Stroke Prevention Trial in Sickle Cell Anemia (STOP): extended follow-up and final results.

The Stroke Prevention Trial in Sickle Cell Anemia (STOP) was a randomized trial to evaluate whether chronic transfusion could prevent initial stroke in children with sickle-cell anemia at high risk as determined by transcranial Doppler (TCD). The trial demonstrated a large benefit of transfusion and was halted early. After termination of the trial, patients participated in a post-trial follow-up study.

Separation of normoblasts from whole blood by ultracentrifugation on arabino-galactan discontinuous gradients: A tool for prenatal diagnosis.

Normoblasts can be separated at high resolution from whole blood by ultracentrifugation on discontinuous gradients of arabino-galactane after the red blood cells are removed by sedimentation. With this method, isolation of fetal normoblasts from maternal blood could provide a tool for rapid prenatal diagnosis. The availability of this noninvasive technique could avoid the cost and the risks of miscarriage that are associated with the current invasive procedures.

Childhood lead poisoning.

Although the average blood lead levels of Americans have markedly declined, a significant number of children remain at risk. This article discusses the mechanisms of lead poisoning and the screening of children for lead poisoning, and the treatment of symptomatic and asymptomatic children.

Rapid prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell diseases using oligonucleotide ligation assay coupled with laser-induced capillary fluorescence detection.

Prenatal diagnosis of sickle cell diseases has been available for several years, and our laboratory has performed over 1000 prenatal diagnoses. However, currently available techniques are labor-intensive and time-consuming, and thus the diagnosis is delayed, making the mother's decision difficult. We describe a rapid, high-throughput technique based on the ligation assay coupled with automated capillary fluorescence detection.