Purification, characterization and in vivo studies of salmon heparin.

Heparin was purified from gills and intestines from farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Heparin activity was determined after size exclusion chromatography in the molecular weight range from above 8,000 to near 1,500. A specific activity of 110.1 antifactor Xa units/mg was measured in the less than 3,500 molecular weight fraction while 136.8 antifactor Xa units/mg was detected in a 8,000-3,500 molecular weight fraction. The presence of high affinity salmon heparin was demonstrated by using chromatography on antithrombin-Sepharose. Heparin with molecular weights lower than 3,500 was found both in high and low affinity fractions. NMR-analysis detected N- and O-sulfated oligosaccharides essential for heparin activity. The amount of salmon heparin with molecular weight lower than 8,000 varied from 12% to almost 100%. The factors determining this variation is not known, but appears to reside in the fish at the time of slaughter. The in vivo effect of salmon heparin was tested in rabbits using dalteparin as control. Salmon heparin activity was recovered in plasma samples expressed as antifactor Xa activity after intravenous administration. Based on a small number of samples and animals, the results indicate that in vivo half-life time of salmon heparin was higher than that of dalteparin.

[Detection of Chlamydia infection of an Internet-based commercial product]. / Nettbasert selvprøvetaking for påvisning av chlamydiainfeksjon.

BACKGROUND: Free testing, treatment and extensive information campaigns are used to monitor and control the incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis infections in Norway. Most programmes have 15 to 25 year-olds as their target, because of the high incidence of infection in this age group. The potential role and effect of internet-based commercial testing has not previously been assessed in this context. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 1458 urine samples, taken by the patients themselves, were collected from March 2005 to September 2006 according to instructions given on the commercial web site www.testselv.no, and sent to a given address for analysis. Sex, age distribution and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection were assessed and all costs were paid by the patient buying the service. RESULTS AND INTERPRETATION: More men than women used this service, in contrast to the sex distribution seen in public screening programs. The mean age was 28 years, the 25 % percentile and the 75 % percentile was 24 and 32 years, respectively. The prevalence of infection was high; 7.5 % in women and 12.5 % in men. Our study identifies a demographic group with a high incidence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection that has not been previously been targeted by public screening programmes.

The ability of three global plasma assays to recognize thrombophilia.

Three global assays, the Calibrated Automated Thrombogram (CAT), the ProC Global (PCG), and the Coagulation Inhibitor Potential (CIP) were performed in frozen plasma samples from 24 normal controls and 24 patients with inherited thrombophilia. Six patients had inherited antithrombin (AT) deficiency; 18 patients had abnormalities in the protein C/S anticoagulant system (protein C deficiency (n=3), protein S deficiency (n=10), homozygous FV Leiden mutation (n=5)). Nine of these twenty four patients carried additionally the heterozygous FV Leiden mutation. All three assays separated the thrombophilia group and the control group (P=0.083 for CAT, P<0.0001 for the other two assays) but there was considerable overlap, particularly in the CAT assay. The CAT assay separated all plasma samples with AT deficiency but was less sensitive to abnormalities in the protein C/S system. In contrast, ProC Global was more sensitive to abnormalities in the protein C system than to AT deficiency. The CIP assay was approximately equally sensitive to defects in both systems. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves confirmed that the ProC Global and the CIP assays performed better than the CAT assay (P=0.0179 and P=0.0003, respectively). With the CIP assay ROC analysis showed that with a sensitivity of 100% the specificity was 87.5%. With the PCG assay, optimal threshold resulted in both a sensitivity and a specificity of 79.2%. Although our material is relatively small, the data suggest that at a cut-off value with a specificity of >80%, the CIP assay should be evaluated as a screening test for severe thrombophilia.