BACKGROUND Cardiac lesions, such as coronary dilatation, aneurysms, narrowing, myocardial infarction, and valvular lesions, sometimes occur in Kawasaki disease, but most studies have only evaluated cardiac lesions in the later phase of the disease. This study was undertaken to clarify the related factors between cardiac lesions and laboratory data in the initial phase of Kawasaki disease. MET...

Irish potatoes is rich in carbohydrate, with varied glucose levels. It is also a very good source of apyrase, an enzyme used for platelet storage. The aim of this study was to explore Irish potatoes as an easily available source for apyrase extraction and purification. Apyrase was extracted from 5 Kg of Irish potatoes. Platelets were derived from 5-10 ml of human whole blood and G6PD activity w...

BACKGROUND: Assessment of platelet vitality is important for patients presenting with inherited or acquired disorders of platelet function and for quality assessment of platelet concentrates. METHODS: Herein we combined live stains with intra-vital confocal fluorescence microscopy in order to obtain an imaging method that allows fast and accurate assessment of platelet vitality. Three fluoresce...

Transmission of viral diseases through blood products remains an unsolved problem in transfusion medicine. We have developed a psoralen photochemical system for decontamination of platelet concentrates in which platelets are treated with long wavelength ultraviolet radiation (UVA, 320-400 nm) in the presence of 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP). Bacteria, RNA viruses, and DNA viruses ranging in genome ...

In veterinary medicine a complete blood cell count (CBC) cannot always be performed within 24 h as usually recommended, particularly for specimens shipped to a reference laboratory. This raises the question of the stability of the variables, especially in ethylenediamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA) feline blood specimens, known to be prone to in vitro platelet aggregation. Citrate, theophylline, a...

BACKGROUND Previous studies have shown that flow cytometry is a reliable test to quantify platelet function in stored platelet concentrates (PC). It is thought that flow cytometry is laborious and hence expensive. We have optimized the flow cytometry-based quantification of agonist induced platelet activation (PACT) to a labor, time and more cost-efficient test. Currently the quality of PCs is ...

During blood coagulation ultrastructural lesions were produced on the platelet membrane. They were dependent on the presence of both thrombin and complement (C) and were morphologically identical to the C-dependent ultrastructural lesions (type II) seen in red cells subsequent to activation of C by the alternate mechanismmthough similar in shape they differed in size from ultrastructural lesion...

Seven adults with acquired platelet dysfunction with eosinophilia presented with histories of spontaneous bruising and three also had moderate thrombocytopenia. Six patients had platelet function tests performed and all showed variable storage pool defects. When assayed, IgE concentrations were raised. Although only two patients had parasites isolated in their stools, all seven responded to ant...

Preservation of platelet integrity and responsiveness was examined in platelet concentrates prepared in the presence of various formulations and combinations of platelet-activation inhibitors affecting intracellular levels of cyclic 3'-5' adenosine monophosphate (cAMP). Platelet concentrates were prepared and stored in an artificial medium for two weeks at 22 degrees C. Markers of metabolic act...