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An association between compatible but ABO non-identical red blood cell (RBC) transfusions and increased in-hospital mortality was identified in an observational study. A review of the literature was performed to explore plausible biological mechanisms and inflammation was chosen. This thesis describes a body of work that was performed to develop a PICOT research question and design a pilot feasibility randomized crossover trial in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to determine whether there is evidence of an inflammatory response resulting from transfusion of ABO non-identical RBCs compared with the transfusion of ABO identical RBCs. The work undertaken as part of this thesis included: identifying a theoretical framework to guide the selection of outcome measures that would detect inflammation; identifying an appropriate and feasible population to study; designing the feasibility pilot study to answer the research question that was developed; and a discussion of ethical issues that were considered as the design of the pilot study was developed. The work that was done to develop the elements of PICOT resulted in the following research question: Is it feasible to perform a randomized crossover trial in chronically transfused blood group A patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), that looks for laboratory evidence of inflammation (in vitro biomarkers measured at baseline and pre-specified times between 1 and 96 hours post transfusion), following the transfusion of group O RBCs (ABO non-identical) compared to transfusion of group A (ABO identical) RBCs? / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

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upd3 in the haemocytes also caused a reduction to signalling in the JNK pathway. The results here show that the haemocytes relay signal(s) to the fat body through the use of cytokines, a process surprisingly similar to the mammalian system.

Human red blood cells (RBCs) must undergo severe deformation to pass through narrow capillaries and submicronic splenic slits for several hundred thousand times in their normal lifespan. Studies of RBC biomechanics have been mainly focused on cell deformability measured from a single application of stress using classical biomechanical techniques, such as optical tweezers and micropipette aspiration. Mechanical fatigue effect on RBCs under cyclic loadings of stress that contributes to the membrane failure in blood circulation is not fully understood. This research developed a new experimental method for mechanical fatigue testing of RBCs using amplitude-modulated electro-deformation technique. Biomechanical parameters of individually tracked RBCs show strong correlations with the number of the loading cycles. Effects of loading configurations on the cellular fatigue behavior of RBCs is further studied. The results uniquely establish the important role of mechanical fatigue in influencing physical properties of biological cells. They further provide insights into the accumulated membrane damage during blood circulation, paving the way for further investigations of the eventual failure of RBCs in various hemolytic pathologies. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection