Metabolomic and bioinformatic analyses in asphyxiated neonates.

Objectives: We tested the application of bioinformatic algorithms in studying the metabolomic profiles of neonatal urine samples with clinical evidence of severe asphyxia at birth and subsequent neurodevelopmental handicap.

Design And Methods: The clinical outcomes of 256 newborns that required direct admission to neonatal intensive care unit for respiratory support or did not require direct admission were studied. Urinary metabolite profiles were measured by high throughput mass spectrometry and analyzed by bioinformatic methods.

Changing characteristics of the TDx digoxin II assay in detecting bufadienolides in a traditional Chinese medicine: for better or worse?

In 1992, apparent digoxin concentrations determined by the Abbott TDx II assay 5 hours after the ingestion of 10 pills of traditional Chinese medicine containing toad secretions (chan su) by 7 volunteers, yielded results that were equimolar to bufalin measured by 2 in-house bufalin radioimmunoassays (RIAs). Recently, a 17-year-old Chinese female unintentionally took 100 (instead of 10) of these pills for a sore throat but suffered no ill effects. The blood bufalin concentration at 3 hours by 1 of the 2 RIAs was 10.