Focusing on β-amyloid: Report of the 35th Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience

Newly described human serum amyloid A4 (SAA₄) was measured in serum by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using anti-SAA4 monoclonal antibody and recombinant human SAA₄ as the assay standard. Interference by elevated acute phase SAA (aSAA) was abolished by the addition of rabbit anti-human aSAA antiserum prior to the addition ofanti-SAA₄ to the test samples. Normal levels of SAA₄ ranged between 80–140 mg/L, substantially higher than those ofaSAA. No statistically significant difference in SAA₄ levels between normal subjects and patients with Mycoplasma pneumonia was seen, indicating that SAA4 does not behave as an acute phase reactant. Low SAA₄ levels were found in some patients with high aSAA, although no significant relationship between SAA₄ and aSAA was apparent. The constitutive presence of SAA₄ in serum suggests a physiologic function different from that ofaSAA.     

Abstracts of the 9th International Sleep Surgical Society Meeting, 5–7th April 2018, Munich,Germany

Sleep and Breathing -     

The 11th Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) 26–28 May 1993 Helsinki,Finland

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The 11th Meeting of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) 26–28 May 1993 Helsinki, Finland     

Report on the Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Oral Chelation (ICOC) in the Treatmentof Thalassemia and Other Diseases at Taichung,Taiwan, April 22–26, 2005

The aim of this study was the molecular characterization of β-thalassemia (thal) mutations in a group of 95 Egyptian thalassemic patients from Fayoum in Upper Egypt, Cairo, Alexandria and Tanta in Lower Egypt and the Nile Delta. To identify these anomalies, the polymerase chain reaction-amplification refractory mutation system (PCR-ARMS) technique was used, complemented by direct DNA sequencing for uncharacterized cases.

In 80 of the 95 patients, the β-thal mutation was detected by PCR-ARMS. The most common allele encountered in our study was IVS-I-6 (T→C) (36.3%); the second most common mutation was IVS-I-110 (G→A) (25.8%). In addition, we report three homozygous cases for the promoter region ?87 (C→G) allele with a frequency of 3.2%. DNA sequencing of uncharacterized cases (14 cases, 15 alleles) revealed six cases (six alleles) of codon 27 (G→T), and three cases (three alleles) of the IVS-II-848 (C→A) mutation. Codon 37 (G→A) in the homozygous state was found in one patient with positive consanguinity. The frameshift codon 5 (?CT) mutation was detected in two of our uncharacterized cases. The codon 15 (TGG→TGA) mutations was detected in one patient (one allele, 0.5%). All studied cases were fully characterized by this strategy.

Screening for β-thalassemic mutations using ARMS-PCR for the seven most frequent alleles in Egypt succeeded in determining the β-globin genotype in 84.2% of our patients (91.6% of the expected alleles). To improve the efficiency of routine screening, the PCR-ARMS mutation panel should be updated to include the reported rare alleles. Direct DNA sequencing is an additional way to allow a full characterization of β-thal patients in the Egyptian population.     

Summaries from The 58th Annual Meeting of the Japan Esophageal Society June 24–25, 2004, Tokyo

CONGRESS REPORT: SUMMARIES

Summaries from The 58th Annual Meeting of the Japan Esophageal Society June 24–25, 2004, Tokyo