A1A2BO, MN, RH blood group markers in tribes of Raipur district, Madhya Pradesh, (India).

Raipur district is located in the South-eastern part of Madhya Pradesh state (Fig. 1). Phenotype and gene frequencies of blood groups A1A2BO, MN and RH among Gond, Kawar and Halba, three dominant tribes inhabiting the district, are reported.

Prevalence of HBsAg carriers among some tribes of Madhya Pradesh.

Prevalence of HBsAg was determined in 1314 sera obtained from 11 different tribal populations of five districts of Madhya Pradesh. Reversed passive haemagglutination assay was used for screening showed a HBsAg carrier rate of 2.99 to 21.54 per cent among the various tribes. Significant regional variation was also observed.

Auto antibodies to nucleosides in systemic lupus erythematosus.

Serological studies in 110 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have shown that autoantibodies to DNA and RNA had subspecificity to adenosine (30.9%), cytidine (79%), guanosine (44.5%), thymidine (20%) and uracil (56.3%). It was also observed that DNA antibodies are heterogenous and that antibody with specificity for both the native confirmation as well as exposed nucleoside of the denatured molecule were present in sera of most of the patients with SLE. There was also alteration in the pattern of antibody to nucleoside in some patients who were treated with steroids or immunosuppressive drugs.

Systemic lupus erythematosus in Indian children.

Twenty cases of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in prepubertal children (less than 14 years of age) were seen over a period of 14 years. The male:female ratio was 1:2.3, and the mean age at onset was 9.37 years. Fever with joint involvement was the commonest presenting manifestation (60%), followed by nephrotic syndrome (25%). Notable clinical features included a high incidence of renal involvement (75%), significant hypertension (45%) and reversibility of acute renal failure (2 cases). The other organs and systems involved included: mucocutaneous manifestations (60%), cardiovascular system (30%), respiratory system (25%), neuropsychiatric manifestations (45%), and anemia (75%). Raynaud's phenomenon and thrombocytopenia were rare while leucopenia was not seen in a single patient. Immunological abnormalities noted were 100% positivity for antinuclear antibodies, and 87.5 and 75% positivity for antibodies to double-stranded and single-stranded DNA, respectively. Hypocomplementemia was seen in 75% of patients tested.

[Ionized calcium, total calcium and albumin corrected calcium in the serum in 1213 patients with suspected calcium metabolic diseases. A prospective multicenter study]. / Ioniseret calcium, totalcalcium og albumin-korrigeret calcium i serum hos 1.213 patienter mistaenkt for calciummetabolisk sygdom. En prospektiv multicenterundersøgelse.

The correlation between serum ionized calcium, serum total calcium and albumin corrected total calcium was investigated in a prospective multicentre investigation of 1,213 patients with suspected calcium metabolic disease. 31.0% of the patients were misclassified when serum total calcium was measured instead of serum ionized calcium. The diagnostic discrepancy between the two methods decreased with the calculation of albumin corrected total calcium or calculated ionized calcium (17.9%). On justing for the analytical error connected with the measurement of ionized calcium, 11.2% of the patients were still misclassified. It is not possible precisely to predict serum ionized calcium from the measurement of serum total calcium and we recommend measurement of serum ionized calcium in patients believed to have calcium metabolic disease.

Comparison of serum total calcium, albumin-corrected total calcium, and ionized calcium in 1213 patients with suspected calcium disorders.

The correlations between serum ionized calcium, serum total calcium, total calcium corrected for albumin and calculated ionized calcium were investigated in a prospective multicentre investigation of 1213 patients suspected of having calcium metabolic disease. Diagnostic discordance between serum total calcium and measured ionized calcium was found in 31% of the patients. With the calculation of albumin-corrected total calcium or calculated ionized calcium the discordance decreased to 17.9%. The diagnostic discordance which could be ascribed to the analytical imprecision (CV = 1.5%) amounted to only 6.7%. Although we found highly significant correlations between the parameters, a considerable scatter around the regression line made prediction of ionized calcium from albumin-corrected total calcium unreliable in many patients.