Nutrients and hormones in heat-dried human placenta.

This cross-sectional study was to assess the nutrients in terms of protein, fat, minerals, and hormones in heat-dried human placenta. Thirty heat-dried human placentas, 15 from male and 15 from female, were analyzed for protein (amino acids), fiber, fat, moisture, minerals (sodium, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, magnesium, zinc, copper, manganese), hormones (estradiol, progesterone, testosterone, growth hormone). Heat-dried female human placentas had slightly higher fiber content than male, but protein and fat components were not different. Mineral levels in placentas were high especially sodium, potassium and phosphorus. There were no significant differences in the amount of minerals and hormonal profile between female and male placentas. However, hormone levels in heat-dried placenta were low compared to physiologic level in human beings. The results of this study suggest that the amount of nutrients particularly protein and minerals in heat-dried human placentas were enriched.

Five-year thyrotropin screening for congenital hypothyroidism in Ramathibodi Hospital.

OBJECTIVES: To detect newborns with congenital hypothyroidism (CH) and to treat the affected infants as early as possible. STUDY DESIGN: Cord blood thyrotropin (TSH) screening for CH in Ramathibodi Hospital began in 1993. From October 1993 to December 1998, 35,390 neonates were screened. The infants with elevated TSH level of greater than 30 mU/L were recalled for verification of CH. Confirmation tests included total thyroxine, free thyroxine and TSH level. Thyroid scan and uptake were performed in some affected infants. RESULTS: Twelve infants with CH were detected resulting in an incidence of one in 2,949 live-births. All affected infants were asymptomatic at birth. Of 12 infants with CH, one premature neonate had a delayed TSH elevation and was diagnosed as having primary hypothyroidism at 2 months of age. The recall rate for validation of CH based on a cut-off value at serum TSH level of greater than 30 mU/L is 1.1 per cent. If the cut-off value of serum TSH level was raised to greater than 40 mU/L, the recall rate would decrease to 0.43 per cent. None of the affected infants had cord blood TSH level of less than 50 mU/L except one premature patient. Therefore, beginning in January 1997, the cut-off value of TSH was raised to 40 mU/L or greater. Pitfalls in this program include incomplete blood-specimen collection and incomplete follow-up. To strengthen the program, improvements were made in the follow-up system from 1996 onward. Therefore, the coverage for blood-specimen collection progressively increased from 84 per cent in 1994 to 96 per cent in 1998. Simultaneously, the patients' return after recalls also increased from 38 per cent to 100 per cent. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of CH in Ramathibodi Hospital is approximately 1:3,000 live-births. The optimal cord blood TSH level for recall is 40 mU/L or greater. The intensification of follow-up strategy resulted in better response to recall and earlier treatment in the affected infants.

Urinary vanilmandelic acid determination using column chromatography.

A simple method for determination of urinary vanilmandelic acid, VMA, using column chromatography was described. The interfering substances in the urine were eliminated by passing the urine through a Dowex-1 x 2, 50-100 mesh, column and washing the column with distilled water. The VMA was eluted from the resin using K2CO3-containing 3.0 mol/l NaCl solution and determined spectrophotometrically after periodate oxidation reaction. This method yielded a standard curve which was linear up to 50 mg/l. The recoveries of the method as determined by addition technique ranged from 92.1 to 100.4 per cent with an average of 97.3 per cent. The method yielded satisfactory precisions with the coefficients of variation (C.V.) of less than 5.50 and 6.95 per cent for within-run and between-run experiments respectively. The method was sensitive to the concentrations of 1.2 mg/l with recovery of 92.5 per cent and 2.6 mg/l with the recovery of 109.9 per cent for the standard and urinary VMA respectively. No interfering effects were found from epinephrine and norepinephrine (up to 2,000 micrograms/l), acetylsalicylic acid (up to 50 mg/l) and homovanillic acid (up to 10 mg/l) added to the pooled urine. The correlation coefficients (r) of 0.909 (n = 100) and 0.905 (n = 100) were obtained when the urinary VMA values determined by the proposed and Pisano's methods and expressed as mg/l and mg/g creatinine were compared respectively. The column could be reused at least 5 times. The technique is suitable for any routine clinical laboratory.