14 June 2017 (Wednesday) - Immunology

I had an email from the clinical and experimental immunology people today. Some interesting snippets:

Neuromyelitis optica: clinical features, immunopathogenesis and treatment
Times Cited in 2016: 30 | Times Cited to date: 54

Innate mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are activated in inflammatory bowel diseases
Times Cited in 2016: 26 | Times Cited to date: 62

Safety, pharmacokinetics and neutralization of the broadly neutralizing HIV-1 human monoclonal antibody VRC01 in healthy adults
Times Cited in 2016: 23 | Times Cited to date: 37

HIV-exposed uninfected children: a growing population with a vulnerable immune system?
Times Cited in 2016: 22 | Times Cited to date: 47

Immune homeostasis, dysbiosis and therapeutic modulation of the gut microbiota
Times Cited in 2016: 17 | Times Cited to date: 33

Neutrophil extracellular traps can activate alternative complement pathways
Times Cited in 2016: 16 | Times Cited to date: 22

Helminths in the hygiene hypothesis: sooner or later?
Times Cited in 2016: 14 | Times Cited to date: 28

Impact of dietary deviation on disease progression and gut microbiome composition in lupus-prone SNF1 mice
Times Cited in 2016: 14 | Times Cited to date: 16

Expression of cytokines, chemokines and other effector molecules in two prototypic autoinflammatory skin diseases, pyoderma gangrenosum and Sweet's syndrome
Times Cited in 2016: 13 | Times Cited to date: 37

Protein kinase inhibitors in the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases
Times Cited in 2016: 13 | Times Cited to date: 35

 

14 June 2017 (Wednesday) - Safety

“The pathologist walked into the histology laboratory every morning to say hello to the staff. As he did so, he drank from his cup of coffee...”

The Lablogatory email arrived in my inbox this morning. Although today’s blog was being approached from a histological perspective it was still very relevant. There are those who tend to treat safety in the lab as a necessary evil. I can remember starting work in 1981 and being advised to seriously consider not opting in to the works pension scheme as back there the life expectancy of a lab worker was only fifty-seven…

14 June 2017 (Wednesday) - Quality Circle

We had a quality circle at work today. A little while back I suggested having batch numbers recorded on the IQC sheets (as opposed to on a separate register).

My suggestion has been taken up…

13 June 2017 (Tuesday) - Transfusion News email

The Transfusion News email arrived in my inbox this morning. Possibly not immediately relevent this time, but all good stuff....

Immune Plasma: A Promising Therapy to Treat Influenza

June 7, 2017
Many observational and case studies have suggested that convalescent plasma may have a therapeutic role in the treatment of influenza and other infectious diseases. Recently, researchers from 29 U.S. medical centers performed the first clinical trial to test the safety and efficacy of immune plasma (plasma collected from individuals with high antibody titers to influenza) [Read More]

Feasibility of Post-donation Iron Replacement for Whole Blood Donors

May 30, 2017
Female blood donors and young donors have a particularly high risk for iron deficiency, and randomized trials have shown that iron replacement is important for recurrent donors. In order to assess the feasibility of iron-replacement for donors, researchers in Australia recruited female blood donors (18-45 years old) into two parallel replacement programs. Just over 1400 [Read More]

High-Throughput Sequencing Used To Identify Pathogens in Donated Blood

May 24, 2017
Ensuring a safe blood supply requires multiple strategies and is continually evolving with new, emerging pathogens. Researchers in Switzerland recently used high-throughput sequencing to screen 300 units of donated red blood cell and 300 units of donated plasma products. Sequences obtained were then blasted against virus, bacteria and fungi databases