Construction, in vitro and in vivo evaluation of an in-house conductance meter for measurement of skin hydration.

Different probes are used in dermato-cosmetic research to measure the electrical properties of the skin. The principle governing the choice of the geometry and material of the measuring probe is not well defined in the literature and some device's measuring principles are not accessible for the scientific community. The purpose of this work was to develop a simple inexpensive conductance meter for the objective in vivo evaluation of skin hydration. The conductance meter probe was designed using the basic equation governing wave propagation along Transverse Electromagnetic transmission lines. It consisted of two concentric copper circular electrodes printed on FR4 dielectric material. The performance of the probe was validated by evaluating its measurement depth, its ability to monitor in vitro water sorption-desorption and in vivo skin hydration effect in comparison to that of the Corneometer CM 825. The measurement depth of the probe, 15 µm, was comparable to that of CM 825. The in vitro readings of the probe correlated strongly with the amount of water adsorbed on filter paper. Skin hydration after application of a moisturizer was monitored effectively by the new probe with good correlation to the results of CM 825. In conclusion, a simple probe for evaluating skin hydration was made from off-the-shelf materials and its performance was validated in comparison to a commercially available probe.

Seroprevalence and genotyping of hepatitis C virus in multiple transfused Jordanian patients with ß-thalassemia major.

OBJECTIVE: The main objectives of this study are to investigate the prevalence of HCV among patients with ß-thalassemia major and to determine the most prevalent genotype for this virus among them. METHODS: One hundred twenty-two ß-thalassemia major patients who were previously diagnosed at the molecular level were included. All plasma samples were tested for the presence of antibodies by ELISA. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used in the quantitation the HCV RNA viral loads, and consequently, patients with high virus titer were genotyped by the linear array. RESULTS: Forty of the patients were anti-HCV positive. The prevalence of anti-HCV was significantly higher in patients who received blood transfusion before 1993 (83.7%) than in those who received it after 1993 (16.3%) (p=0.000). ß-thalassemia major patients with HCV infection had significantly higher rates of elevated aspartate aminotransferase (54.4% vs 40.5%, p=0.045) and alanine aminotransferase (72.47% vs 37.47%, p=0.00) and of splenectomy (54.8% vs 45.2%, p=0.004) than ß-thalassemia major patients without HCV. CONCLUSION: HCV genotype 4 is the commonest genotype in multi-transfused patients with ß-thalassemia major in Jordan.

The prevalence of factor V Leiden (G1691A), prothrombin G20210A and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase C677T mutations in Jordanian patients with beta-thalassemia major.

One hundred beta-thalassemia major (beta-TM) patients and 100 individuals as control were included. Factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene mutations were genotyped by PCR and allele-specific restriction enzyme techniques. The prevalence of factor V Leiden G1691A, MTHFR C677T and prothrombin G20210A in patients was insignificantly higher than controls. Patients with beta-TM have insignificantly higher frequencies of mutant A allele in factor V Leiden G1691A (11.5 vs. 10.5%), mutant T allele in MTHFR C677T (21.5 vs. 21%) and mutant A allele in prothrombin G20210A (3 vs. 2.5%) than controls. Double heterozygosity for two of the three mutations discussed in this study was found in (10 vs. 8%, P = 0.62) in beta-TM patients and controls. The prevalence of factor V Leiden G1691A, prothrombin G20210A and MTHFR C677T mutations was slightly but insignificantly higher in beta-TM patients than controls. beta-TM is a chronic hypercoagulable condition independent of predisposing genetic factors.