We describe a technique for estimating the mass of anti-DNA antibodies by immunonephelometry of serum immunoglobulins (IgG, IgA, IgM) before and after adsorption onto DNA bound to agarose-polylysine columns. Sixteen patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and 16 age- and sex-matched controls were studied. Precision was determined for high-value (in 10 patients) and low-value (in nine control...

We present a light scattering measurement of the correlation length for a series of critical solutions of polystyrene in methylcyclohexane with different molecular weights. Our results show that the correlation length j;Nne, where N is the polymerization index and e5(T2Tc)/Tc is the reduced temperature. The N exponent zn is found to be 0.1860.02, which is contrary to most earlier direct experim...

BACKGROUND Hypocomplementemia has been detected in about 15% of unselected series of SSc patients. It constitutes one of the 10 parameters needed to evaluate the European Scleroderma Study Group (EScSG) activity index. A few studies have been so far devoted to investigate the clinical manifestations correlated with this finding. OBJECTIVE To investigate SSc patients for hypocomplementemia and...

Serum IgD concentrations were measured in 39 children with Henoch Schonlein purpura (HSP) and 40 control children by means of radial immunodiffusion. Serum IgG, IgA and IgM concentrations in the HSP patients were measured by nephelometry. The geometric mean IgD concentration in children with HSP (16.7 microg/ml) was significantly higher than in control children (9.1 microg/ml; P=0.03). Serial t...

The evolution of the main serum opsonins in neonates and infants of varying gestational age was investigated to provide reference values for these opsonins in early infancy. Serum concentrations of immunoglobulins, IgG subclasses, C3, C4 and fibronectin were serially measured from birth until the age of 6 months in term and preterm infants. Measurements were performed by rate nephelometry. Five...

The aim of this study was to determine level of serum IgA, IgG and IgM in patients with OLR as indicators of humoral immunity which might reflect cell-mediated immunity. This study was conducted on 30 patients (age 60.17 +/- 11.75) with clinically and histopathologically confirmed diagnosis of OLR and 30 healthy controls (age 56.16 +/- 11.82) Determination of serum IgA, IgG and IgM was performe...

UNLABELLED The primary objective of this study was to evaluate and compare the immunodiagnostic significance and utility of anti-RA33 with anti-CCP, RF, and CRP in Saudi patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS This was a prospective controlled clinical study conducted at King Abdul Aziz University Tertiary Medical Centre. The sera of 41 RA patients, 31 non-RA patients, and 29 healthy cont...

Orosomucoid was evaluated by laser-nephelometry in 1790 sera collected from 1170 newborns. Within-run precision (CV) was 2.1 to 4.2%, between-run 2.9 to 5.2%. Results correlated well with radial immunodiffusion (r = 0.989). Results can be obtained within 1 h. Orosomucoid concentrations in serum at birth range from 130 to 200 mg/L and are influenced by gestational age during the first two days o...

PURPOSE To evaluate the functional activity of the classical and alternative pathways of the complement system and the levels of C3, C4, and factor B during the first episode of meningococcal infection and during the convalescence period. PATIENTS AND METHODS Ten Brazilian children ranging in age from 8 months to 8 years, admitted from 1991 to 1993 with a clinical-laboratory diagnosis of meni...