[Prethrombosis in child malnutrition].

Antithrombin III (AT III) and heparin antithrombin assay were estimated in 30 severely malnourished children and 40 normal children. The AT III was found significatively depressed and the heparin antithrombin assay showed a flat curve in the patients, which reflects a prethrombotic pattern in this group of children. Those findings agree with the high incidence of thrombosis reported in childhood malnutrition.

Antithrombin activities in childhood malnutrition.

Antithrombin activities in 30 severely malnourished children and 40 normal children were estimated in clotting tests by thrombin neutralisation as anti-Xa and by a heparin antithrombin assay; and by immunodiffusion as alpha 2-globulin and alpha 1-antitrypsin. The patients' mean alpha 2-globulin was severely depressed, and there were less marked depletions in mean values for thrombin neutralisation, anti-Xa, and in the heparin antithrombin assay (which showed the flat curve thought to reflect a thrombotic tendency). The alpha 1-antitrypsin values were normal.

Chemical characterization of a new haemoglobin variant haemoglobin J Cubujuqui (alpha2141(HC3)Arg replaced by Ser beta2).

Haemoglobin J Cubujuqui (alpha2141(HC3)Arg replaced by Ser beta2) was found during a screening for abnormal haemoglobins carried out in Costa Rica. This variant is clinically silent, although its substitution is in one of the residues involved in the stabilization of the deoxy form of the haemoglobin molecule.