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TraQ's February newsletter includes these highlights:

International news

General

• Fire In The Blood  - Documentary at 2013 Sundance Film Festival on the fight with the pharmaceutical industry over inexpensive HIV/AIDS drugs for The Third World
• Let’s do something about overuse of blood transfusions (from Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit)
• People with HCV infection almost 4x more likely to report tattoo, even when other major risk factors considered (Report in Hepatology)
• Fetal fingernail almost kills mother, requires 22 blood transfusions
• Molecular diagnostics - 'hot picks' from MLO

Canada

• CBS seeks corporate financing for umbilical-cord blood bank
• CBS: Dr. Dana Devine discusses recent MSM submission to Health Canada

Australia / NZ

• Retrial for physician charged with manslaughter: wrong diagnosis led to surgery instead of transfusions for rectal bleeding
• Patient Blood Management Guidelines (Feb. 2013 progress update)

Malta

• Report of interesting conversation between politician and blood centre director on MSM policy

Trinidad and Tobago

• Group O mom dies from DIC, hemorrhage after receiving group B RBC

UAE

• No more needles if hospital gets approval for blood scan device to measure Hb

UK

• NHSBT partners with Christian churches to promote blood and organ donation
• NHS needs major IT update

USA

• In-flight transfusions saving lives on battlefield

Industry news

• India: Stem cell industry - Fearing unscrupulous use, stakeholders race to regulate applications

Diseases in the news

• HCV: Report of a strong association between tattoos and HCV
• HIV: Report of a survey of medical student attitudes towards HIV-positive and marginalized patients in Russia, 2010

Resource library

• Many resources from BC PBCO, inc. transfusion reaction webinars
• 'Blood Detectives' trailer from ASH's video library
• New TM blog: Don't worry, be happy (Musings on the loves & hates of a lifetime in transfusion medicine)

Journals

• Eclectic papers, including a paper in which the authors contend that foreign aid to blood transfusion services in sub-Saharan Africa has resulted in serious negative outcomes, a case study of a fatal delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction associated with anti-Di^b and anti-E, and a review and editorial on best transfusion practices.

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February 12, 2013 
Pat Letendre, TraQ coordinator

TraQ Newsletter - February 2013

INDEX

TraQ & BC PBCO | Global News | Diseases | Industry News | Resource Library - Links | Journals

• TraQ home | BC PBCO

For the latest news see What's new - chronological

General

• Fire In The Blood Documentary at 2013 Sundance Film Festival on the fight with the pharmaceutical industry over inexpensive HIV/AIDS drugs for The Third World (10 Feb. 2013) 
  • Film review by PhD candidate at London School of Economics
  • Film review on Hollywood Reporter (18 Jan. 2013)
  • Follow Fire in the Blood on Twitter
• Let’s do something about overuse of blood transfusions (4 Feb. 2013) | Patient Safety Science & Technology Summit
• People with HCV infection almost 4x more likely to report tattoo, even when other major risk factors considered (25 Jan. 2013)
  • Carney K, Dhalla S, Aytaman A, Tenner CT, Francois F. Association of tattooing and hepatitis C virus infection: A multicenter case-control study. Hepatology. 2013 Jan 12. doi: 10.1002/hep.26245. [Epub ahead of print]
• Fetal fingernail almost kills mother, requires 22 blood transfusions (8 Jan. 2013)
• Molecular diagnostics - 'hot picks' from MLO | Also see blog, Do you believe in 'omics'?

Canada

• CBS seeks corporate financing for umbilical-cord blood bank (10 Feb. 2013) Seems philanthropy is wave of the future for Canada's health care system
• CBS: Dr. Dana Devine discusses recent MSM submission to Health Canada (~7 min. audio file) | Dana Devine

* Also see TraQ's Canada News | International News

Australia / NZ

• Retrial for physician charged with manslaughter: wrong diagnosis led to surgery instead of transfusions for rectal bleeding (8 Feb. 2013) | Background
• Patient Blood Management Guidelines (Feb. 2013 progress update)

Malta

• Conversation between politician and blood centre director on MSM policy - Scroll to ‘Don’t link blood transfusions to prejudices’ (2 Feb. 2013)

Trinidad and Tobago

• Group O mom dies from DIC, hemorrhage after receiving group B RBC (7 Jan. 2013)

UAE

• No more needles if UAE hospital gets approval for blood scan device to measure Hb (6 Feb. 2013)

UK

• NHSBT partners with Christian churches to promote blood and organ donation (28 Jan. 2013) | Flesh and Blood
• NHS needs major IT update (16 Jan. 2013) But money scarce and still smarting from failure of national electronic patient record system

USA

• In-flight transfusions saving lives on battlefield (1 Feb. 2013) | Be sure to read comments of 'David' re-training nurses get in administering blood in US hospitals

Industry news

• India: Stem cell industry (12 Feb. 2013) | Fearing unscrupulous use, stakeholders race to regulate applications

* Also see TraQ's Industry News

Diseases in the news

• HCV: Carney K, Dhalla S, Aytaman A, Tenner CT, Francois F. Association of tattooing and hepatitis C virus infection: A multicenter case-control study. Hepatology. 2013 Jan 12. doi: 10.1002/hep.26245. [Epub ahead of print]
• HIV: Bikmukhametov DA, Anokhin VA, Vinogradova AN, Triner WR, McNutt LA. Bias in medicine: a survey of medical student attitudes towards HIV-positive and marginalized patients in Russia, 2010. J Int AIDS Soc. 2012 Sep 27; 15(2): 17372. (Russia has significant HIV epidemic soon to escalate)

* See TraQ's 'Disease clearinghouses' in top menu

Resource Library / Links

Canada

BC PBCO and BC TRG: Transfusion Bits and Bytes (6 educational videos for med lab technologists)

BC PBCO mobile web apps: BMI (Body Mass Index) Calculator and IVIG Dosing Calculator | Instructions:

Android | Blackberry | iPhone

For further information contact Quality and Utilization Management Program Coordinator at PBCO

@transfusionnews (TraQ webmaster's personal Twitter account)

TraQ's February newsletter

Video: 'Blood Detectives' Trailer |ASH's complete video library

NEW Feb. TM blog: Don't worry, be happy (Musings on the loves & hates of a lifetime in transfusion medicine)