Severe neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia and patients with HPA-1a-specific antibodies require transfusion of HPA-1a-negative platelets. Identifying HPA-1a-negative donors requires simple and reliable typing methods. Most existing techniques use polyclonal antibodies, are time consuming and involve platelet isolation. We have used a horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated recombinant IgG1 anti-HPA-1a (CAMTRAN007) to develop a rapid and reliable enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which eliminates sample preparation and reduces the incubation and wash steps associated with traditional sandwich ELISAs. The assay uses simultaneous incubation of the monoclonal antibody RFGP56 to capture GPIIbIIIa from whole blood and the recombinant IgG1 antibody to detect captured HPA-1a antigen. It allows 96 samples to be typed in less than 1 h and can be used on stored samples. Initial testing of 85 samples of known HPA-1a genotype demonstrated that HPA-1a-negative samples had OD values of < 0.266, whereas HPA-1a-positive samples had OD values of > 0.6. Testing of 1862 random donor samples in two blood centres confirmed these OD cut-off values and identified 45 HPA-1a-negative samples (2.4%), all except one giving OD values of < 0.2. The remaining HPA-1a-negative sample had an OD value of 0.303. The HPA-1a status on all the negative samples and an equivalent number of randomly selected positive samples was confirmed by flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR- SSP).

NSAIDs are used for a wide-range of conditions. They give symptom relief to, and are perceived as effective by, most patients taking them.

Associations of abnormal spermatozoa with bull fertility have yielded varying results. Manual methods of analysis are subjective and highly variable within and between technicians, which may account for these differences. Computer-aided sperm head morphometry appears to be a precise method of assessing sperm head dimensions; however, the effects of replication and technician on sperm head morphometry have not been assessed. The objective of this study was to determine the inter- and intra-analysis and technician variation associated with computer-aided bull sperm head morphometry analysis. Semen from 10 bulls was diluted to 200 x 10(6) sperm/mL, and slide smears were prepared and stained using haematoxylin and rose bengal. Each of two technicians analysed 250 images from each slide, 3 times, using computer-aided sperm head morphometry analysis. The morphometric dimensions of area, perimeter, length, width and width/length for individual sperm heads of each analysis were assessed by GLM-ANOVA for effects of bulls, replications and technicians. The coefficient of variation was recorded for each analysis and across replications. The mean coefficients of variation within and between analyses were compared between technicians by GLM-ANOVA. No differences (p > 0.1) between technicians were found between or among bulls for area (29.63 vs. 29.26 micron 2), perimeter (23.73 vs. 23.86 microns), length (8.73 vs. 8.71 microns), width (4.47 vs. 4.46 microns), or width/length (0.51 vs. 0.51). No differences (p > 0.1) between replicates for sperm head dimension were detected within or among bulls for either technician. No intra- or inter-analysis differences (p > 0.1) between technicians on CVs were observed. The mean intra-analysis CVs for all bulls for both technicians were area = 6.9%, perimeter = 4.9%, length = 4.5%, width = 5.6% and width/length = 6.5%. The mean interanalysis CVs for both technicians were area = 3.0%, perimeter = 2.4%, length = 2.0%, width = 2.0%, and width/length = 1.7%. The results indicate that ASMA is a repeatable and objective method of assessing bull sperm head morphometry within and between technicians. No differences between replications were detected, and hence replicate analyses are not necessary to acquire accurate morphometric data.

Ibuprofen is as highly regarded as other NSAIDs when used in similar circumstances. Switching patients to ibuprofen may be a realistic way of reducing financial and medical costs associated with NSAIDs.

This highly recommended book explores the animal ethics debate from the perspective of Western political thought, offering the reader not only a survey but also the framework for an original interest-based theory of animal rights. Cochrane’s operating definition of justice is of limited use, and the author is perhaps too uncritical of the utility of employing justice as a means to protect the interests of animals. It is suggested, too, that an account of the political theory of animal rights can invoke profitably the debate between exponents of ideal and non-ideal theories of justice.