The ontogenic switch from fetal to adult hemoglobin could result from discontinuous events, such as replacement of fetal erythroid progenitor cells by adult ones, or gradual modulation of the hemoglobin program of a single progenitor cell pool. The former would result in progenitors at midswitch with skewed fractional beta-globin synthesis programs, the latter in a Gaussian distribution. For th...

A rapid and reproducible electrophoretic method for the separation and quantitation of haemoglobins on cellulose acetate is described. The accuracy of the method and its possible sources of error are discussed. The normal range for haemoglobin A(2) by this method is 1% to 3% of the total haemoglobin concentration. Blood samples from 32 thalassaemic patients showed haemoglobin A(2) values of 3.5...

An automated alkali denaturation technique which measures fetal haemoglobin is described. This method offers greater speed and a lower standard deviation than comparable manual methods.

For the quantitation of hemoglobin S, a radioimm unoassay has been developed which is specific and highly sensitive. Hemoglobin S was purified by column chromatography and injected with complete Freund’s adjuvant into goats. Each goat serum was tested for reactivity against hemoglobins A and S by immunodiffusion and by quantitative precipitation. Hemoglobin A reactivity was removed by absorptio...

The molecular mechanisms of pre-eclampsia are being increasingly clarified in animals and humans. With the uncovering of these mechanisms, preventive therapy strategies using chronic infusion of adrenomedullin, vascular endothelial growth factor-121 (VEGF-121), losartan, and sildenafil have been proposed to block narrow spiral artery formation in the placenta by suppressing related possible fac...

Haemoglobin components in 21 Liberians with Hb S beta +-thalassaemia and four with Hb C beta +-thalassaemia were measured to classify the forms of beta +-thalassaemia present in the population. In 20 Hb S and all Hb C beta +-thalassaemics the data were consistent with the interaction of these variants with the mild type 2 (Negro) form of beta +-thalassaemia. The data available were insufficient...

a simple, rapid new technique is described for the electrophoresis of hemo­globin when screening large human populations. the method uses a drop of finger tip's blood dried on a thick filter paper as the specimen. the simplicity of the sampling, tagging, transportation and electrophoresis, provides a reliable procedure for surveys of large population. in our hand 200 specimens were screened dur...