The influence of maternal opiate use in pregnancy on second trimester biochemical markers for Down syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: The object of this study is to examine the influence of maternal opiate use on the levels of second trimester biochemical markers for Down syndrome. Maternal opiate use is known to be associated with problems of placental origin and it is possible that the secretion of alpha-feto protein (AFP), free-beta human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and unconjugated oestriol (UE) differs from that of a normal population. METHOD: Seventy nine women who used opiates in pregnancy were compared to a control group of seventy nine women who did not use opiates and their adjusted marker levels analysed. RESULTS: The adjusted median MoM in the opiate and control groups respectively were: AFP (1.00 vs 0.94), HCG (0.95 vs 1.04) and UE (0.96 vs 1.02), with no significant difference between these groups. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that the current practice of calculating the risk of Down syndrome from second trimester biochemistry in women using opiate can be performed using data derived from a normal population.

[Agricultural products handling: methods of feasibility evaluation]. / Procesamiento artesanal de productos agrícolas: métodos de evaluación de factibilidad.

Post-harvest problems are important constraints to the expansion of production of food in many Latin American countries. Besides problems of bulkiness, perishability and seasonal production patterns, the necessity of reducing transportation costs, increasing rural employment, and finding new markets for processed products, requires the development of processing technologies. Possible processed products include a vast range of alternatives. Given limited time and resources, it is not always feasible to carry out detailed studies. Hence a practical, low-cost methodology is needed to evaluate the available options. This paper presents a series of methods to evaluate different processing possibilities. It describes in detail each method including a rapid initial assessment, market and consumer research, farm-oriented research, costs and returns analysis and finally, some marketing and promotion strategies.

Chemical synthesis, purification, and characterization of two inflammatory proteins, neutrophil activating peptide 1 (interleukin-8) and neutrophil activating peptide.

Two recently identified pro-inflammatory proteins, namely, neutrophil activating peptide 1 (NAP-1) [also termed interleukin-8 (IL-8)] and NAP-2, were chemically synthesized, purified, and characterized. The fully protected NAP-1/IL-8 (72 residues) and NAP-2 (70 residues) peptide chains were assembled by automated solid-phase methods with average stepwise yields of 99.5 and 99.3%, resulting in overall chain assembly yields of 70 and 62%, respectively. Deprotection resulted in crude products, which were allowed to fold by air oxidation, and were purified by two cycles of reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography, yielding 27 mg of NAP-1/IL-8 and 22 mg of NAP-2. Purity was established by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography and isoelectric focusing, and the primary structures of the purified products were verified by using mass spectrometry and Edman sequencing methods. Synthetic and recombinant NAP-1/IL-8 were equally active on human neutrophil granulocytes as determined by measuring the induction of cytosolic free calcium, elastase release, and chemotaxis. Synthetic NAP-2 was equivalent to purified natural NAP-2 in the elastase release and calcium mobilization assays, but it was consistently less potent (3-5-fold) as a stimulus of chemotaxis, perhaps indicative of additional chemotactic components in the natural preparation. The results indicate that by chemical synthesis these cytokines can be obtained in purity and quantities suitable for further structural analysis, as well as functional studies both in vivo and in vitro.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Etiology of preoperative anemia in patients undergoing scheduled cardiac surgery.

PURPOSE: Ten percent of our cardiac surgical patients have preoperative anemia. Anemia diagnosed before scheduled cardiac surgery is a strong predictor of the need for homologous blood transfusion (RBC) perioperatively but the cause of this preoperative anemia is not known. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the etiology of preoperative anemia. METHODS: Seventy-five consecutive anemic cardiosurgical patients (Hb = < 120 g x L(-1) the day before surgery) were studied prospectively. All had multiple diagnostic blood tests done in the preoperative period to diagnose the cause of the anemia and subsequently underwent non-emergency cardiac surgery. Anesthesia and RBC transfusion were standardized according to the protocol. Data in respect to operation, RBC and other blood product transfusion during operation and hospital stay were recorded. RESULTS: Hospital-acquired anemia was present in 37.3% of anemic patients (hemoglobin decrease during hospitalization before surgery > or =9 g x l(-1)). The second most common diagnosis was iron deficiency anemia (29.3% patients) followed by anemia of chronic renal disease (10.7% patients). When coronary angiography was performed close to operation time, patients had a higher decrease in hemoglobin concentration during hospitalization --suggesting that blood loss during angiography was, in part, responsible for anemia. Seventy-five percent of anemic patients were transfused with RBC perioperatively compared with our overall transfusion rate of 30% of cardiac surgery patients. CONCLUSIONS: In the majority of patients, preoperative anemia is potentially preventable. Investigation and treatment of anemia before cardiac surgery should be a priority in preparing the patient for surgery.

Ion-spray mass spectrometry of marine neurotoxins.

Ion-spray mass spectrometry was investigated for the analysis of three marine neurotoxins: domoic acid, saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin. All three compounds gave positive-ion spectra with abundant ions of protonated molecules and no significant fragmentation. Domoic acid gave a negative-ion spectrum with a strong [M-H]- ion. Tandem mass spectrometry provided useful fragment-ion spectra for all compounds. Detection limits for flow injection analyses with selected-ion monitoring were determined to be 30 pg for saxitoxin, 100 pg for domoic acid and 200 pg for tetrodotoxin. Combining liquid chromatography with ion-spray mass spectrometry allowed the determination of domoic acid and some of its isomers in toxic shellfish tissue extracts.