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A High Temperature Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy reactor (HT-HVPE) was used to grow 5 µm-thick (0001) epitaxial AlN layers on sapphire. The experimental set-up consists of a vertical cold-wall quartz reactor working at low pressure in which the reactions take place on a graphite susceptor heated by induction. The reactants used are ammonia (NH3) and aluminum chlorides (AlClx) in situ formed via chlorine (Cl2) reaction with high purity aluminum pellets. As-grown AlN layers have been characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction rocking curves (XRC) and Raman spectroscopy. First, the influence of the V/III ratio in the gas phase on surface morphology, crystalline quality and strain into the material is investigated in order to improve the quality of epitaxial AlN layers grown at high temperature. Parameters were adjusted to keep constant growth rate of about 5 µm/h. Second, a protective layer (growth of a 200 nm-thick AlN layer at 1200 °C) was deposited before the main growth of a 5µm layer of AlN at 1500°C. A 430 arcsec FWHM value for the 0002 reflection of the AlN layer has been obtained for such experimental conditions. (© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The prevention of presyncopal and syncopal reactions to whole blood donation is important for both the donor's safety and their retention as blood donors. The best strategy to achieve this remains debated., Study Design and Methods: A prospective cluster-randomized trial comparing three hydration modes (500 mL of an isotonic drink, 500 mL of water, just before phlebotomy, or advice to drink [control arm]) coupled or not with light muscle tensing exercises, was carried out in mobile and fixed units of two regional blood centers in southeast France between January and July 2014. The main outcome was the cumulative incidence of presyncope (feeling faint) and syncope (fainting) at the donation site or in the 48 hours after leaving the site. Secondary outcomes were the cumulative incidence of these adverse events during donation, immediately after blood donation, or within 48 hours., Results: Overall, presyncope or syncope occurred in 5.5% of the 4576 donors. Compared to controls, drinking 500 mL (isotonic solution or water) significantly reduced the rate of events (odds ratio [OR], 0.74; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.55-0.99; p = 0.041) independently of muscle tensing exercise. Muscle tensing exercises significantly reduced syncopal-type reactions during the donation (OR, 0.64; 95% CI, 0.42-0.98; p = 0.041), and an isotonic drink significantly reduced delayed off-site syncopal-type reactions (OR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.40-0.98; p = 0.040) and tiredness after donation (OR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.59-0.94; p = 0.014)., Conclusions: Drinking 500mL of water or isotonic drink close to phlebotomy is useful in preventing presyncopal or syncopal reactions in blood donors. Isotonic drinks have the advantage of preventing delayed reactions and tiredness after whole blood donation., (© 2016 AABB.)

The poor suitability of standard hemagglutination-based assay techniques for large-scale automated screening of red blood cell antigens severely limits the ability of blood banks to supply extensively phenotype-matched blood. With better understanding of the molecular basis of blood antigens, it is now possible to predict blood group phenotype by identifying single-nucleotide polymorphisms in genomic DNA. Development of DNA-typing assays for antigen screening in blood donation qualification laboratories promises to enable blood banks to provide optimally matched donations. We have designed an automated genotyping system using 96-well DNA microarrays for blood donation screening and a first panel of eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms to identify 16 alleles in four blood group systems (KEL, KIDD, DUFFY, and MNS). Our aim was to evaluate this system on 960 blood donor samples with known phenotype. Study data revealed a high concordance rate (99.92%; 95% CI, 99.77%-99.97%) between predicted and serologic phenotypes. These findings demonstrate that our assay using a simple protocol allows accurate, relatively low-cost phenotype prediction at the DNA level. This system could easily be configured with other blood group markers for identification of donors with rare blood types or blood units for IH panels or antigens from other systems., (Copyright © 2014 American Society for Investigative Pathology and the Association for Molecular Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

For a long time, safety has been patient-centred and taken for granted. Indeed, it needed a dramatic accident and the study of post-donation information for the question to be looked into again. However, under various statutory, organizational aspects and the professionalization of the staffs, safety has always accompanied the donor throughout its course of donation. Self-sufficiency is, certainly, the first mission of the Établissement Français du Sang: while we have to supply patients with sufficient blood products complying with quality criteria, we must not however forget the essential respect for the safety of the donor., (Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier SAS.)

Background: Continuous improvement of efficiency as well as new expectations from customers (quality and safety of blood products) and employees (working conditions) imply constant efforts in Blood Transfusion Establishments (BTE) to improve work organisations., Methods: The Lean method (from "Lean" meaning "thin") aims at identifying wastages in the process (overproduction, waiting, over-processing, inventory, transport, motion) and then reducing them in establishing a mapping of value chain (Value Stream Mapping). It consists in determining the added value of each step of the process from a customer perspective. Lean also consists in standardizing operations while implicating and responsabilizing all collaborators. The name 5S comes from the first letter of five operations of a Japanese management technique: to clear, rank, keep clean, standardize, make durable. The 5S method leads to develop the team working inducing an evolution of the way in the management is performed., Results: The Lean VSM method has been applied to blood processing (component laboratory) in the Pays de la Loire BTE. The Lean 5S method has been applied to blood processing, quality control, purchasing, warehouse, human resources and quality assurance in the Rhône-Alpes BTE. The experience returns from both BTE shows that these methods allowed improving: (1) the processes and working conditions from a quality perspective, (2) the staff satisfaction, (3) the efficiency., Conclusions: These experiences, implemented in two BTE for different processes, confirm the applicability and usefulness of these methods to improve working organisations in BTE.

Donor and recipient sample biobanks are a precious tool in hemovigilance studies as well as in epidemiological and biological research, in particular with regards to safety against blood-borne agents. This paper describes the main transfusion biobanks existing in France and gives their advantages and limits. The National blood donation biobank, organized for medicolegal reasons, preserves samples of each blood donation for a 5-year period. The biobank of the Blood and Organ Transmissible Infectious Agents (BOTIA) project stocks paired donor-recipient samples with a research objective. Preserved over a long period of time, such transfusion biobanks will be useful in terms of public health, as a reflection of the biological state of a population at a given moment.

French blood banks recently implemented nucleic acid testing (NAT) of all blood donations to reduce the risk of HIV transmission during the pre-seroconversion period. For tissue donation, HIV infection screening relies on HIV p24 antigen and anti-HIV-1 and 2 antibody detection. In this report, two related cases of infectious donations are described from a cornea donor during the preseroconversion window who was infected by an HIV antibody and NAT negative blood donor. After investigation, the blood donor was found to be herself in the preseroconversion window. Two months after donation, she was found to be HIV positive. The residual risk of HIV infectious blood donations since NAT has been introduced is estimated to be lower than one out of 2.5 millions. Individual NAT instead of minipool testing would not increase significantly the blood transfusion safety. In contrast, introduction of NAT should be considered to increase tissue donation safety as soon as such screening will be possible technically., (Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

In order to locate the rate of positivity of the different markers of hepatitis that can be transmitted through blood (Ag HBs, anti-HBc Ab, anti-HCV Ab and transaminases (ALAT)), we have conducted a study over 300 blood donors and who are sale, equally shared between the parts of age and of sex. The ALAT were superior to the normalcy in 10.66% of the cases, the male sex being 3 times more affected than that of the female. The Ag HBs was positive in 4.66% of the cases. The male sex is twice as affected as the female sex. One of three persons who donated blood (37.33%) had anti-HBc Ab. Finally none of the 300 blood donors has the anti-HCV Ab. There's a very weak recovering between the presence of Ag HBs and of ALAT superior to the normalcy, a weak recovering between Ag HBs and anti-HBc Ab and a certain recovering between ALAT superior to the normalcy and the présence of anti-HBc Ab. There is no recovering between the anti-HCV Ab and the indirect markers. Eventually, the systematization of all these tests over each donation engenders the elimination of more than 2/5 of the collected products.