Steps Forward to a Fair and Inclusive Blood Supply.

Blood transfusions save lives. Scientific advancements in infectious disease testing, immunohematology, and blood processing, coupled with an altruistic blood donor model, blood transfusion has become a safe and effective therapeutic intervention. Blood establishments are an integral part of the health care continuum.

Canine Cognitive Dysfunction (CCD) scores correlate with amyloid beta 42 levels in dog brain tissue.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a significant burden for human health that is increasing in prevalence as the global population ages. There is growing recognition that current preclinical models of AD are insufficient to recapitulate key aspects of the disease. Laboratory models for AD include mice, which do not naturally develop AD-like pathology during aging, and laboratory Beagle dogs, which do not share the human environment.

Whole-genome sequencing of clinical Clostridioides difficile isolates reveals molecular epidemiology and discrepancies with conventional laboratory diagnostic testing.

Background: The high clinical burden of Clostridioides difficile infections merits rapid and sensitive identification of affected individuals. However, effective diagnosis remains challenging. Current best practice guidelines recommend molecular and/or direct toxin detection-based screening for symptomatic individuals, but previous work has called into question the concordance and performance of extant clinical assays.

Transfer of skin microbiota between two dissimilar autologous microenvironments: A pilot study.

Dysbiosis of skin microbiota is associated with several inflammatory skin conditions, including atopic dermatitis, acne, and hidradenitis suppurativa. There is a surge of interest by clinicians and the lay public to explore targeted bacteriotherapy to treat these dermatologic conditions. To date, skin microbiota transplantation studies have focused on moving single, enriched strains of bacteria to target sites rather than a whole community.

Errors in data interpretation from genetic variation of human analytes.

In recent years, the extent of our vulnerability to misinterpretation due to poorly characterized reagents has become an issue of great concern. Antibody reagents have been identified as a major source of error, contributing to the "reproducibility crisis." In the current report, we define an additional dimension of the crisis; in particular, we define variation of the targets being analyzed.

Acyclovir Prophylaxis Reduces the Incidence of Herpes Zoster Among HIV-Infected Individuals: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected persons have higher rates of herpes zoster than HIV-uninfected individuals. We assessed whether twice daily treatment with 400 mg of oral acyclovir reduces the incidence of herpes zoster in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial among 3408 persons coinfected with HIV and herpes simplex virus type 2. During 5175 person-years of follow-up, 26 cases of herpes zoster occurred among those assigned acyclovir, compared with 69 cases among those assigned placebo (rates, 1.

Disseminating sexually transmitted infections diagnostics information: the SDI web publication review series.

Objectives: The World Health Organization Sexually Transmitted Diseases Diagnostics Initiative (SDI) website publication review seeks to provide health care providers in all geographic and economic settings with timely, critical, and concise information concerning new developments in laboratory and field diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections (STI).

Methods: Since 2003, the website (www.who.

Performance of the focus and Kalon enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for antibodies to herpes simplex virus type 2 glycoprotein G in culture-documented cases of genital herpes.

Glycoprotein G-based herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays from Focus and Kalon were performed with specimens from 118 patients with culture-documented genital herpes episodes, and their results were compared. Sensitivity was 52% by Kalon and 86% by Focus for first HSV-2 episodes and 100% (for each of the two tests) for recurrent HSV-2. Median times to seroconversion were 120 days by the Kalon assay, 21 days by the Focus assay, and 68 days by Western blotting assay.

Using 4-color flow cytometry to identify abnormal myeloid populations.

Context: The diagnosis of myeloproliferative disorders (MPDs) and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) has historically relied on combining clinical information with the morphologic features of the peripheral blood and bone marrow to reach a final diagnosis. Objective evidence of a myeloid stem cell neoplasm in the form of a clonal cytogenetic abnormality is provided in only 30% to 40% of the non-chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) chronic MPDs (non-CML MPDs) and in a similar percentage of the MDSs.

Objective: To identify normal patterns of antigen expression during myeloid maturation and to determine whether flow cytometric evaluation of myeloid maturation represents an additional objective way to assess the likelihood of a stem cell neoplasm.