A 49-year-old man in follow-up due to chronic liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The patient had rejected antiviral treatment and was in a state of compensated cirrhosis. He was admitted to our service due to jaundice and right hypochondrium pain lasting three days. The patient did not mention dietary or alcoholic transgression or the ingestion of drugs except drinkable Aloe v...

Fetuin, the bovine alpha-fetoprotein, contains glycopeptide sequences similar to those found on red cells. As a result, it is capable of strong physical interaction with the phytohemagglutinin isomitogens (H-PHAP) which possess two or more R (red cell binding) subunits as part of their tetrameric structures. Fetuin shows little or no interaction with L-PHAP, a phytohemagglutinin made up of four...

A new separation procedure based on the double-antibody technique has been adapted to the CENTRIA System. This procedure is universally applicable and lends itself to easy adaptation to commercial RIA kits in which liquid reagents are used. This second antibody is covalently linked to agarose (Sepharose) and the lyophilized powder is subsequently tableted for easy use on the instrument. The tec...

This comment describes the study by Jersmann and co-workers in this issue of Clinical Science reporting the results of a study of the role of the serum glycoprotein fetuin in the uptake of apoptotic cells by macrophages. They show that fetuin is able to stimulate the macropinocytosis of apoptotic cells in vivo, which would be therapeutically useful following chemotherapy when the increased numb...

Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein concentrations are influenced by maternal weight during the second trimester. Heavier pregnant women have lower median values, apparently as a result of a diluting effect of larger blood volume. This phenomenon is of clinical interest because alpha-fetoprotein concentration in a pregnant woman's serum is one of the factors considered in assessing risk of poor ou...

INTRODUCTION Testicular tumors most frequently metastasize to regional lymph nodes. Non-seminomatous tumor metastasis of testicle (NSGCTT) to the eyeball is rare. CASE REPORT We presented a 24-year old man, referred to the ophthalmologist due to acute pain and abrupt loss of sight in the left eye accompanied by its enlargement. Orbital and endocranial computerized tomography (CT) was carried ...

The pediatrician who cares for a child with a birth defect or genetic disorder may be in the best position to alert the family to the possibility of a recurrence of the same or similar problems in future offspring. The family may wish to know about and may benefit from methods that convert probability statements about recurrence risks into more precise knowledge about a specific abnormality in ...

A straightforward statistical explanation is provided to show how differences between assay methods can affect the distribution of the multiples of the median (MoM). Evaluation of the impact of assay method differences reveals that the upper tails of the MoM distribution are not affected to the same degree as the lower tails of the distribution. The disparities in MoM distributions due to assay...