فصلنامه خون
سال بیست و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 83، بهار 1403)

Various mutations can occur in the HBV genome during chronic HBV infection due to error-prone viral replication and stress on the host immune system. This study aimed to determine the mutations in the BCP and preC regions of the hepatitis B virus genome in asymptomatic carriers and its role in the persistence of hepatitis B infection.

In this descriptive study conducted by easy non-probability sampling method in 2017, 40 asymptomatic blood donors positive in terms of HBsAg and confirmatory tests and negative in terms of anti-HCV and anti-HIV tests were included in the study. Anti-HBc, HBe Ag and anti-HBe (Total) tests and ALT and AST tests were performed. Nested-PCR reaction was performed on the extracted DNA and the sequences were determined. Data analysis was done using online software https://hbv.geno2pheno.org.

Out of the 40 examined samples (94.8%), 38 were men and 2 (5.2%) women with an average age of 38.6 ± 8.6. Mutations in (G1764A) and BCP (A1762T) were observed in 10 (50%) and 8 (40%) cases, respectively, and G54T17 mutation was observed in 3 (15%) samples out of 20 HBV positive and HBeAg negative samples. The mutation in the preC region and the nucleotide position A1896 G was found in 12 cases (60%).

Conclusions  :

The highest frequency of mutations was observed in G1764A and BCP which can be considered as one of the effective factors in not clearing and removing the virus by the host's immune system and causing chronic hepatitis B infection.

Regular blood donors may experience iron deficiency due to repeated blood donation. Genetic differences might have an impact on iron deficiency in regular blood donors. Some of these genes include those involved in activities related to iron absorption and transfer in blood. In this study, the association of the rs855791 single nucleotide polymorphism in TMPRSS6 gene with iron levels in male regular blood donors was investigated.

In this cross-sectional study, 130 male regular blood donors participated. CBC tests, serum iron, ferritin, and Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) were performed on their blood samples. The genotypes of the target polymorphisms were determined using the allele-specific PCR method. All collected data were analyzed using R software for statistical analysis.

The average age of the regular male blood donors was 45 years with a standard deviation of 10.5. Among the 130 regular blood donors, 28 individuals (21.54%) were homozygous for the T/T allele, 29 individuals (22.31%) were homozygous for the C/C allele, and 73 individuals were heterozygous for the C/T allele. No significant association was observed between the rs855791 single nucleotide polymorphism and iron assessment indicators.

Single nucleotide polymorphism of TMPRSS6 gene (rs855791 v736A) was not associated with iron level and related quantities in regular blood donors.

Chelation therapy is essential for beta-thalassemia major. This study aims to determine the complications clinical and laboratory symptoms of monotherapy and combined treatment of iron chelators in beta-thalassemia major patients in Yasuj.

In this cross-sectional-descriptive-analytical study, 103 patients with beta-thalassemia major in Yasuj city were evaluated during 2021-2022. After collecting the demographic, clinical and laboratory information of the patients, the results were reported as mean ± standard deviation and percentage. The degree of statistical differences between ratios was calculated using the Kruskal-Wallis test.

The average age of our patients was reported to be 24.74 ± 8.34 years. 54.4% (n = 56) of the study patients were men and 45.6% (n = 47) were women. The results of the present study showed that there was a statistically significant difference in mean ferritin among different study groups (p = 0.028). Patients treated with deferoxamine showed the highest mean serum ferritin (5925.5 ± 3397ng%) and patients who took deferoxamine together with deferiprone or deferasirox had a lower mean ferritin compared to deferoxamine alone  (3348 ± 2560, 4269 ± 3322 ng%), respectively. Also, the present study showed that after taking iron removers, 47.6% of patients (n = 49) had no clinical complications and 52.4% (n = 54) had at least one complication.

Conclusions  :

Our results showed that Deferoxamine can have a great effect in reducing iron deposition and serum ferritin levels in combination with oral drugs.

The storage time of platelet concentrate is limited to 3-5 days due to various factors, including bacterial contamination and platelet storage lesions. Antioxidant agents have been found to significantly improve the survival and function of platelets. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the antioxidant compounds L-carnitine, Resveratrol, and Vitamin C on platelet oxidative stress during storage.

This experimental study utilized six platelet concentrate bags to evaluate the antioxidant effect of L-carnitine, Resveratrol, and Vitamin C at concentrations of 50 and 100 mM. The effects of these antioxidants on malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme activity, H2O2, and pH levels were measured on days 0, 3, and 5 of platelet storage. The data was analyzed using GraphPad Prism version 8 software and one-way ANOVA tests.

The concentration of 100 mM antioxidant compounds had a stronger protective effect compared to 50 mM. These effects were significant on the fifth day of platelet storage. The impact of these antioxidants resulted in improving platelet quality, including a decrease in MDA levels, and LDH activity.

Conclusions  :

The results showed that the antioxidant compounds can affect oxidative conditions created during five days of storage  and reduce platelet destruction during this time through a specific biochemical mechanism.

Uncontrolled post-operative bleeding can lead to several problems and tissue repair disorder indentistry. This study has been conducted to compare the effect of Chitohem and natural silk on the onset of clot formations.

This laboratory study was carried out with a dependent parallel design. Three drops of blood were taken from each of 32 participants in the study. Fifty milligram Chitohem and natural silk powder were poured on two blood drops, respectively. The clot formation time was measured for all three groups simultaneously. Duration between pouring powder and starting of clot formation was recorded. Data analysis was performed using paired t-test and repeated measure ANOVA methods using SPSS 17 software.

Participants composed of 20 (62.5%) women and 12 (37.5%) men. The average age of the participants was 43.33 ± 4.08 years. The average time periods of the onset of blood clot formation in Chitohem group, natural silk and control group were 90.97 ± 29.99, 141.97 ± 49.10, and 195.44 ± 58.70 second, respectively. Paired t-test showed the mean time of clot formation was significantly different among groups (p = 0.0001).

Conclusions  :

Based on the obtained results, it seems that although effect of “organic natural silk” on coagulation time was less than “Chitohem”, but silk has an acceptable hemostatic effect. The simultaneous use of natural silk and Chitohem can have a synergistic effect.

Developing a vision without understanding the organizational culture is a failed attempt. The purpose of this research is to understand organizational culture for understanding expectations in order to prioritize issues and compare work groups by managers for greater productivity.

This study was carried out in Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization between 2020 and 2022. The statistical population for this research was the employees of the central headquarters and the general administrations of blood centers, and 384 of them were included in the study using stratified random sampling. To collect the required data, a 60-question organizational culture questionnaire based on Denison's model was used. For data analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation) and inferential (independent t, analysis of variance, Tukey and Pearson's coefficient) according to demographic variables, SPSS22 and Excel 2013 software were used.

The findings show that Iranian Blood Transfusion Organization has a medium/strong organizational culture with a score of 179.31 and the highest impact after mission with a score of 46.60. Also, the indicators of "customer orientation and development of capabilities" need to be improved.

Conclusions  :

According to the findings, most employees have understood the vision, strategic intentions and mission of the organization, but their capabilities are not well seen. According to the score of customer orientation, the skills and abilities of the employees should be developed by using retraining courses, while motivating the personnel, respecting the clients, and the provinces should take advantage of the experiences.

Recently, studies on the factors involved in stemness of stem cells have received a lot of attention due to its importance of stem cell-based treatments. One of the important stimuli in the fate of stem cells is the amount of oxygen in the environment. The results of various studies showed that a low concentration of oxygen in the niche of stem cells, preserves the reserves of the stem cells. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effect of hypoxia on the hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and the involved mechanisms.

In this review article, more than 100 papers in the pubmed database were reviewed. In this study, hypoxia induction methods, the effect of hypoxia on HSC and the effect of hypoxia on HSCs in Co-culture with other cells, hypoxia relationship with HIF1a factor and hypoxia relationship with stem cell stemness were discussed.

The results of this review showed that low oxygen concentration can affect the stemness of stem cells. The difference in the results observed in different studies was due to different hypoxia induction methods, oxygen percentage, type of stem cells and time exposed to hypoxia, which necessitated optimization of the protocols for hypoxia induction.

Conclusions  :

Compared to the oxygen concentration of the environment, very low concentrations of oxygen (anoxia: 1%) take the stem cells mainly in the dormant phase and maintain a high stemness state, while at higher concentrations (5%) along with maintaining the proliferative potential of cells, stemness is also maintained. Of course, designing optimal culture conditions with specific oxygen concentration and understanding the mechanisms involved can help in the development of new target molecules and treatments based on stem cell in various diseases.

Transfusion-associated graft-versus-host disease (TA-GVHD) is a rare and fatal complication caused by blood transfusion. In this condition, donated lymphocyte cells attack host tissues. In this review article, the history, prevalence, pathogenesis, clinical symptoms, risk factors, diagnostic methods, strategies to reduce its occurrence, prognosis, disease management, and laboratory characteristics of this condition are discussed.

For this purpose, a search was made using published reliable research in Google Scholar, PubMed, and MEDLINE databases and the findings of more than 70 articles were cited.

The following study showed that live T lymphocytes from donated blood products and the resulting cytokine storm play a role in the occurrence of this complication. The symptoms of this disease appear in the form of skin rash, pancytopenia, and fever, and its diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms and laboratory findings of skin biopsy, increased liver enzymes, confirmation of lymphocyte chimerism using STR-PCR, and determination of the HLA phenotype of lymphocytes and FISH method. This complication has a higher prevalence in populations with high genetic similarity or people with immune deficiencies, however, it also occurs in other people who do not have these conditions or who have partial donor-recipient HLA matching (one-way HLA matching).

Conclusions  :

This complication is one of the fatal complications caused by blood transfusion that occurs within 2 to 30 days after blood products transfusion; the typical cases are associated with more than 90% mortality and mild or atypical cases have longer survival and are associated with a better prognosis that may go undetected or be treated spontaneously.