Public attention has been drawn to the acute porphyrias in the past few years by speculation that they affected the character of George III and the creative genius of Vincent van Gogh. During the same period, there have been important advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of the acute porphyrias and in diagnosis and the clinical management of patients and their families. Four typ...

Five different immunoassay formats were examined for their ability to detect a minute quantity of prey remains in predator guts. The convergent lady beetle, Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Meneville, that had consumed either one or five pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders), eggs was evaluated by the following immunoassays: three variations of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)...

OBJECTIVES Although epileptic seizures are an infrequent feature of acute attacks of the neuropsychiatric porphyrias, there are no significant reports of porphyria in chronic epilepsy. This paper attempts to redress the balance. METHODS Three case reports, including detailed laboratory and molecular diagnostics. RESULTS Two patients with variegate porphyria and one with acute intermittent p...

This study was performed on an alfalfa crop located on the central plain of La Araucanía Region, Chile and in the Laboratorio de Entomología Aplicada de la Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias y Forestales at the Universidad de La Frontera. Certain aspects of the biology of Hippodamia variegata (Goeze) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) were determined, more specifically in relation to its life cycle, s...

Two Thai women who are siblings presented with a history of recurrent pruritic vesicles on dorsum of both hands and extensor surface of forearms where the sun-exposed areas are. The excoriated vesicles were healed with depressed scars. They had no previous history of intense abdominal pain, seizure, or psychiatric disorder Urinary porphyrins were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatograp...