Measurement technique for the determination of blood oxygen saturation.

A new optical measurement technique based on spectral scanning is described for the determination of oxygen saturation of whole blood. The principles of this technique are outlined, together with a calibration procedure used to test its feasibility in vitro. The preliminary results show that the accuracy of the new technique is of the order +/- 2% over the full range of oxygen saturation. This degree of accuracy is comparable with commercial CO-oximeters.

Intestinal alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme in patients with primary liver cancer during treatment with N10-propargyl 5, 8-dideazafolic acid (CB 3717).

Serum aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and gamma-glutamyl transferase (gamma GT) activities and the serum ALP isoenzyme pattern have been measured in eleven patients undergoing treatment with CB3717. There were increases in the activity of all three enzymes. The ALP isoenzyme pattern showed an increased contribution of the intestinal isoenzyme to the serum ALP activity. This may be due to increased intestinal mucosal leakage or impaired uptake and breakdown of the intestinal isoenzyme by the liver.

Differential reactivity of alpha-fetoprotein with lectins and its usefulness in the diagnosis of various liver diseases.

Serum from 38 patients with liver disease and elevated serum AFP concentration was subjected to affinity chromatography on concanavalin A (Con A) and lentil lectin. More than 70% of the serum AFP of the 18 patients with primary liver cancer (PLC) or the 12 patients with cirrhosis or chronic active hepatitis (BLD) bound to Con A, less than 70% of the serum AFP of 8 patients with metastatic liver disease (MLD) bound to Con A. On the other hand less than 20% of the serum AFP of the BLD patients but more than 20% of the serum AFP of the PLC or MLD patients bound to lentil lectin. Thus reactivity of serum AFP towards Con A and lentil lectin provides a simple test that can be used in the differential diagnosis of BLD, PLC and MLD.

Serum human pancreatic elastase I levels in pancreatic disease.

The serum elastase concentration has been measured in 25 healthy individuals, sixteen patients with tumours involving the pancreas, nine patients with acute pancreatitis and nine patients with chronic pancreatitis. The elastase concentrations were increased in those with pancreatic tumours particularly when the head of the pancreas was involved. In acute pancreatitis, the serum elastase showed a proportionally greater increase than did the serum amylase and maintained abnormal levels for a longer period. In six out of nine patients with chronic pancreatitis the serum elastase level was within the reference range for healthy individuals.

Six methods for urinary protein compared.

Six assays for protein in urine were compared for linearity, ease of standardization, precision, comparability of assay values, technical ease of assay, and current cost. The assays investigated were three dye-binding techniques, a recent turbidimetric technique, the trichloroacetic acid--biuret reaction, and a tannic acid protein precipitation reaction with ferric chloride. All assays suffered from standardization problems, although the biuret method showed the best analytical recovery of albumin and gamma-globulin. The tannic acid/ferric chloride method is dependent on sample pH. The turbidimetric assay exhibited the greatest imprecision; i.e., CVs were 19.5% at a protein concentration of 0.13 g/L and 6.0% at a protein concentration of 1.3 g/L. On the basis of all the factors assessed, we conclude that the Pesce/Strande Ponceau-S and the Bio-Rad Coomassie Brilliant Blue dye-binding techniques offer certain advantages over the other assays studied.