To Investigate the Effect of Using Ethanol Containing Wipes in Collecting Blood for the Measurement of Alcohol Concentration

This study was aimed to establish whether the skin preparation using ethanol-containing skin antiseptics causes ethanol contamination through blood collection. Venous blood was collected from 40 healthy volunteers according to the national guidelines for blood sampling, with four sequential procedures as follows: 1) collecting blood immediately (within 5 seconds) after cleaning the skin with an individually packaged type of ethanol-containing wipe, 2) collecting blood 1 minute after cleaning the skin with an individually packaged type of ethanol-containing wipe, 3) collecting immediately (within 5 seconds) after cleaning the skin with a traditional cleaning method (thoroughly ethanol-impregnated wipe, and 4) collecting 1 minute after cleaning the skin with a traditional cleaning method. Each sequential procedure was performed with and without the ethanol-containing wipe used for skin cleaning on the puncture site on their right and left arms at the time the needle was withdrawn, respectively. The collected specimens were subjected to the determination of ethanol by using headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In every 80 blood specimens obtained from 40 participants, ethanol was undetectable (<0.001 mg/mL). This study demonstrates that disinfection using ethanol-containing skin antiseptics is unlikely to cause ethanol contamination through blood collection regardless of skin preparation technique according to the guidelines for blood sampling. This may have implications in forensic science.

Active Hexose Correlated Compound (AHCC) Alleviates Gemcitabine-Induced Hematological Toxicity in Non-Tumor-Bearing Mice

Active hexose correlated compound (AHCC) is known as a dietary supplement derived from an extract of a basidiomycete mushroom. The present study was conducted to evaluate the role of AHCC in alleviating the side effects, particularly hematological toxicity, in non-tumor-bearing mice receiving monotherapy with gemcitabine (GEM). The results from the GEM treatment groups with and without AHCC administration were compared to control group that received vehicle alone. The GEM alone treatment reduced peripheral leukocytes and hemoglobin, and bone marrow cell viability in spite of no influence on body weight, food consumption, and renal and hepatic parameters. Supplementation with AHCC significantly alleviated these side effects. The colony forming assay of bone marrow cells revealed that AHCC improved reduction of colony forming unit-granulocyte macrophage (CFU-GM) and burst forming unit-erythroid (BFU-E) related to GEM administration. However, when mRNA expression of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and erythropoietin (EPO) was examined using a quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), AHCC showed no effect for the mRNA levels of their hematopoietic growth factors. These results support the concept that AHCC can be beneficial for cancer patients with GEM treatment through alleviating the hematotoxicity.