HIV drug resistance transmission threshold survey in Bangkok, Thailand.

Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) began in Thailand in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA) in 1988 and scale-up began in 2001. The national first-line regimen is stavudine, lamivudine and nevirapine in fixed-dose combination, which is a regimen with a low genetic barrier for resistance. Because viral load and resistance testing are not widely available, unidentified HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) may occur during treatment and could be transmitted.

Detection of Hpdel among Thais, a deleted allele of the haptoglobin gene that causes congenital haptoglobin deficiency.

Background: Congenital haptoglobin deficiency is a risk factor for anaphylactic nonhemolytic transfusion reactions in Japan. The deleted allele of the haptoglobin gene, Hp(del), which causes congenital haptoglobin deficiency, has also been observed in other Northeast Asian populations, such as Korean and Chinese persons. It has not been reported in several African and European-African populations, however, or investigated in other countries.

Outcome of pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplantations from Thai unrelated donors matched with high-resolution HLA typing.

The authors evaluated the outcome of ten children given hematopoietic stem cell transplantations from Thai unrelated donors (URD-HSCT) selected using DNA high-resolution typing of both HLA class I and II loci. Six patient/donor pairs (60%) were fully matched; four (40%) were 5/6 matched. Patients had either non-malignant (n=9) or malignant (n=1) diseases.

HBsAg diagnostic kits in the detection of hepatitis B virus mutation within "a" determinant.

The performance of currently available hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) commercial kits was analyzed by using a panel of 212 well-characterized plasma donors all over the country and a panel of nine recombinant HBsAg mutants containing single point or combinations of mutations between amino acid residues 124 and 147 of the "a" determinant. HBsAg commercial kits in this study were machine-based immunoassays with a one-step sandwich ELISA method using either an automatic closed system or manual system. The sensitivity of all machine-based assays evaluated with 105 HBsAg plasma panels was 100% (95% CL = 95.

Umbilical cord blood transplantation in children with beta-thalassemia diseases.

To evaluate factors affecting the outcome of sibling and unrelated donor umbilical cord blood transplantation (CBT) in Thai children with beta-thalassemia diseases. The case-series study of all children undergoing such transplants in our institute was conducted Six children with thalassemia major were diagnosed at a median age of 1.5 years and CBT was performed at a median age of 5.

Cord blood collection for the National Cord Blood Bank in Thailand.

Umbilical cord blood is an effective alternative source of hematopoietic stem cells transplantation in children and adolescents. However, the efficacy and safety of cord blood transplantation correlates with the quantity and quality of cord blood. To evaluate the collection systems and processing of cord blood donations, a pilot research program to optimize recruitment, collection and processing of cord blood donations was developed.