Impact of gestational diabetes on lipid profiling and indices of oxidative stress in maternal and cord plasma

To study the effect of gestational diabetes mellitus [GDM] on indices of oxidative stress and lipid profiles in maternal and cord blood samples. Blood samples were collected from 40 normal pregnant women and 46 women with GDM during the period 1998 through to 1999 at the Armed Forces Hospital, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The GDM patients were subdivided into 2 groups: patients receiving insulin treatment [GDM-I, N=19] and patients under control diet [GDM-D, N=27]. Plasma a- and y-tocopherols were estimated by high-performance liquid chromatography, whereas malondialdehyde [MDA] was analyzed by fluorometry. Serum lipids [low density lipoprotein, high density lipoprotein, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and total lipids] were determined by enzymatic colorimetry using automated clinical analyzer. The results of lipid profiles in maternal serum showed no significant difference between GDM patients and controls; however, all the lipid constituents except total cholesterol were significantly reduced in the cord blood of GDM patients as compared to control subjects. a-tocopherol levels in the maternal plasma were not significantly different among the 3 groups, whereas, cord plasma a-tocopherol was significantly decreased in both GDM-D and GDM-I. Maternal y-tocopherol was found to be significantly increased in GDM-D and only insignificantly increased in GDM-I, but the cord y-tocopherol showed no appreciable changes. The level of MDA was 3-fold higher in maternal plasma as compared to cord plasma. However, neither the maternal plasma nor cord plasma showed significant differences in MDA levels between GDM patients and normal pregnant women. A significant depletion of a-tocopherol in the cord blood of GDM patients is indicative of a possible oxidative stress in their fetuses. Further studies are warranted to examine a wider range of biochemical parameters to evaluate the potential risks of oxidative damage

Evaluation of 6 cardiac troponin assays in patients with acute coronary syndrome

An increasing body of evidence has demonstrated the value of strategies based on cardiac troponin [cTn] assays in the diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring of patients with acute coronary syndrome [ACS]. We evaluated the performance and the practicability of 6 commercially available assays [5 cTnT and 1 cTnT] in patients with ACS. This study was carried out between October 2001 and June 2002 at Armed Forces Hospital in collaboration with Prince Sultan Cardiac Center, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Blood samples from 96 patients, 40 with and 56 without clinical evidence of yocardial injury, were used for the evaluation. Cardiac Tnl assays were performed using 5 different immunoanalyzers AxSYM [Abbott Laboratories], Stratus CS [Dade Behring], ACS: 180 [Bayer], Centaur [Bayer] and Immulite [Diagnostic Products Corporation] while cTnT was measured on the Elecsys [Roche] immunoanalyzer. The sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values [PV] were calculated for all assays. General and special features related to installation, routine operation, quality control and other various special parameters of each immunoanalyzer were evaluated [using the score of 1-5 for each parameter] and compared with those of other analyzers. The highest reliability values were observed with Immulite, followed by AxSYM, then Stratus, then ACS:180, and Centaur, and lastly by Elecsys. The highest practicability values were observed with Elecsys, and Centaur, followed by AxSYM and the lowest values were observed with Stratus. Considering the combined performance and practicability score, the difference between the 10% coefficient variation cut off value and the 99th percentile value, and the difference in the relative reactivities to the various cTnT forms, the most favorable values were observed with AxSYM, followed by Immulite and Elecsys, then Centaur and Stratus, and lastly by ACS: 180