An Introduction To Human Blood Groups

An Introduction to Human Blood Groups provides an introduction to human blood groups. The book begins with a chapter on elementary serological matters. This is followed by separate chapters on the Rhesus factor, hemolytic disease of the newborn, Rhesus antibodies, the Rh complex, blood-group nomenclature and notation, and the MNS system. Subsequent chapters deal with the ABO system, the P and Lewis blood-group systems, the relationship of blood groups to disease, and human blood-group genetics. The final chapter considers whether blood groups can contribute to the study of mankind.

Human Blood Groups is a comprehensive and fully referenced text covering both the scientific and clinical aspects of red cell surface antigens, including: serology, inheritance, biochemistry, molecular genetics, biological functions and clinical significance in transfusion medicine. Since the last edition, seven new blood group systems and over 60 new blood group antigens have been identified. All of the genes representing those systems have now been cloned and sequenced. This essential new information has made the launch of a third edition of Human Blood Groups, now in four colour, particularly timely. This book continues to be an essential reference source for all those who require clinical information on blood groups and antibodies in transfusion medicine and blood banking.

Although a few books covering primarily serological aspects of human blood groups are available, it became clear to me in the course of my research that no compendium of the non-serological aspects of human blood group systems exists. This book has been written to facilitate access to the vast number of publications scattered throughout the literature in both chemical and medical journals on the chemistry, biochemistry, and molecular biology of blood groups. It is designed as a concise survey for use by blood bankers and researchers in biochemistry, blood group serology, immunohaemotology, forensic medicine, population genetics, and anthropology; the text is supplemented by numerous illustrations and tables. This volume encompasses the entire field of blood group serology and provides a comprehensive survey of present knowledge in the field. The serological aspects have been kept to a minimum. I have emphasised the chemical, biochemical and molecular genetic basis of blood group specificity and given full consideration to molecular biology investigations, in particular to those on the structure of blood group genes and the structural basis of alleles and rare blood group variants. The book covers the latest developments in research and discusses literature up to the beginning of 1995.

Blood Group Substances: Their Chemistry and Immunochemistry focuses on the characteristics, reactions, sources, and transformations of blood group substances. The book first offers information on human blood group factors and the methods and reagents used in testing for blood group antibodies and antigens. Topics include autoantibody formation and hemolytic anemia, panagglutinable erythrocytes, effects of temperature on hemagglutination, and effects of periodate on blood group substances. The text also ponders on the sources and purification of blood group substances. The publication examines the chemical and immunochemical characterization of blood group substances and immunochemical similarities and differences among blood group substances from various species. The text then takes a look at antibodies to blood group substances and their biological effects, including purification and concentration of blood group antibodies; studies with antibodies labeled with radioactive isotopes; and passage of antibodies through the placenta. The manuscript is a valuable reference for readers interested in blood group substances.

Zoologists have categorized primates into a single order, and no one doubts today that they share a common ancestry. Humans and Old and New World non human primate species, from the lemurs of Madagascar to the African anthro poid apes, represent diverging branches of an evolutionary common trunk. Along with species-specific characters, all primates have retained a number of ancestral traits, relics of their common origin. The comparative study of these species-specific and ancestral traits makes it possible to reconstruct the evolu tionary pathways of humans and nonhuman primates. The discovery of the human blood groups and, later, of the Major Histocom patibility Complex (MHC) had a seminal effect on the field of human genetics, providing the first sound examples of mendel ian polymorphisms. The use of blood group and MHC alleles as genetic markers in biological anthropology gen erated a conceptual revolution and persuaded researchers to begin to think in terms of populations and not only intems of typology. The counterparts of these human red and white cell antigens were found and studied in nunhuman primates, and progress in this field is summarized in this book.