Study of serum immunoglobulin concentrations and other analytical variables in different types of diabetes mellitus

75 diabetic patients were the subject of this study. They were classified into 3 groups, 25 in each: group I [IDDM adult patients]; group II [NIDDM adult patients] and group III [IDDM children]. 2 groups of apparently healthy individuals of matching age and sex [25 in each] were chosen and served as control groups: one for the adult and the other for the children diabetic patients. In group 1, 52% of patients showed abnormal higher levels of IgA while, 12% showed abnormal higher levels of IgG. On the other hand 16% showed abnormal low levels of IgM. In group II percentages of patients showing abnormal immunoglobulin levels were 64%, 16% and 16% for IgA, IgG and IgM respectively. Regarding diabetic children, 12%, 4% and 8% showed abnormal levels of IgA, IgG and IgM respectively. IgA levels showed a positive significant correlation with age, disease duration, F. B. S and serum fructosamine in diabetic patients of group I. Neither correlation with age nor with disease duration was found among diabetic patients of group II and III. We concluded that abnormal serum IgA concentrations are very common in diabetic adult patients. Further research should be carried out to verify whether the determination of serum IgA is of clinical use for monitoring diabetes or evaluating its complications. Also our results, in addition to the recently reported relationship between serum fructosamine and IgA in non diabetic patients appears to throw doubt on the clinical utility of fructosamine as a measure of hyperglycemic status if IgA concentration is not taken into account especially in adult diabetic patients but can be used for diabetic children with no doubt

Serum prealbumin concentrations in acute and chronic liver diseases

To study prealbumin levels in acute and chronic liver diseases, blood samples were extracted from 58 patients with liver diseases. They were divided into 4 groups: group I consisted of 13 patients suffering from acute viral hepatitis; group II consisted of 15 patients with compensated bilharzial hepatosplenomegaly; group III consisted of 15 patients with decompensated bilharzial liver fibrosis and group IV consisted of 15 patients suffering from non bilharzial chronic hepatitis. Another 15 healthy subjects were selected and served as a reference group. Beside prealbumin, biochemical liver function tests were done for all subjects. A significant decrease in prealbumin was observed in all patient groups when compared to the reference group [P<0.001]. Within the patient groups, a significant decrease in prealbumin levels was noticed in groups I, III and IV when compared to group II. Serum total protein did not show any significant difference between the studied groups and the reference group, while serum albumin was significantly decreased only in groups II; III and IV. There was a significant positive correlation between the levels of prealbumin and albumin and a significant negative correlation between the levels of prealbumin and total bilirubin, AST, ALT and alkaline phosphatase

Serum and urinary B2-microglobulin in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Serum and urinary beta-2 microglobulin [beta-2 m], C-reactive protein [CRP], erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR], and total lymphocytic count [TLC] were determined in 32 patients with classic seropositive rheumatoid arthritis [RA] and 20 healthy control subjects matched for age and sex. Patients with RA had significant increase in the levels of serum beta-2 m, CRP, ESR, and TLC, but they had nonsignificant increase in the levels of urinary beta-2 m. A positive significant correlation was found between the increased levels of serum beta-2 m and CRP [P <0.001], ESR [P <0.001] and TLC [P <0.05] but no correlation was found with levels of urinary beta-2 m [P >0.05]. The increased levels of serum beta-2 m in patients with RA could be attributed to the high turnover in the lymphocytic pool. According, serum beta-2 m could become part of the routine biochemical assessment of patients with RA with more relevance to the disease process than the acute phase proteins CRP and ESR