The estimation of fetal haemoglobin in healthy adults by radioimmunoassay

A radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the measurement of fetal haemoglobin (HbF) was established and used to determine the distribution of HbF in 2463 British adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years. Although a range in HbF values was similar in both genders a shift towards higher values is seen in females and the mean HbF% is higher, in females, at all ages between 18 and 55. A significant and different fall in HbF over the age range studied was noted between females (47%) and males (23%). The difference in mean HbF between the genders was less marked after age 40 years and a small rise in HbF production was measured in females between ages 50 and 54 years.

Gas-Liquid Chromatographic Determination of Terbuthylazine Technical and Its Formulations: Collaborative Study

Terbuthylazine technical and its 80% wettable powder were analyzed in a CIPAC collaborative study. The content and the identity were determined by gas-liquid chromatography on a column of 3% Carbowax K20M on Gas-Chrom Q, using di-n-pentylphthalate as the internal standard. Results obtained from 27 government, university, and industrial collaborators showed within-laboratory repeatability of 1.3% for the technical and 1.0% for the wettable powder. Reproducibility was 2.1% for both samples. The method has been adopted official first action

Thyroid stimulating antibodies and metastatic thyroid carcinoma

A patient with previously treated follicular carcinoma of the thyroid developed Graves' disease with a high titre of thyroid-stimulating antibodies (TSAb). He developed functioning pulmonary metastases leading to hyperthyroidism. Levels of TSAb paralleled the functional status of the metastases suggesting that hyperfunction of the neoplastic tissues was caused by TSAb.

The effects of therapy with oestriol succinate and ethinyl oestradiol on the haemostatic mechanism in post-menopausal women

The effects on the haemostatic mechanism of oestrogen therapy, given to prevent bone loss in post-menopausal women, have been investigated. Oestriol succinate was given orally to 10 women at a level of 2 mg/day for 1 month and for a further 3 months with incremental increase of 2 mg each month. 6 of the 10 women were subsequently treated with 25 mug/day orally of ethinyl oestradiol. Oestriol succinate therapy resulted in a small increase in the level of factor VII, a decrease in factor VIII concentration and increased sensitivity of platelets to aggregating agents. Ethinyl oestradiol treatment resulted in much more widespread changes with marked increases in coagulation factors VII, VIII, IX and X, decreased levels of antithrombin and dramatic increases in circulating plasminogen levels and euglobulin lysis activity. The data suggested that the nature of oestrogens employed therapeutically is important in determining the qualitative and quantitative effect of oestrogen therapy on components of the haemostatic mechanism.

Increase in urinary indican excretion in pancreatic steatorrhoea following replacement therapy

Urinary indican excretion was studied in 5 patients with steatorrhoea of pancreatic origin, 4 patients with steatorrhoea due to other causes, and 5 normal subjects. Treatment with pancreatic extract resulted in an immediate increase in indican excretion to above the normal range in patients with steatorrhoea due to pancreatic insufficiency. Administration of pancreatic extract did not result in a rise in the patients with steatorrhoea not due to pancreatic insufficiency, or in the normal subjects. In one patient with pancreatic insufficiency maintained on a low protein diet, the rise in indican excretion on replacement therapy was much slower and did not reach as high a level as in the patients on a normal protein diet. The possible mechanisms underlying these observations are discussed. It is suggested that the finding of a low indican excretion in the presence of steatorrhoea and its rise to above normal on pancreatic enzyme therapy is strongly suggestive of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency.

The effect of carbenicillin on the haemostatic mechanism

Carbenicillin has no effect on the thrombin time, partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, platelet factor 3 availability, fibrinogen and plasminogen levels, Factor XIII, fibrin plate lysis or euglobulin lysis time in vitro in concentrations from 20–1280 μg ml−1. After incubation with plasma, carbenicillin inhibited platelet aggregation to ADP at all the concentrations examined (20–1280 μg ml−1). The same coagulation tests were unaffected 30 min and 4 h after intravenous administration of 5 g of carbenicillin to six normal subjects, though some impairment of platelet response to ADP occurred in three subjects. This impairment of platelet function is considered unlikely to contribute towards a bleeding tendency in normal subjects but might perhaps be a contributory factor in haemostatic failures in patients with uraemia.

The fine structure of sarcoid and tuberculous granulomas

The granulomas of sarcoidosis and non-caseating tuberculosis show similar cell-types: two forms of epithelioid cells, A and B, giant cells, lymphocytes and ‘activated’ mononuclear cells. The morphology of epithelioid cells suggests that they are primarily biosynthetic rather than phagocytic.

The relationship of these various cells to each other is discussed and the following sequence of granuloma development is suggested: circulating lymphocyte → activated mononuclears → A → B epithelioid cell whose secretory product stimulates transformation of other circulating lymphocytes.

Studies on the origin of milk fat. A further study of bovine serum lipoproteins and an estimation of their contribution to milk fat

1. Tritium-labelled palmitic acid combined in olive-oil triglycerides was introduced into the rumen of a lactating cow and the specific radioactivity of the lipids of milk and of the lipoproteins of both jugular and mammary venous serum was measured. 2. As previously found in a similar experiment with [(3)H]stearic acid, the specific radioactivity of the triglyceride fraction of the dextran sulphate-precipitable lipoproteins reached a maximum earlier and greater than that of the milk fat. 3. This fraction was the only lipid separated that had a significant arteriovenous difference in concentration, and is therefore identified as the main circulating lipid precursor of milk fat. 4. Although the non-esterified fatty acids showed no arteriovenous difference in concentration, they showed a negative difference in specific radioactivity that could have occurred only at the expense of the triglycerides of the precipitable lipoproteins. 5. The mean specific radioactivity of the triglycerides immediately after removal from the blood is calculated and shown to be very close in value to that of the corresponding fraction in mammary venous serum. 6. By comparison of the mean specific radioactivities of milk fat and of this precursor, its contribution is calculated as 36%. 7. This value is discussed with reference to the concentration of C(16) and C(18) fatty acids in milk fat and it is concluded that substantial amounts of these acids must have been derived from a source other than preformed circulating lipids.