A lower-cost protocol for sickle cell disease neonatal screening in Tunisia.

Background And Objectives: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of hereditary chronic anemias that manifest essentially as painful crisis and susceptibility to infection. Neonatal screening is a preventive action that reduces the rates of mortality due to complications arising from infections by encouraging early prophylactic penicillin use and pneumococcal vaccination. The purpose of this pilot study was to set up a neonatal screening protocol at a lower cost than one that uses commercially available screening kits.

Thyroid disorders in pregnancy: frequency and association with selected diseases and obstetrical complications in Tunisian women.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of thyroid disorders (TDs) and identify groups at risk for TDs in Tunisian pregnant women.

Methods: Thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and anti-thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPO-Ab) were determined in 1519 pregnant women. Thyroid disorder was defined as hyperthyroidism (TSH< or =0.

[A cord blood bank in Tunisia: usefulness and feasibility].

Background: The cord blood is a souce of hematopoietic stem cells. This have encouraged the creation of many cord blood banks around the world.

The Aim: By this prospective study during 2 years, we tried to show the advantages of such sources of progenitors ,and to evaluate our techniques of collection, freezing, biological and microbiological survey.