Study the levels of AFP, HCG and UE3 in pregnant women and their relation with gestational age and the age of the pregnant woman

AFP considers as important factor in the prenatal diagnosis of malformations and genetic abnormalities in fetus, since its level, in pregnant women, changes in the case of fetus malformation. So our study aimed to evaluate the change of the levels of serum AFP during pregnancy, and the relation between the levels of AFP and the levels of HCG and unconjugated Estriol 3 with the prenatal diagnosis of fetus malformations, to evaluate this procedure as non invasive prenatal diagnosis method. When HCG and unconjugated Estriol 3 determination is combined with AFP determination, it increases the sensitivity and the specifity of the method more than only AFP determination, considering both of the pregnant woman age and the gestational age. The study included 84 woman distributed into the following groups: 20 unpregnant women aged between 20-35 years, 12 pregnant women aged between 16-20 years, 33 pregnant women aged between 21-30 years, 19 pregnant women older than 31 years old, also we divided the pregnant women according to the gestational age, which determined by Ultrasound into: 34 pregnant women in fourth month, 28 pregnant women in fifth month, 2 pregnant women in sixth month. The AFP and HCG were assayed by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA]. We found a strong correlation between gestational age and AFP levels [r = 0.86, p < 0.0001], between gestational age and HCG levels [r = 0.67, p < 0.0001], and between gestational age and uE3 [r = 0.85, p = 0.0001], but the correlation between the age of preganant woman and AFP levels was weak [r = 0.21, p = 0.088], also for the correlation between the age of pregnant woman and HCG levels [r = 0.30, p = 0.019], and no correlation between the age of pregnant woman and uE3 levels [r = 0.045, P = 0.8]

Inspection of the pathophysiology of anemia among children with cancer

The pathophysiologies of cancer-associated anemia has been categorized as being similar to those of anemia of chronic diseases. However, modern studies made for investigating the pathophysiology of anemia among children with cancer refer to obvious differences from that seen in adults. And as it has been confirmed that a defect in erythropoietin production is a principal cause of anemia among adults with solid tumors; it seems that anemia among children with cancer is associated with a decrease in bone marrow erythropoietic activity without a decrease in erythropoietin production. We have measured the values of haemoglobin, serum concentrations of erythropoietin and soluble transferrin receptor among groups of children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, who have either solid tumors or haematological malignancies, to inspect the pathophysiology of cancer-associated anemia among them; by determining values of erythropoietin and bone marrow response. The study included 54 children all suffering from cancer, their ages varied between 1 and 152 months. Patients was divided into four groups: Tow of them are for patients of cancer-associated anemia [showing haemoglobin values lower than values of reference ranges according to age], one of them is for solid tumors and the other is for haematological malignancies. The other two are control groups [showing haemoglobin values within the reference ranges according to age], one of them is for solid tumers and the other is for haematological malignancies. Our results indicate that anemia among children with cancer undergoing chemotherapy is mainly caused by an intrinsic failure in bone marrow and not by a reduction in erythropoietin production, which means that there is a difference in pathophysiology of anemia among children with cancer from that seen in adults