At the annual meeting of the Society of Hair Testing in Vadstena, Sweden in 2006, a committee was appointed to address the issue of guidelines for hair testing and to assess the current status of accreditation amongst laboratories offering drug testing in hair.

A short questionnaire was circulated amongst the membership and interested parties. Fifty-two responses were received from hair testing laboratories providing details on the amount and type of hair tests they offered and the status of accreditation within their facilities.

Although the vast majority of laboratories follow current guidelines (83%), only nine laboratories were accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for hair testing. A significant number of laboratories reporting that they were in the process of developing quality systems with a view to accrediting their methods within 2–3 years. This study provides an insight into the status of accreditation in hair testing laboratories and supports the need for guidelines to encourage best practice.

Background: Increased parental Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) sharing has been repmted in couples witb history of unexplained recurrent spontaneous abmtion (RSA). Parental HLA sharing increases the risk of feto-matemal histo-compatibility and potentially affects maternal alia-recognition of the fetus. HLA-G is expressed on trophoblast and is expected to play an important role during placental and fetal development. The aim of the present study was to investigate the compatibility of HLA-DRB1 alleles in the couples with unexplained RSA and to investigate the frequency of HLA-DRB1 alleles and HLA-G alleles in these couples compared with fertile controls.

Methods: The frequency of HLA-DRB1 alleles in 36 couples with unexplained recurrent spontaneous abmtion, and the compatibility of HLA-DRB1 alleles between patient couples were studied using a polymerase chain reaction-sequence specific primers (PCR- SSP) method. The frequency of HLA-G alleles in 35 couples were studied using a polymerase chain reaction - single nuclotide polymorphism (PCR-SNP). As controls we used 40 fertile couples who were typed for HLA-DRB1 and HLA-G alleles.

Results: There were no significant differences for HLA-DRB1 and HLA-G allele frequencies in RSA couples compared with fertile controls. There was no significant HLA-DRB1 allele sharing between the RSA couples and fertile controls.

Conclusions: There is no higher HLA-DRB1 allele sharing in couples with unexplained RSA than in fettile couples. The association on allelic level between RSA and HLA-G gene was not supported by our data.

BACKGROUND: The human FUT2 gene encodes the α(1,2)fucosyltransferase that determines secretor status. Homozygous for the nonsense mutation are called non-secretors and are unable to express histo-blood group antigens in secretions and on mucosal surfaces. In this study we have investigated the importance of the FUT2 fucosyltransferase activity on the progress of HIV-1 infection. METHODS: Swedish blood donors (n = 276), 15 long-term non-progressors (LTNP) and 19 progressors were genotyped with respect to the nonsense mutation 428G→A in the FUT2 gene. In addition 265/276 blood donors and 19 progressors with rapid or expected progression rate were Δ32 CCR5 genotyped. RESULTS: Of 276 blood donors 218 (79%) were found to be secretor positive (se+), either homozygous (se+/+) wild type (30%) or heterozygous (se+/-) (49%) and 58 (21%) were homozygous non-secretors (se-/-). Five LTNP (33%) were found to be secretor-positive (se+/+, se+/-) and 10 (67%) se-/-. Of the 19 individuals with normal HIV-1 progression 15 (79 %) were found to be secretor positive and four (21%) were non-secretors. No frequency differences were found in the Δ32 CCR5 allele among the groups studied. CONCLUSION: Strong association (P < 0.001) was observed between the nonsense mutation 428G→A in the FUT2 gene and a slow disease progression of HIV-1 infection. © 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.