BACKGROUND Perinatal asphyxia is a major cause of neurologic morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate variations in nucleated red blood cell (NRBC) count per 100 white blood cells (WBC) and absolute NRBC/mm3 in blood associated with perinatal asphyxia and its relationship to both the severity and short term prognosis of asphyxia. METHODS A prospective (case-contro...

BACKGROUND Abnormal interactions between red blood cells, leukocytes and endothelial cells play a critical role in the occurrence of the painful vaso-occlusive crises associated with sickle cell disease. We investigated the interaction between circulating leukocytes and red blood cells which could lead to aggregate formation, enhancing the incidence of vaso-occlusive crises. DESIGN AND METHOD...

The phosphorylation of red blood cell membrane fragments (RBCMF) during Ca ++ transport was investigated. When red cell membrane fragments are incubated with [y-a2P]ATP under the experimental condition which minimizes the phosphorylation of Na+-K+-ATPase, RBCMF are labeled in the presence of Mg ++ without Ca ++. When Ca ++ is added, the labeling decreases due to dephosphorylation of RBCMF. The ...

W ith the goals of improving oxygen delivery,1 reducing anemia, and enhancing quality of life, over 12 million red blood cell (RBC) units are transfused annually in the United States.2 At a hospital acquisition cost per RBC unit of $122 (1999 dollars),2 US acquisition costs exceed $1.5 billion annually. Adding testing and transfusion, the total health system cost for two units (based on prior s...

Biomaterials form the basis of current and future biomedical technologies. They are routinely used to design therapeutic carriers, such as nanoparticles, for applications in drug delivery. Current strategies for synthesizing drug delivery carriers are based either on discovery of materials or development of fabrication methods. While synthetic carriers have brought upon numerous advances in dru...

The elastic properties of the human red blood cell membrane have been measured as functions of temperature. The area compressibility modulus and the elastic shear modulus, which together characterize the surface elastic behavior of the membrane, have been measured over the temperature range of 2-50 degrees C with micropipette aspiration of flaccid and osmotically swollen red cells. In addition,...

Introduction Red cell transfusion is an extremely common medical intervention. In the United States, more than 16 million red blood cell (RBC) units are transfused annually to 3.4 million patients.Worldwide, 85 million units of blood are collected per year. In Northern England, about 50% of units are given tomedical patients, and 40% to surgical patients; hip replacement and coronary artery byp...

BACKGROUND Well-characterized biochemical, structural, and physiological changes occur when red blood cells (RBCs) are stored for a period of time and are collectively called the storage lesion. METHODS Key study results are summarized and contrasted and new data from recently completed randomized controlled trials will be discussed. RESULTS It is unclear whether in vitro changes to RBCs th...

Three patients with severe symptomatic iron deficiency anemia and thrombocytopenia had a significant rise in platelet count a few days following packed red blood cell transfusion. Pre-transfusion platelet count of patient one was 17 x 10(9)/L, 22 x 10(9)/L in patient 2 and 29 x 10(9)/L in patient 3. On the 6th day post transfusion, the platelet count rose to 166 x 10(9)/L in patient one, 830 x ...