Triple red blood cell alloantibody formation after bone-allograft transplantation.

In this case report, we provide evidence for the possibility of red blood cell alloimmunization after bone-allograft transplantation. Here, we present a 13-year-old boy who received a bone allograft due to impending hip-luxation. Five months later he was shown to have developed three different alloantibodies: anti-D, anti-C and anti-E, which were induced by the bone allograft. Red blood cell alloimmunization is a possible adverse event when a patient is exposed to allogenic red blood cells. These antibodies may cause transfusion reactions when incompatible blood is administered. More importantly, these antibodies may cause severe, or even fatal, hemolytic disease of the fetus or newborn, stretching the importance of preventing antibody formation, especially in young women. This case demonstrates the importance of selecting rhesus phenotype compatible bone allografts.

Subword-based semantic retrieval of clinical and bibliographic documents.

OBJECTIVES: The increasing amount of electronically available documents in bibliographic databases and the clinical documentation requires user-friendly techniques for content retrieval. METHODS: A domain-specific approach on semantic text indexing for document retrieval is presented. It is based on a subword thesaurus and maps the content of texts in different European languages to a common interlingual representation, which supports the search across multilingual document collections. RESULTS: Three use cases are presented where the semantic retrieval method has been implemented: a bibliographic database, a department EHR system, and a consumer-oriented Web portal. CONCLUSIONS: It could be shown that a semantic indexing and retrieval approach, the performance of which had already been empirically assessed in prior studies, proved useful in different prototypical and routine scenarios and was well accepted by several user groups.

Complementary roles of platelets and coagulation in thrombus formation on plaques acutely ruptured by targeted ultrasound treatment: a novel intravital model.

BACKGROUND: Atherothrombosis is a major cause of cardiovascular events. However, animal models to study this process are scarce. OBJECTIVES: We describe the first murine model of acute thrombus formation upon plaque rupture to study atherothrombosis by intravital fluorescence microscopy. METHODS: Localized rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque in a carotid artery from Apoe(-/-) mice was induced in vivo using ultrasound. Rupture of the plaque and formation of localized thrombi were verified by two-photon laser scanning microscopy (TPLSM) in isolated arteries, and by immunohistochemistry. The thrombotic reaction was quantified by intravital fluorescence microscopy. RESULTS: Inspection of the ultrasound-treated plaques by histochemistry and TPLSM demonstrated local damage, collagen exposure, luminal thrombus formation as well as intra-plaque intrusion of erythrocytes and fibrin. Ultrasound treatment of healthy carotid arteries resulted in endothelial damage and limited platelet adhesion. Real-time intravital fluorescence microscopy demonstrated rapid platelet deposition on plaques and formation of a single thrombus that remained subocclusive. The thrombotic process was antagonized by thrombin inhibition, or by blocking of collagen or adenosine diphosphate receptor pathways. Multiple thrombi were formed in 70% of mice lacking CD40L. CONCLUSIONS: Targeted rupture of murine plaques results in collagen exposure and non-occlusive thrombus formation. The thrombotic process relies on platelet activation as well as on thrombin generation and coagulation, and is sensitive to established and novel antithrombotic medication. This model provides new possibilities to study atherothrombosis in vivo.