BACKGROUND The objective of this study was to compare the expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) between rheumatic heart disease (RHD) patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and RHD patients without AF, and its efficacy in predicting the occurrence of AF in RHD patients. METHODS Ninety-five patients were enrolled in our study, including 60 RHD patients with AF, and 35 RHD patients without A...

I n 2014, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) Transfusion Medicine Resource Committee (TMRC) reported the results of a survey of more than 3100 laboratories concerning their policies and procedures for testing serologic weak D phenotypes and administration of Rh immune globulin (RhIG). Among the findings of this survey is the observation that there is a lack of standard practice in the U...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the accuracy of a new assay to determine the fetal RHD status using circulating cell-free DNA. METHODS This was a prospective, observational study. Maternal blood samples were collected in each trimester of pregnancy in 520 nonalloimmunized RhD-negative patients. Plasma samples were analyzed for circulating cell-free DNA using the SensiGENE RHD test, which used primers f...

BACKGROUND Echocardiographic screening for rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is becoming more widespread, but screening studies to date have used different echocardiographic definitions. The World Heart Federation has recently published new criteria for the echocardiographic diagnosis of RHD. We aimed to establish the prevalence of RHD in high-risk Indigenous Australian children using these criteri...

BACKGROUND We investigated adverse outcomes for people with acute rheumatic fever (ARF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and the effect of comorbidities and demographic factors on these outcomes. METHODS Using linked data (RHD register, hospital, and mortality data) for residents of the Northern Territory of Australia, we calculated ARF recurrence rates, rates of progression from ARF to RHD ...

Starting in 2013, blood donors must be tested at least using: (1) one monoclonal anti-D and one anti-CDE (alternatively full RhCcEe phenotyping), and (2) all RhD negative donors must be tested for RHD exons 5 and 10 plus one further exonic, or intronic RHD specificity, according to the guidelines of the Blood Transfusion Service of the Swiss Red Cross (BTS SRC). In 2012 an adequate stock of RHD...

BACKGROUND Rh isoimmunization and hemolytic disease of the newborn still occur despite the availability of Rh immunoglobulin. For the prenatal investigation of sensitized RhD-negative pregnant women, determination of the zygosity of the RhD-positive father has important implications. The currently available molecular methods for RhD zygosity assessment, in general, are technically demanding and...

The rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is beleived as a major menance in developing countries. There are many diagnostic methods available for detection of RHD. But these methods have several disadvantages like in term of sensitivity, selectivity, cost, so it is very important to develop a fast, sensitive, cheap device, which can easily available for RHD diagnosis. The major challenge is to find the...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD) are the autoimmune sequelae caused by Group A Streptococcus. RHD still remains a major concern in the developing countries due to its poor diagnosis, lack of vaccines and social awareness among population. This study was aimed to identify the plausible early- and late-stage disease markers associated with RF/RHD. M...

To investigate the contribution of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) promoter DNA methylation to the risk of rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and the influence of warfarin anticoagulant therapy on BNP methylation levels for RHD patients after surgery. BNP methylation levels were determined by bisulfite pyrosequencing from plasma samples of RHD patients compared with healthy controls. Several factors...