Harry Potter and the Full Blood Prints

It is not often that the world of fiction inspires an improvement in the field of blood grouping. The BBC reported this week on an extraordinary development, inspired by the self-writing diary featured in the Harry Potter series of books.

To make sure that a correct assessment has been made of a blood grouping assay, paper impregnated with reagents in the shape of letters is exposed to the blood sample. If a blood sample is group A, the Anti-A which has been impregnated in the shape of the letter reacts with the sample and spells out the letter ‘A’. The same goes for group B, again impregnated with Anti-B in the shape of a ‘B’. Group AB will react with both the Anti-A and the Anti-B, and both letters will show.

To cater for group O, the test paper has Anti-A and Anti-B forming a cross in the centre of a circle. If the sample is not group O, a cross will appear in the circle. If there is neither A nor B present, the circle stays in its original state, showing that the sample is group O.

It is all very ingenious. If it works for the ABO blood groups, it may well be expanded to cover the Rhesus blood groups. Blood grouping may never be the same. The trick is getting the various blood grouping reagents to form letters on the special paper.

I wonder if they have the ability to create a self-writing blog. Now, that really would be progress!

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Blood Donation – Signed up!

Well, I have completed the first stage of the process. I have been on the ‘Give Blood’ website and registered. I have also selected my first donation session. The whole thing took just minutes to do and now there is nothing to stop me. I will be assigned an appointment time in the coming days for a session at the local community centre. Dead easy!

I must confess that I am now looking at Lorne products in a different way. This time, it’s personal. I can hardly pass by Lorne blood grouping reagents or the blood bank fridge without thinking about my own donation and the part that these products will play in the process. My blood will be screened and grouped (I am going to have to ask for as much detail as possible about my blood group profile) and then it will be stored in a blood bank fridge until it is ready for use.

The website (www.blood.co.uk) has some very interesting information, including the basics of blood groups and the history of blood transfusion. I was impressed by the graphical information about the very latest blood stocks being held by the NHS Blood & Transplant. The most interesting feature is a video showing the journey of blood from donation to transfusion. I thoroughly recommend it!
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Move over Rhesus Blood Groups

The last week has seen a decisive shift in the weather here in the UK. As the evenings start to lengthen – noticeably – the icy grip of winter has let loose its grip and the first signs of spring are now appearing.

One effect I have noticed is that it has rather confused the heating here at Lorne. One minute the heating is on and then the next minute someone has switched the system over to air conditioning. We are variously warm as toast or putting on jumpers, depending upon which office space you happen to be in. This cannot be said of everyone. Many of our products have to be stored in refrigerated conditions and for some that means diving in an out of our huge walk-in fridges.

Our reagents, whether they are for grouping ABO or Rhesus blood groups have to be kept nice and cold. I don’t envy those that are spending time in and out of the fridge at this time of year. Mind you, there may be a steady queue outside the walk-in fridges if we get a heat-wave later in the year. I suppose there might be enough space as long as the reagents don’t mind us muscling in. After all, we have got ABO and Rhesus blood groups in us too.

I think that may be one of the worst excuses to jump into a fridge I have ever come up with. I can’t see anyone falling for it.

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A warm welcome in Budapest

One of the joys of being a member of the Lorne team (see, it’s that team theme again), is visiting our distributors wherever they happen to be.

We enjoy an excellent working relationship with our Hungarian distributor, Reagens Kft. They are also in the business of supplying reagents for the ABO blood groups, the Rhesus blood groups and the rares. I had never visited their premises before. In fact, I had never been to Hungary before. And so it was a genuine pleasure to set foot in Hungary for the first time.

I am always excited going to new places. This trip was no exception. I found Budapest to be a heady mix of the new and the old. The river Danube flows through the city dividing Buda in the West from Pest in the East. The late winter sun made the Danube bluer than I had hoped. Besides the mental waltz I was performing, there was a bit of business thrown in too. The ABO blood groups need looking after wherever they may be found.

Our hosts were most gracious. The weather was kind. And I, for one, can’t wait to go back.

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Reaching new heights as a team

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I often refer to my colleagues as ‘the team’. I do so without thinking – though I know that was not always the case when I have worked elsewhere. Lorne does have a team mentality – sometimes even a family mentality – and that is no bad thing in my book. Days such as these are all about seeing ourselves as a special kind of group – and I don’t mean an ABO blood group!

The team-building day just sort of sneaked up on us all. The training room at the local golf club was welcoming and there were no signs of assault courses or other physically demanding, potentially bone-breaking activities. In fact, the whole day turned out to be rather civilised.

Mind you, we didn’t get away with it altogether. There is nothing more levelling in a company than everyone being on all fours. The highlight for most, I think, was the collaborative tower building task. How high can a tower made of spaghetti and marsh mallows get? The winning effort was really rather impressive (I think they must have used superglue at some point), whilst my own ‘team’ got a worthy mention in dispatches. I will not mention the third team’s effort – too painful!

Still, regardless of the strength of our culinary towers, the strength of the Lorne team was never in any doubt. It is upwards and onwards and back to the ABO blood groups on Monday.

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Why The Basque People Should Stay Positive

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I mentioned the Rhesus blood groups in my last post. Most people have heard of the ABO blood groups but the Rhesus blood groups are less well known about. Being Rhesus positive relates to the presence of the D antigen on one’s red blood cells. If you don’t have it, you are Rhesus negative.

The name is derived from the Rhesus macaque – a small species of monkey that was used in the early experiments by Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Weiner. They identified the Rhesus blood groups way back in the 1940s. It turns out to be a bit more complicated than just having or not having the D antigen on your red blood cells. These things never are that straight forward.

It turns out that as well as being important when receiving a blood transfusion, it also plays its part in Hemolytic Disease of the Newborn. If a Rhesus negative mother is carrying a Rhesus positive fetus, there is a risk that the incompatibility can cause the child to be born with the disease. Those most at risk are the Basque people of northern Spain, who are more likely to be Rhesus negative than people elsewhere in the world.

Well, fancy that!

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