Materials and Methods: The coagulometer for factor VIII assay is Sysmex CS-5100. All data were expressed as mean ± standard deviation (SD).
Results: A total of 135 cases were studied. Of these, 100 cases were of mild hemophilia A diagnosed by molecular genetics and, 15 cases were positive for LAC, which were confirmed by dilute Russell Viper venom test. Clot-based one-stage APTT assay showed 65% sensitivity and 80% specificity in diagnosing mild hemophilia A cases and out of 15 LAC cases, it showed false positivity in five cases. Chromogenic assay showed 85% sensitivity and 90% specificity in diagnosing mild hemophilia cases and was 100% specific in excluding LAC cases.
Conclusions: One-stage APTT assay is the most commonly used test for determining factor VIII levels but chromogenic assay are considered as the gold standard and recommended as the reference method by European Pharmacopoeia and ISTH subcommittee. Mild hemophilia A patients with missense mutations show discrepancy between the one-stage clot-based APTT assay and chromogenic assays for determination of factor VIII level and this can lead to misdiagnosis or misclassification of mild hemophilia A. Therefore, it is recommended that both the assays should be used in the evaluation of mild hemophilia cases.
METHODS: This prospective study was conducted from February 2015 to February 2016. Samples from seronegative donors were run on multiplex assay (Cobas, S-201 system platform, Roche) in a batch of six [MP-NAT]. In case of reactive pool, tests were run on every individual sample [IDNAT].
RESULTS: Of 16957 donors, 16836 (99.2%) were replacement donors and the remaining 121 (0.7%) were voluntary donors, with a mean age of 29.09 ± 7.04 years. After serologic screening of all 16957 donors, 955 (5.6%) were found to be reactive; 291(1.71%) were reactive for hepatitis-B surface antigen, 361 (2.12%) for antibody to hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV), 14 (0.08%) for antibody to human immunodeficiency virus, 287 (1.69%) for syphilis and 2 (0.01%) for malaria. 14 (0.08%) NAT reactive donors were identified after testing the 16002 seronegative donors, with an overall NAT yield of one reactivity out of 1143 blood donations; 10 donors for HBV-DNA (HBV NAT yield-1:1600) and remaining 4 for HCV-RNA (HCV-NAT yield-1:4000). None were HIV positive.
CONCLUSION: NAT has improved the safety attributes in blood products. Although the positivity rate for NAT testing is low but in view of the high prevalence of transfusion transmitted infections in our country, we recommend the parallel use of both serology and NAT screening of all donated blood.
Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and assess an equivalent modified FTND scale that measures the nicotine dependency via EC.
Materials and Methods: The investigator developed the equivalent modified FTND scale that scores identical to the original scale, that is, 0-10. The developed scale piloted among 15 EC single users, that is, use only EC verified by carbon monoxide (CO) level of <8ppm. The assessment of the scale was done among 69 EC single users and observed for 1 year to determine their nicotine status.
Results: The modified scale revealed an acceptable Cronbach α value of 0.725. Further test-retest reliability of the scale showed a satisfactory Spearman's rank correlation coefficient value of 0.730 (P > 0.05). A 1-year observation showed that of 69 single users, 11 single users completely stopped nicotine intake, 24 remained as EC single users, 15 shifted to dual-use, and 19 relapsed to TCG. Surprisingly, the EC users who completely stopped nicotine intake after 1 year had a low average nicotine dependence value of 3 that was measured by the modified FTND scale at the baseline.
Conclusion: The modified FTND scale precisely identifies the physical dependence to nicotine via EC. Therefore, as per this study results the modified FTND scale can be applied in any EC-related studies to assess nicotine dependency via EC.
Results: BIO RAD Variant II analyzer was used. Sickle cell syndromes including double heterozygous states accounted for 56.13% of total cases. HbSS, HbS/β0-th, HbS/β+-th β-thal trait comprises 29%, 6.5%, 5.1%& 10% of total cases respectively with mean MCV (fl) = 84, 68,71,64 respectively. The Mean HbA2 for β-thal trait, HbE trait &HbE-β thal showed 5.1 ± 1.1, 19 ± 9 & 24 ± 8 respectively. HbF is increased in 8.6% case (excluding SC syndromes & β-thal disorders), of these 5.5% were infants & 12 cases of Aplastic Anemias. Peak P2 >7% (2.4% cases) was seen in uncontrolled diabetes mellitus which on quantification showed HbA1C = 8 ± 2.1 mmol/L.
Discussion: : HPLC in correlation with CBC parameters & family studies can aid in the diagnosis of majority of Hemoglobinopathies and thalassemic syndrome. The CBC & HPLC parameters of the present study are in good correlation with the research conducted by Tejinder Sing, RiouJ & Alla Joutovsky. Present study showed HPLC comprehensively characterizing HbS, A, A2, F, S, C, D from each other & was also applicable for the quantification of HbA1c for the monitoring of Diabetes Mellitus.
Conclusion: : The merits of HPLC are small quantity of sample required, economical, less TAT, accurate categorization of HbS, HbA2 & F. But one has to be aware of the limitations and problems associated with this method due to variant hemoglobin within the same retention windows. The present findings show HPLC as an excellent & powerful diagnostic tool for the direct identification of hemoglobin variants with a high degree of precision in the quantification of normal and abnormal hemoglobin fractions.
OBJECTIVE: To develop effective hybrid techniques that combine the optimal control theory (OCT) with the evolutionary algorithm and multi-objective swarm algorithm. The developed technique is aimed to reduce the number of cancerous cells while utilizing the minimum necessary chemotherapy medications and minimizing toxicity to protect patients' health.
METHODS: Two hybrid techniques are proposed in this paper. Both techniques combined OCT with the evolutionary algorithm and multi-objective swarm algorithm which included MOEA/D, MOPSO, SPEA II and PESA II. This study evaluates the performance of two hybrid techniques in terms of reducing cancer cells and drug concentrations, as well as computational time consumption.
RESULTS: In both techniques, MOEA/D emerges as the most effective algorithm due to its superior capability in minimizing tumour size and cancer drug concentration.
CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of integrating OCT and evolutionary algorithms as a robust approach for optimizing cancer chemotherapy treatment.