OBJECTIVE There are some reports in which a condition of zinc deficiency and its associated outcomes with a change in concentration of serum copper among the thalassemic patients has been highlighted. The aim of this prospective study was to determine the serum zinc and copper levels in children with beta-thalassemia major. METHODS In this cross sectional study all children under 12 years aff...

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common transfusion transmitted disease in poly-transfused patients worldwide. In this study we aimed to evaluate the effects of pegylated interferon alfa-2a (PEG-IFN A-2a) in reducing serum ALT and eradicating serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA in HCV infected polytransfused thalassemic patients. Materials and Methods: A cohort of 51 HCV-...

introduction : one of  the most common ways of hiv transmission is from blood products. hiv infection causes immuno-deficiency in human, and consequently increases the rate of mortality and morbidity. thalassemic patients, because of severe anemia, need  blood transfusion. therefore the rate of contamination with hiv increases. the aim of this study is to invesitigate the frequency of hiv infec...

Human parvovirus B19 infection was studied in 60 thalassemic patients in Thailand. Seroprevalence, persistence of parvovirus B19 and their genotypes were identified in blood samples. Prevalence of anti-parvovirus B19 IgG and DNA found in thalassemic patients were 38% and 13%, respectively. Anti-parvovirus B19 IgM could be detected in 4% of these positive anti-parvovirus B19 IgG patients. The se...

BACKGROUND β-thalassemic syndromes are inherited red cell disorders characterized by severe ineffective erythropoiesis and increased levels of reactive oxygen species whose contribution to β-thalassemic anemia is only partially understood. DESIGN AND METHODS We studied erythroid precursors from normal and β-thalassemic peripheral CD34(+) cells in two-phase liquid culture by proteomic, reverse...

OBJECTIVE To assess the quality of life among children and adolescents with thalassemia major. METHODS This cross-sectional study used the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). Children and adolescents with beta-thalassemia major who attended the Day Care Unit at King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from October 2012 to February 2013 were surveyed. The questions hi...

Hemoglobinopathies have a protective role in malaria that appears to be related to alterations in red blood cell (RBC) properties. Thalassemic RBCs infected with Plasmodium falciparum showed greatly reduced cytoadherence and rosetting properties as well as impaired growth and multiplication. A significant decrease in the levels of falciparum antigens associated with the membrane of infected bet...

Genetic mutations that block aor b-globin gene expression in humans can result in severe and frequently lethal thalassemic phenotypes. Homozygous inactivation of the endogenous aor b-globin genes in mice results in corresponding thalassemic syndromes that are uniformly fatal in utero. In the current study, we show that the viability of these mice can be rescued by expression of human embryonic ...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of malocclusion and treatment needs in transfusion dependent β-thalassemia major children. METHODS One hundred transfusion dependent β-thalassemia major children visiting the Department of Pediatrics were selected randomly and evaluated for malocclusion with Angle's classification and Dewey's modification. The orthodontic tr...