No abstract

Our data confirm that antibodies to BSA are present in adult-onset IDDM patients, particularly in HLA-DR3-positive patients. However, the prevalence of anti-BSA antibodies was lower than previously reported in children, and there was a considerable overlap with healthy control subjects. Only two out of the five prediabetic patients demonstrated anti-BSA antibodies. Taken together, these results do not bring strong support to the clinical usefulness of anti-BSA antibodies as a relevant marker in diabetes prediction or diagnosis.

No abstract

We have studied the distribution of HLA DRB1, DQA1, DQB1 alleles and haplotypes in a sample of 103 unrelated healthy individuals from the region of Lodz in central Poland by the polymerase chain reaction and hybridization with allele-specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSO). DRB1*0101, DRB1*07, DRB1*1501, DRB1*03 and DRB1*11 were the most frequent alleles at the DRB1 locus. The DRB1*04 group was observed at a high frequency, but only five out of the 19 DR4 subtypes tested were observed. The most frequent was DRB1*0401, followed by DRB1*0403, DRB1*0402, DRB1*0407 and DRB1*0417. Eight DQA1 alleles were found in this Polish population, among which DQA1*0501, DQA1*0101 and DQA1*0102 were the most frequent. At the DQB1 locus 13 alleles were found. Among them, four were present with frequencies above 10%: DQB1*0201, DQB1*0301, DQB1*0501 and DQB1*0602. Our results underline significant differences between the population of central Poland and populations of neighbouring countries such as Germany, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. This study will serve as a reference for further anthropological studies, as well as studies of associations between HLA and disease.

Ionized magnesium was measured potentiometrically using a clinical analyzer MICROLYTE 6 (KONE, Finland). Total magnesium was measured colorimetrically. Ionized magnesium (iMg) concentration changes with pH were made to observe the accuracy of the results if they were not recalculated to the actual pH of blood or recalculated with some uncertainty in parameters. The dependence of iMg and iCa on heparin (used as anticoagulant in plasma samples) was made. Less than 40 units per 1 mL of blood decreased the concentration of iMg and iCa less than 1.5%. The range of iMg and total Mg in serum and plasma of healthy and ill adults (short bowel syndrome, myocardial infarct) was investigated and compared. In both illnesses, the concentration of ionized and/or total magnesium is significantly different from the range of healthy people. The range of iMg and total Mg as well as the percentage of iMg against total Mg seem to be specific for a given illness.