Evolution of blood donation patterns in a hospital-based blood centre over a seven-year period: implications for donor recruitment and retention.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a public appeal to encourage voluntary blood donation by comparing the pattern of blood donations in 2000 and 2007. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of blood donation records was conducted at the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) Blood Collection Centre from April to December of 2000 and 2007. Data were analysed to identify any significant changes in donation patterns and donor profiles. RESULTS: The total number of blood donor records reviewed was 3194 in 2000 and 2634 in 2007 representing 69.0% and 72.3% of the total blood donations, respectively. Autologous donations accounted for 1% in 2000 and 2.2% in 2007; however, there was no corresponding change in voluntary donations (3.4% in 2000 and 3.2% in 2007). Despite a reduction in the number of first-time donors (1539 in 2000 and 1115 in 2007), the percentage of units discarded for the presence of a marker of transfusion transmission infection (TTI) increased, being 6.5% in 2000 and 7.4% in 2007. Human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) was the most common infectious marker in 2000 (3.4% of donors) whereas reactive Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL) predominated in 2007 (3.6% of donors). CONCLUSION: The per capita donations (0.99% in 2000 and 0.88% in 2007) failed to meet the World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation for an adequate blood supply of 1-3%. Despite a national effort to improve voluntary donations, the positive changes in the pattern of blood donation over a period of seven years were limited to a decrease in the proportion of first-time donors and an increase in blood donors with one to four previous donations.

Chronic myeloid leukaemia at the University Hospital of the West Indies: a 17-year review.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the presenting features and evolution of patients diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia between 1983 and 1999 at the University Hospital of the West Indies. METHODS: Forty-one records were retrospectively analyzed for the patients' demographics, reasons for referral, clinical features, laboratory investigations and the time to blast transformation and death. RESULTS: Seventy-one per cent were males and 29% were females. The male to female ratio was 2.4:1. The median age at presentation was 37 years (range 14-81 years). Seventy-eight per cent of the patients presented in the chronic phase. Weight loss and splenomegaly were the most frequent presenting features being seen in 54 and 83 per cent respectively. The median survival was 36 months. CONCLUSION: In this study, the clinical features and evolution were comparable to existing data. Improved accrual and routine Philadelphia chromosome testing would provide a more accurate reflection of the status of CML in our population.

Effects of bile salt structure on chiral separations with mixed micelles of bile salts and polyoxyethylene ethers using micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography.

The chiral resolving abilities of micellar solutions of four different bile salts alone and in mixtures with polyoxyethylene-4-dodecyl ether (C12E4) and methanol were investigated using MECC. The four bile salts investigated were the unconjugated sodium salts of cholic, deoxycholic, chenodeoxycholic and ursodeoxycholic acids. The test solutes included verapamil, norverapamil, gallopamil, bi-2-naphthol, atenolol and BAYK8644. The relative hydrophobicities of the micellar aggregates formed in solutions of binary mixtures of each bile salt with C12E4 were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy using pyrene as a probe molecule. The observed enantiomeric resolution for the test compounds using these binary mixtures as MECC pseudo-stationary phases was determined. Correlations between micellar hydrophobicity for these solutions and chiral resolution of these test solutes are presented. The addition of C12E4 with or without methanol to solutions of sodium cholate and sodium deoxycholate enhanced the chiral resolution observed for compounds containing a longer hydrocarbon chain separating some of the major functional groups from the chiral center. The pure bile salt solutions generally provided better chiral resolution for the compounds where the major functional groups, such as aromatic rings, were closer to the chiral center.