OBJECTIVE To evaluate the extent to which increase in iodine requirement was achieved in pregnant women who attended the antenatal clinic at Harare Central Hospital. DESIGN Cross sectional. SETTING Samples were collected from pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at Harare Central Hospital, and from lactating mothers and their infants. SUBJECTS 100 pregnant women attending the antenat...

PURPOSE To the assess sensitivity and specificity of urinary levels of hyaluronic acid (HA) and hyaluronidase (HAase) as an individual or a combined test to diagnose bladder transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred and ninety-four urine specimens were collected from individuals between July 2007 and March 2008. The urinary level of hyaluronic acid (HA) was measured...

OBJECTIVES Perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate are well-known inhibitors of the sodium-iodide symporter and may disrupt thyroid function. This exploratory study investigated the association among urinary perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate concentrations and parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in the general U.S. population. METHODS We analyzed data on 4265 adults (aged 20 years and older) f...

Arsenic is a well-documented human carcinogen and is known to cause oxidative stress in cultured cells and animals. A hospital-based case-control study was conducted to evaluate the relationship among the levels of urinary 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG), the arsenic profile, and urothelial carcinoma (UC). Urinary 8-OHdG was measured by using high-sensitivity enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ...

Determining individual health status is of great importance for a better understanding of life history trade-offs between growth, reproduction, and maintenance. However, existing immunological methods are invasive and therefore not suitable for investigating health status in wild populations. Thus, there is an urgent need for non-invasive methods to assess the immune status of animals. Neopteri...

BACKGROUND Proinflammatory cytokines are important mediators in heart failure (HF). Recently, urinary levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) have been determined. AIMS The purpose of this study was to measure the urinary levels of TNF-alpha and IL-6 receptors, sTNF-RI, sTNF-RII, sIL-6R, and the relationship with plasma levels and NYHA classes in HF. METHO...

Background: Iodine deficiency and its related disorder such as goiter are endemic in Lorestan province. Following initiation of iodine deficiency control program in 1989, production, distribution and consumption of iodinated salt were begun. This survey was conducted in the framework of national monitoring survey in 2001 to find out the prevalence of goiter and urinary iodine level in order to ...