On the disturbances in carbohydrate metabolism in pre-dialysis patients with chronic renal failure.

Unlabelled: We describe some of the aspects of impaired carbohydrate metabolism in predialysis uremic patients.

Methods: A total of seventy-five nondiabetic patients with chronic renal failure (CRF) were enrolled in the present study. The level of glycosylated hemoglobin was measured in 51 patients using kits from Merck and an oral glucose challenge test was performed in 20 according to a standard protocol.

In vitro and in vivo studies of the effect of the concentration of plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate on the blood compatibility of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) drain tubes.

Evaluation of the effect of the plasticizer di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) has been carried out on the properties of blood compatibility of plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) through an in vitro registering of the amount of total protein in relation to the amount of DEHP. The influence of DEHP on the properties of blood compatibility has also been evaluated in vivo by tracing through a modified method of Gott (LV Gott and A Feruse, Bull NY Acad Med 1972; 48(2): 482-491) the presence of a thrombus and the patency of tubes made from the material tested, as well as the patency of tubes made from the same material having surfaces coated with paraffin and complexone. For all implanted samples the changes in coagulation time and the amount of haemoglobin after their stay inside a blood vessel in the abdominal cavity of a dog have been registered.

[Alkaline phosphatase in the leukocytes of pregnant women with pre-eclampsia].

The authors studied 74 pregnant women with preeclampsia presenting various degrees of gravity. The activity of alkaline phosphatase was determined cytochemically in the leucocytes. It was established that the activity of the enzyme was unchanged in mild preeclampsia and diminished progressively with advancement of the pathological process, compared with the respective values of normally progressing pregnancy at the same gestational period.

[Alkaline phosphatase isoenzyme activity in the serum of women during the second half of pregnancy].

The authors determined total alkaline phosphatase activity as well as the activity of placental, bone marrow and liver isoenzymes in sera of 185 pregnant women with normal pregnancy, divided, into 6 groups according to their gestational age (from 20 to 40 weeks' gestation). It was established an increase of bone marrow and placental isoenzymes of alkaline phosphatase parallel to an increase of gestational age, while the values of liver isoenzyme were comparatively constant, with the exception at 34-36 weeks' gestation when was elevated. Inferences are made for the origin of hyperphosphatemia during pregnancy.

[Alkaline phosphatase in the leukocytes of women with a normal pregnancy].

280 women were studied--30 of whom were nonpregnant and 250 were pregnant at various periods of normal progressing pregnancy. The activity of leucocytic alkaline phosphatase was determined cytochemically. It was established that the activity of the enzyme was elevated even at the earliest periods of pregnancy compared with the activity of nonpregnant women.