mycotoxins. With the increasing occurrence of coinfection of grain with multiple-mycotoxins in the field and/or during storage, ELISA is no longer a cost effective best assay option.

Thirty-five years of CD4 T-cell counting in HIV infection: From flow cytometry in the lab to point-of-care testing in the field.

CD4 T-cell counting was introduced in clinical laboratories shortly after the discovery of the human immune deficiency virus (HIV) in the early eighties. In western clinical laboratories, improvements in the CD4 T-cell counting methods were mainly driven by progress in the field of flow cytometry and immunology. In contrast, the development of dedicated CD4 T-cell counting technologies were needs driven.

Comparison and evaluation of seven different bench-top flow cytometers with a modified six-plexed mycotoxin kit.

Many bench-top flow cytometers (b-FCs) are compatible with microsphere-based multiplexed assays. Disciplines implementing b-FCs-based assays are expanding; they include monitoring and validating food quality. A multiplexed platform protocol was evaluated for poly-mycotoxin assays, which is compatible with a variety of b-FC models.

A flow cytometry based competitive fluorescent microsphere immunoassay (CFIA) system for detecting up to six mycotoxins.

Background: Exposure to multiple mycotoxins through the food chain represents a major potential health hazard to both humans and livestock. They can cause a variety of severe acute as well as chronic diseases. Eliminating mycotoxins from various grain crops is a global health priority.

Evaluation of a dry format reagent alternative for CD4 T-cell enumeration for the FACSCount system: a report on a Moroccan-Canadian study.

Background: Efforts to improve alternative CD4 T-cell counting methods are critical to accelerate the implementation of HIV antiretroviral therapy in resources limited regions. Substituting liquid format reagents to eliminate cold-chain transportation and refrigerated storage with dry format reagents contributes to higher efficiency supply management solution especially for laboratories at remote locations. ReaMetrix has developed dry format reagent kits compatible with the FACSCount system, a dedicated flow cytometer for T-cell subset enumeration widely used in resource limited settings.

Enumeration of absolute cell counts using immunophenotypic techniques.

Absolute counting of cells or cell subsets has a number of significant clinical applications: monitoring the disease status of HIV-infected patients, enumerating residual white blood cells in leukoreduced blood products, and assessing immunodeficiency in a variety of situations. The single-platform method (flow cytometry alone) has emerged as the method of choice for absolute cell enumeration. This technology counts only the cells of interest in a precisely determined blood volume.

Early changes in T-cell activation predict antiretroviral success in salvage therapy of HIV infection.

Objective: Because effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces immune activation, we hypothesize that early changes in immune activation are associated with subsequent virologic response to therapy.

Design: Observational cohort study.

Setting: Institutional HIV clinic.

A North American multilaboratory study of CD4 counts using flow cytometric panLeukogating (PLG): a NIAID-DAIDS Immunology Quality Assessment Program Study.

Background: The global HIV/AIDS pandemic and guidelines for initiating anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and opportunistic infection prophylaxis demand affordable, reliable, and accurate CD4 testing. A simple innovative approach applicable to existing technology that has been successfully applied in resource-challenged settings, PanLeukogated CD4 (PLG), could offer solutions for cost saving and improved precision.

Methods: Day-old whole blood from 99 HIV+ donors was simultaneously studied in five North-American laboratories to compare the performance of their predicate methods with the dual-platform PLG method.

Diagnostics in the shadow of HIV epidemics.

As part of the effort to promote elimination of global health care disparities, this special supplement compiled 19 articles about practical diagnostic cytometry to recognize the recent achievements of laboratory scientists working in the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemics in resource limited settings. First, the clinical significance, diagnostic utility (as governed by international guidelines), and the historical perspectives of CD4+ T cell enumeration are reviewed. Then successful large-scale implementations of cost-effective CD4 counting are described for parts of Africa, USA, and the Caribbean.

Affordable CD4 T-cell enumeration for resource-limited regions: a status report for 2008.

Background: The global struggle with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the battle to develop affordable CD4 T-cell counting technology are both unfulfilled goals in 2008. The need for such instrumentation is more critical now as implementation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is in progress in many resource limited regions. Major scaling-up efforts in rural situations are difficult to implement without laboratory infrastructure.

African regional external quality assessment for CD4 T-cell enumeration: development, outcomes, and performance of laboratories.

Background: An independent African Regional External Quality Assessment Scheme (AFREQAS) was implemented from Johannesburg. The aim was to establish a network of CD4 laboratories supporting HIV/AIDS anti-retroviral therapy programs and improve the quality of regional CD4 testing with EQA assessment, feedback, remedial action, and technical training. The overall performance from 2002 to 2006 (Trials 1-20) is reported, together with cumulative longitudinal performance of the different CD4 methods used.

Rapid detection and identification of the bacterium Pantoea stewartii in maize by TaqMan real-time PCR assay targeting the cpsD gene.

Aims: The development and evaluation of a sensitive and specific TaqMan real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the detection and identification of Pantoea stewartii on maize.

Methods And Results: A TaqMan-based real-time PCR assay targeting the cpsD gene enabling specific detection of P. stewartii in maize leaves and seeds was developed.

A combined HIV-1 protein bead array for serology assay and T-cell subset immunophenotyping with a hybrid flow cytometer: a step in the direction of a comprehensive multitasking instrument platform for infectious disease diagnosis and monitoring.

Background: A new generation of bench-top flow cytometers with digital signal processing to perform suspension array technology (SAT) based bead array assays as well as leukocyte immunophenotyping is now available. These hybrid instruments provide an opportunity for the development of a more cost effective multitasking platform to support infectious disease treatment in resource limited countries.

Methods: We report the development and testing of two modules compatible with the hybrid flow cytometers.