Bone marrow transplantation in two multiply transfused patients with thalassaemia major

Bone marrow transplantation has generally been unsuccessful when applied to patients with thalassaemia major over the age of 6 years. We report here two successful transplants for this disorder in a 7 1/2-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl following a pre-transplant cytoreductive/immunosuppressive regimen of total body irradiation and cyclophosphamide. Complete durable engraftment of donor haematopoietic and lymphoid populations was documented through several approaches, including cytogenetic analysis, haemoglobin electrophoresis, globin chain synthetic ratios, red cell typing and DNA restriction enzyme analysis. Both patients are surviving in good health, 28 and 9 months from transplantation. The successful outcome in these patients demonstrates the feasibility of marrow transplantation for the treatment of thalassaemia in multiply transfused and, presumably, highly sensitized patients.     

Rehabilitation strategies enhancing participation in shopping malls for persons living with a disability

Purpose: After rehabilitation, it is not clear the extent to which persons living with a disability return to their former activities in the community, such as going to shopping malls. Rehabilitation professionals are faced with the challenge to adequately prepare their clients to resume community participation. The purpose of this study was to identify rehabilitation strategies aimed at preparing clients to engage in activities in shopping malls.

Method: Twenty-two participants including 16 rehabilitation clinicians and 6 persons living with a disability participated in four nominal group sessions. Participants were questioned on current or potential rehabilitation strategies carried out to enhance participation in shopping malls for persons living with a disability. Discussions were audio-recorded and qualitative content analysis was conducted.

Results: Participants mentioned strategies that were either carried out by the clinician, or in collaboration with other parties. The latter type of strategies was either carried out with the collaboration of the client, the interdisciplinary team, the relatives, or community organizations.

Conclusions: Rehabilitation clinicians have a role to play in preparing persons living with a disability to resume activities in a shopping mall. Additionally, therapeutic interventions in community settings may enhance the participation of rehabilitation clients in their everyday activities.

• Implications for rehabilitation

• Many strategies are currently used in rehabilitation to prepare persons living with a disability to resume shopping activities.

• Clinicians could implement shopping-oriented rehabilitation strategies with the client and/or with other rehabilitation partners.

• Involving clients in activities related to shopping might enhance their participation in shopping malls after rehabilitation.

• Rehabilitation clinicians can be facilitators for people living with a disability to reach optimal participation.

     

A critical review of early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a leading cause of pregnancy-related morbidity and mortality in the United States. In the past 30 years, a large amount of research has been performed to investigate the pathogenesis and pathophysiology of preeclampsia, ways to treat preeclampsia, markers that can be used to predict preeclampsia, and associations with other factors, such as smoking, stroke, and cardiovascular disease. Preeclampsia has been characterized by some investigators into 2 different disease entities: early-onset preeclampsia and late-onset preeclampsia. Early-onset preeclampsia is usually defined as preeclampsia that develops before 34 weeks of gestation, whereas late-onset preeclampsia develops at or after 34 weeks of gestation. Although the presenting features overlap, they are associated with different maternal and fetal outcomes, biochemical markers, heritability, and clinical features. To date, no review has analyzed the data focusing on early- versus late-onset preeclampsia. This review summarizes the relevant research on the similarities and differences between early- and late-onset preeclampsia as it relates to pathogenesis and biomarkers, including differences in vascular endothelial growth factor, placental growth factor, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1, epidermal growth factor, transforming growth factor-β, vascular cell adhesion molecule, toll-like receptor, plasma pentraxin 3, soluble endoglin, and lipid peroxidation. Although many articles have been published regarding these 2 entities, more data regarding differences and similarities between the 2 are clearly needed. Such study should permit more effective diagnosis, treatment, and management of patients with preeclampsia. Target Audience: Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Family Physicians Learning Objectives: After the completing the CME activity, physicians should be better able to evaluate the role of abnormal placentation in preeclampsia. Develop a protocol for researching biomarkers relevant to early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia. To distinguish the biomarkers that are similar and different in early-onset and late-onset preeclampsia.