OBJECTIVES To assess the feasibility of applying a high throughput method, with an automated robotic technique, for predicting fetal RhD phenotype from fetal DNA in the plasma of RhD negative pregnant women to avoid unnecessary treatment with anti-RhD immunoglobulin. DESIGN Prospective comparison of fetal RHD genotype determined from fetal DNA in maternal plasma with the serologically determi...

BACKGROUND Rhesus-positive and rhesus-negative persons differ in the presence-absence of highly immunogenic RhD protein on the erythrocyte membrane. This protein is a component of NH(3) or CO(2) pump whose physiological role is unknown. Several recent studies have shown that RhD positivity protects against effects of latent toxoplasmosis on motor performance and personality. It is not known, ho...

background: rh (rhesus) is a highly complex blood group system in man deeply rooted in transfusion medicine. isolation of rhd from cord blod, cloning and expression of recombinant rhd antigen in bacterial expression system was the aim of this study. methods: total rnas were extracted from cord blood (o + ).  the quality of rna was determined by electrophoresis. in or­der to obtain coding sequen...

objective: maternal-fetal rhd antigen incompatibility causes approximately 50% of clinically significant alloimmunization cases. the routine use of prophylactic anti-d immunoglobulin has dramatically reduced hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn. recently, fetal rhd genotyping in rhd negative pregnant women has been suggested for appropriate use of anti-d immunoglobulin antenatal prophylax...

We evaluated the efficacy of noninvasive fetal Rhesus D (RHD) genotyping from maternal plasma in a highly admixed population. Fifty-five blood samples from RhD-negative pregnant women from Brazil were processed for extraction of cell-free plasma DNA. Real-time PCR was performed to amplify segments of exons 5 and 7 from the RHD gene, as well as for detection of the SRY gene to confirm the presen...

BACKGROUND Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) remains a major public health concern in developing countries, and routine screening has the potential to improve outcomes. Standard portable echocardiography (STAND) is far more sensitive than auscultation for the detection of RHD but remains cost-prohibitive in resource-limited settings. Handheld echocardiography (HAND) is a lower-cost alternative. The...

The ability to study the immune response to the RhD antigen in the prevention of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn has been hampered by the lack of a mouse model of RhD immunization. However, the ability of transgenic mice expressing human HLA DRB1(*)1501 to respond to immunization with purified RhD has allowed this question to be revisited. In this work we aimed at inducing anti-RhD a...

Some of the highest recorded rheumatic heart disease (RHD) prevalence and mortality rates are from the World Health Organization's Western Pacific Region (WPR). RHD burden has been well documented in much of the WPR subregion of Oceania, but less is known about RHD outside the Pacific Islands and Australasia. We aimed to review RHD burden in WPR outside Oceania to identify countries with high R...

BACKGROUND Although acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and its sequel, rheumatic heart disease (RHD), continue to cause a large burden of morbidity and mortality in disadvantaged populations, most studies investigating the effectiveness of control programs date from the 1950s. A control program, including a disease register, in the Northern Territory of Australia where the Indigenous population has hi...

In this issue of Blood, Robak et al present data suggesting that rozrolimupab, a firstin-class mixture of 25 recombinant monoclonal IgG1 antibodies against RhD, has efficacy similar to plasma-derived anti-RhD in the treatment of immune thrombocytopenia.1 P lasma-derived anti-RhD, a hyperimmune preparation of IgG that targets the RhD antigen on erythrocytes, is a standard first-line therapy in n...