Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a member of the family Parvoviridae that has been widely used as a vector for gene therapy because of its safety profile, its ability to transduce both dividing and non-dividing cells, and its low immunogenicity. AAV has been detected in many different tissues of several animal species but has not been associated with any disease. As a result of natural infection...

Autoantibodies and circulating immune complexes are common associated findings in inflammatory disease of unknown aetiology. In most circumstances, however, it is far from easy to demonstrate their pathogenic significance. Sometimes pathological events can be linked clearly with the presence of autoantibodies. These include antibodies found in autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and myasthenia gravis...

The reticulocytes are generally accepted to be young red blood cells. Whenever red cell formation in the bone marrow is active the proportion of reticulocytes in the blood increases; hence the importance ofthe reticulocyte count in haematology. Nevertheless, there have been few studies dealing with purely physiological and chemical aspects. A study of the ripening of reticulocytes into mature n...

Results The prevalence of sensitization and allergy to latex in patients presenting defects in neural tube closure was 33.2% and 12.2%, respectively. Cutaneous manifestations of latex allergy were the most common (79.6%), but anaphylaxis was observed in 4.75% of patients. Clinical and surgical factors associated with latex allergy were identified and a symptom score to screening patients was de...