Managerial accounting The Molecular Allies division can provide customers with specialist technical services such as protein analysis, antibody engineering, high throughput screening and quantitative structure activity relationship services - to mention but a few. These projects are normally of a short duration and are aimed at over-stretched drug design departments within pharmaceutical companies which are looking to sub-contract specific projects, or companies that currently do not have access to these types of skills and expertise in-house (source: Proton Quest).

21 1. Please explain the term Coombs' positive (direct and indirect) and negative haemolytic anaemia. 2. What are the principles of the Coombs' test?

22 How often is Aldomet (alpha methyldopa) associated with autoimmune haemolytic anaemia or hepatitis? Is a normal person, with a positive Coombs' test owing to previous treatment with this drug, safe to donate blood?

23 What is the mechanism of priapism in sickle-cell anaemia?

24 Is sickle-cell disease associated with any of the glomerular disorders?

25 What is the acute chest syndrome?

26 Patients with thalassaemia intermedia have recurrent leg ulcers and recurrent infections. What is the mechanism of this?

27 What is the mechanism of iron absorption from iron polymaltose complex and carbonyl iron?

28 Iron overload in patients with thalassaemia major should be checked by measuring the serum ferritin and hepatic iron stores. How are the hepatic iron stores measured? By liver biopsy? And does not the measurement of serum ferritin suffice?

29 In the investigation for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria (PNH), are the sucrose haemolysis test and Ham's acid serum test commonly done? What are the principles behind these tests?

30 Why isn't the blood of polycythaemia vera patients, after repeated phlebotomies, used for transfusion purposes? Although it is a premalignant condition, the red cells do not contain a nucleus and thus transfusion of only pure red blood cells (RBCs) would be a great benefit.