OBJECTIVES ABO and RhD blood groups are key factors affecting blood transfusion safety. The distribution of ABO and RhD blood groups varies globally, but limited data exist for ethnic distributions of these blood groups in Asian populations. We aimed to evaluate the distribution of ABO and RhD blood groups among Chinese ethnic groups. DESIGN A population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING...

BACKGROUND Historically, sub-Saharan Africa has had the highest prevalence rates of clinically detected rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Echocardiography-based screening improves detection of RHD in endemic regions. The newest screening guidelines (2006 World Health Organization/National Institutes of Health) have been tested across India and the Pacific Islands, but application in sub-Saharan Af...

Anti-RhD prophylaxis of haemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN) is highly effective, but as the suppressive mechanism remains uncertain, a mouse model would be of interest. Here we have generated transgenic mice expressing human RhAG and RhD erythrocyte membrane proteins in the presence and, for human RhAG, in the absence, of mouse Rhag. Human RhAG associates with mouse Rh but not mo...

BACKGROUND The RHD gene is highly polymorphic, which results in a large number of RhD variant phenotypes. Discrepancies in RhD typing are still a problem in blood banks and increase the risk of alloimmunization. In this study, the RhD typing strategy at a blood bank in Brazil was evaluated. METHODS One-hundred and fifty-two samples typed as RhD negative and C or E positive by routine tests (a...

Defensins are antibiotic peptides expressed in human and animal myeloid and epithelial cells. Due to the limited availability of natural peptides, the properties of human epithelial defensins have not been studied. We assayed the microbicidal activity of recombinant human intestinal defensin 5 (rHD-5) in the presence of salt (O to 150 mM NaCl) with varied pH (pH 5.5 to pH 8.5) and trypsin (25 a...

OBJECTIVE RhD-positive subjects are protected against toxoplasmosis-associated impairment of psychomotor performance. Here we searched for RhD-positivity-associated maternal protection against the effects of toxoplasmosis. METHODS In the present retrospective cohort study, we analysed data from 785 (139 RhD-negative) Toxoplasma-free and 194 (27 RhD-negative) Toxoplasma-infected pregnant women...

AIM Despite the well-documented burden of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in several Pacific countries, the disease is poorly understood in New Caledonia. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of RHD detected by echocardiographic screening in school children. METHODS An annual RHD screening programme is conducted by the Health and Social Agency of New Caledonia for school-aged chil...

BACKGROUND The incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in rheumatic heart diseases (RHD) is very high and increases with age. Occurrence and maintenance of AF are very complicated process accompanied by many different mechanisms. Ion-channel remodeling, including the voltage-gated potassium channel Kv1.5, plays an important role in the pathophysiology of AF. However, the changes of Kv1.5 channel ...

BACKGROUND In Africa, screening for asymptomatic rheumatic heart disease (RHD) has been conducted in single communities using non-standardised echocardiographic criteria. The use of different diagnostic criteria has led to widely variable estimates of the prevalence of RHD in the same communities. METHODS Randomly selected school pupils, from 4 to 24 years of age in Bonteheuwel and Langa comm...

Several lines of evidence have previously indicated that the RhD, c, and E blood group antigens are most likely carried by three distinct but homologous red blood cell membrane proteins. To determine whether these polypeptides are encoded by one or several related genes, we have performed Southern blot analysis of genomic DNA prepared from donors of different Rh phenotypes. Using an entire Rh c...