The term of 37 years, from 1925 to 1961, could be divided into five periods. The first corresponds to one with a stable and high birth rate, the second to that of Japan-China War, the third to that of World War II, the fourth to that of postwar with its rapid drop in birth rate and the fifth to that with a low birth rate since then. This classification of period shows the change of historical conditions of Japan.
The materials for the test of homogeneity were prepared from random sample from the cards of the registered donors in Shimane, Yamaguchi, Akita and Iwate Prefectures and Bernstein's method was applied to estimate the gene frequencies (p: gene of A, q: gene of B, r: gene of O).
The results of the test of homogeneity between each period could be expressed as follows: in Shimane Prefecture; q in the third period decreased, in Akita Prefecture; q in the third peroid decreased, in Yamaguchi Prefecture; p in the fourth period increased and in Iwate Prefecture, q in the latter half of the fifth period decreased.
The effect of hybridisation, areal biased donation, immigration and inbreeding must be considered as possible factors in the change of gene frequency.
There is very little hybridisation in Japan and is not relevant here.
Areal biased donation which means an increase or a decrease of coming donors from particular districts was demonstrated in the survey of Shimane blood center, and in the population size of the blood center level this biased donation shows no significant change of gene frequency.
An assumption of 4% immigration, from Akita to Shimane Prefecture, revealed no change of gene frequency, but when immigration amounted to 10% in two or more years the test verified that there is a significant change in the distribution of gene frequency. But such an excessive immigration is not the real condition in prefectures of country-side.
If there is an effect of inbreeding, there must be a significant difference of p², q² and r² between the first period and the fifth period, since the fifth period corresponds to the second generation of the first period. But the results of these computations were not significant in any of the four prefectures. The change of previously mentioned social and historical conditions have led to decrease of the number of birth, the fractionising of population, the temporary isolation of inhabitans and then subsequent relaease of fractionising and isolation. The consequence of these changes is the so called “bottle-neck effect”.
In countries of the world where a high frequency of hybridisation takes place the results such as mentioned here would be difficult to obtain.

View full abstract

We observed two cases with delayed hemolytic transfusion reaction due to anti-Jk^a which had not been detected in their pretransfusion sera. Hemolytic reactions were oberved 9 days in the first case and 8 days in the second case after the transfusion with crossmatch-compatible red blood cells. In the first case, the direct antiglobulin test was negative with red cells collected 3 days after the onset of the hemolytic reaction and anti-Jk^a could be identified only in her post transfusion serum. In the second case, the direct anti globulin test was positive immediately after the hemolytic reaction and anti-Jk^a was identified in both his serum and the eluate from his red cells. Anti-Jk^a in the serum of the second case rapidly decreased with its half fife of about 13 days. This antibody was IgG in which IgG₃ was predominant. IgG₃ usually has the half life of 8 days, the shortest in IgG subclasses. These facts could explain the rapid decrease of anti-Jk^a in the second case. Delayed hemolytic transfusion reactions observed in the two cases were transient and clinical symptoms disappeared without serious effect on the patients.

View full abstract

The conditions of granulocyte preservation, and the influences of storage temperature (4°C versus 22°C) and pH had been studied.
Granulocyte counts, mean cell volume, viability and morphology were superior at 4°C-storage. However, chemotaxis, random migration and bactericidal activity were better at 22°C-storage. The decrease in phagocytic activity of granulocytes stored at both temperature was not seen. Adherence ability of granulocytes stored at 4°C or 22°C up to 48hr increased. It seems to be due to damage of plasma membranes. The optimum pH of storage medium was 7.2 for the maintenance of various functions. The pH of granulocyte concentrates collected by ACD-anticoagulant was 7.05, and by CPD was 7.3, respectively.

View full abstract

An intermittent flow type blood processer of Haemonetics-PEX was studied on cytapheresis with a 170ml pheresis bowl in a single donor. This bowl was newly manufactured for trial. The decline of blood pressure during cytapheresis with a 170ml bowl was less than that with a 225ml bowl. The yield of platelets and lymphocytes collected with a 170ml bowl was about 30% lower than that with a 225ml bowl and about 200% higher than that with a 125ml bowl. There was a close correlation between the yield of blood components and the volume of pheresis bowl when 170ml and 225ml bowls were used. These results indicate that a 170ml pheresis bowl is very useful to collect blood components from the person with low hematocrit or with a little volume of circulating blood.

View full abstract