BACKGROUND Many serological tests have been used for the diagnosis of human brucellosis. A new serological method is identified as Brucella Coombs gel test based on the principle of centrifugation gel system similar to the gel system used in blood group determination. In this system, if Brucella antibodies were present in the serum, antigen and antibody would remain as a pink complex on the gel...

The Coombs test (Coombs, Mourant, and Race, 1945a, 1945b, 1946) has become popular as a sensitive and reliable method of detecting incomplete antibodies. The essential reagent is the serum of an animal (usually a rabbit) which has been immunized with human globulin. Potent rabbit sera sometimes show a prozone phenomenon (Wootton, 1950; Van Loghem, Kresner, Coombs, and Fulton Roberts, 1950). The...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the total burden of influenza among healthy children in the community in order to analyse the cost of influenza in paediatric age. METHODS This prospective study involved a total community population of 21,986 children, 6988 of whom experienced an influenza-like illness (ILI) between 1 November 2008 and 30 April 2009. An electronic chart was completed, a nasopharyngeal ...

A person-oriented approach was adopted to examine joint developmental trajectories of physical and indirect aggression. Participants were 1183 children aged 2 years at the initial assessment and followed over 6 years. Most children followed either low or declining trajectories of physical aggression (PA), but 14.6% followed high stable trajectories. Approximately two-thirds of participants foll...

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...

To compare the performance of seven currently available test systems in the detection of erythrocyte alloantibodies (ab), we tested in parallel 446 sera samples containing red cell ab [368 sera samples with ab that are assumed to be clinically significant (cs-ab) and 78 sera samples with ab that are assumed to be of minor clinical significance (ms-ab)] using the tube spin low-ionic-strength sol...

BACKGROUND Detection methods for ABO antibody (Ab) titers vary across laboratories, and the results are different depending on the method used. We aimed to compare titer values using different detection methods for the measurement of ABO Ab titers. METHODS For ABO Ab detection, pooled group A or B red blood cells (RBCs) were reacted with each of 20 sera from blood groups A, B, or O without di...

BACKGROUND The indirect antiglobulin test (IAT) can be potentiated by agents such as polyethylene glycol (PEG-IAT) and albumin (Alb-IAT). PEG-IAT is generally regarded as superior to Alb-IAT for the detection of clinically significant red blood cell (RBC) antibodies. However, supporting data come from Caucasian-dominant populations. Non-Caucasian populations should be investigated as well. MA...