Maternal serum screening for Down syndrome in the first trimester: experience from Belarus.

We have carried out a large retrospective study of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), free-beta human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein (PAPP-A) in the first trimester of pregnancy. Unlike other studies all women had routine ultrasound dating, carried out during a nuchal translucency measurement project. A total of 13,477 serum samples were tested for AFP and 11,659 for free beta-hCG.

[The surgical treatment of heart defects in active infectious endocarditis].

Aim: To elucidate significance of early diagnosis and results of surgical treatment of valvular defects in active infectious endocarditis (AIE).

Materials And Methods: Surgical outcomes were analyzed for 437 AIE patients with active AIE. The operation was made 10 months, on the average, after AIE onset.

Population-based differences in thyrotropin and thyroxine distributions in healthy newborns revealing results from independent reagent evaluation.

An independent evaluation of reagents for the determination of thyroxine and thyrotropin from dried blood spot samples taken from newborns between the third and fifth day of life revealed striking differences in the thyrotropin distribution among newborns from Byelorussia. An analysis of the thyrotropin distribution from Byelorussian newborns showed that 40% of samples had over 5 mIU/l blood. In other European populations comparable in respect to timing of blood collection, this fraction varied from only 1% (Stockholm, Sweden) to 3.

[The surgical treatment of multiple myomas of the left heart].

5 patients with multiple left heart myxomas have been followed for 30 years. There were 4 females and 1 male at the age of 20-50 years. Two-dimensional echocardiography was used for the proper diagnosis in all cases.

Recurrence of the R408W mutation in the phenylalanine hydroxylase locus in Europeans.

The relative frequency of the common phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) mutation R408W and its associations with polymorphic RFLP, VNTR, and short-tandem-repeat (STR) sites in the PAH gene were examined in many European populations and one representative North American population of defined European descent. This mutation was found to cluster in two regions: in northwest Europe among Irish and Scottish peoples, and in eastern Europe, including the Commonwealth of Independent States. This allele was significantly less frequent in intervening populations.