Serum Samples Of Pregnant Women Research Articles

Seroepidemiology of Toxoplasma gondii infection among pregnant women in public hospital in Khoy, Northwest of Iran, 2015–2017

Aims: Toxoplasma gondii is a protozoan parasite and congenital transmission, abortion, and prenatal mortality are major problems of this parasite. This study was carried out to determine the seroprevalence of Toxoplasma infection in the pregnant women, referring to Khoy Public Hospital, Iran, during 2015–2017. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, 3 ml of venous blood were taken from 1060 pregnant women and centrifuged; the collected sera were kept in a freezer at -20°C until testing. Then, samples were examined for the presence of IgG and IgM Toxoplasma antibodies using Autobio ELISA kit according to manufacturer's instructions. Data analysis was done using Chi-square test and SPSS-10 software. Results: Among 1060 serum samples of pregnant women, 38.2% were positive for anti-T. gondii antibodies. IgG and IgM titers of antibodies to T. gondii were positive in 36.6% and 1.2% of women, respectively. The incidence in women older than 30 years was 49.3%. The positive rate of IgG of pregnant women increased with age (P < 0.05). In women who were living in the village, the prevalence was 45.5% and in urban women, it was 21.5%; this difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The relatively high prevalence of T. gondii infection in this study showed that pregnant women infected with this parasite at an early age and it is important for pregnant women to prevent irreversible complications in neonates.

Can Carcinoembryonic Antigen Serve as an Indicator for Meconium-Stained Amniotic Fluid?

INTRODUCTION: Meconium-stained amniotic fluid occurs in approximately 12% of all pregnancies. Although most pregnancies with meconium-stained amniotic fluid end with no fetal or neonatal complications, there is still a significant number that result in immediate life-threatening complications to the neonate such as meconium aspiration syndrome. Meconium aspiration syndrome still poses a challenge to clinicians and leads to serious morbidity in affected newborns. To date, meconium-stained amniotic fluid is simply detected by the naked eye of the examining health care provider. There is no objective laboratory test or imaging study for the detection of meconium-stained amniotic fluid. The goal of our study was to determine whether carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels can serve as a reliable marker for the detection of meconium-stained amniotic fluid. METHODS: Carcinoembryonic antigen levels were measured quantitatively in amniotic fluid, urine, and serum samples of pregnant women at term in labor with ruptured membranes. RESULTS: Eighty-one amniotic fluid samples were obtained, 45 clear, eight indeterminate, and 28 with visible meconium stain. Those managing the course of labor were blinded to the result of the assay. Carcinoembryonic antigen levels were significantly higher in meconium-stained amniotic fluid compared with clear amniotic fluid (mean [micrograms/mL] of 2,658 compared with 238, respectively; P<.001). The critical concentration of CEA in meconium-stained amniotic fluid was assessed and a cutoff level was determined. Carcinoembryonic antigen levels in urine and serum samples of women with meconium-stained amniotic fluid remained low and similar to those with meconium-free amniotic fluid. CONCLUSIONS: Carcinoembryonic antigen level in amniotic fluid offers a diagnostic modality independent of the clinician's visual estimate. This may be useful in cases when the presence of meconium is in question.

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Serum of Pregnant Women: Levels, Correlations, and Potential Health Implications

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), a group of flame retardants, and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were analysed in serum samples of pregnant women from Denmark to provide information about their exposure and to study indications of common exposure pathways. The main BDE congener was the fully brominated BDE-209 with a median value of 7.5ng/g lipid (46pg/mL; 9.8pmol/g lipid). Other BDE congeners decreased in the order BDE-47>BDE-99>BDE-153. The summed concentration of tri- to hepta-BDEs was 7.7ng/g lipid, i.e. in the higher end of previously reported concentrations from Europe, including plasma samples of pregnant Danish women. Total lipid contents were relatively low, on average 5.9g/L (9.0mmol/L). The main PFAS compound was perfluorooctane sulfonate with a median concentration of 8.4ng/mL. Other PFASs decreased in the order perfluorooctanoic acid>perfluorononanoic acid>perfluorodecanoic acid>perfluorohexane sulfonate and resulted in a ΣPFAS of 12ng/mL. Within each group, compounds were highly intercorrelated with the exception of BDE-209, which was not correlated with any of the other compounds. No correlations were found either between PFASs and PBDEs suggesting different sources of exposure and/or pharmacokinetic and metabolisation processes. PBDE and PFAS concentrations were in the range associated with adverse effects in some epidemiological studies.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF HEMATOLOGICAL CHANGES AND THERAPEUTICAL EFFECT OF TOXOPLASMOSIS IN NINEVEH’S WOMEN AND SMALL RUMINANTS

Toxoplasma gondii is an important protozoan pathogen of human and animals, The study was conducted on 557 serum samples of pregnant women from Al-Battol, Al-Hansa, Hamdania Hospital and privet laboratories located in Nineveh between October 2011 to March 2012,suspected patients were in age ranged between 22 up to 41 years to detect Toxoplasma antibodies using latex agglutination test (LAT). Results showed infection rate of 32-43%, with titer ranged between 1 4 to 1 32 which indicated chronic infection.Significant decrease in TRBs, Hb and PCV were detected in pretreatment patients compared with post treatment .Moreover 312 sheep and goats serum samples were also used to identified Toxoplasma antibodies and results showed that (43.66%) , (37.64%) of goats and sheep respectively were infected with Toxoplasmosis. It have been concluded that Toxoplasmosis were and important infectious disease affected both woman and animals in Ninavah province .

Development and Validation of a High Pressure Liquid Chromatographic Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Four Vitamin D Metabolites in Blood Serum

A novel reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatographic method is developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of four vitamin D metabolites: 1,25-dihydroxyD 2 , D 3 and 25-hydroxyD 2 and D 3 in blood serum for the first time. Separation was carried out on an analytical column, Orbit 100 C 18 , 5 I¼m, 250 A— 4 mm, with a mobile phase consisting of ammonium acetate – methanol (MeOH- CH 3 COONH 4 88-12% v/v) delivered isocratically, at a flow rate 0.9 mL/min, at room temperature. Photodiode array detection was performed at 280 nm for the 1I±,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 and at 265 nm for the rest compounds. The limit of detection was 0.5 ng/I¼L, while linearity held up to 5 ng/I¼L. Bamifylline (5 ng/I¼L) was used as internal standard. Validation of the method was performed in terms of accuracy and precision: intra-day assay (n=5) and inter-day assay (n=3 A— 5) and was found to be satisfactory, with high accuracy and precision results. Long term stability, short-term stability and stability during various freeze thaw cycles were also studied. The method was successfully applied to blood serum samples of pregnant women and their neonates after an easy preparation procedure. Recovery rates from serum ranged between 88.5 and 103.4 %.

Phylogenetically diverse TT virus viremia among pregnant women

Infections during pregnancy have been suggested to be involved in childhood leukemias. We used high-throughput sequencing to describe the viruses most readily detectable in serum samples of pregnant women. Serum DNA of 112 mothers to leukemic children was amplified using whole genome amplification. Sequencing identified one TT virus (TTV) isolate belonging to a known type and two putatively new TTVs. For 22 mothers, we also performed TTV amplification by general primer PCR before sequencing. This detected 39 TTVs, two of which were identical to the TTVs found after whole genome amplification.Altogether, we found 40 TTV isolates, 29 of which were putatively new types (similarities ranging from 89% to 69%). In conclusion, high throughput sequencing is useful to describe the known or unknown viruses that are present in serum samples of pregnant women.

Magnesium concentration in amniotic fluid in the early weeks of the second trimester of pregnancy

BackgroundWe analyse magnesium levels in amniotic fluid to establish normal values for the 14th to 18th week of pregnancy and establish critical values that could be useful diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines for possible complications.FindingsNinety-two samples of amniotic fluid obtained by amniocentesis as well as the corresponding serum samples of pregnant women were analysed. The gestational age (mean ± SD) at which the amniotic fluid sample was obtained was 16.13 ± 1.87 weeks. Magnesium levels were determined by colorimetric assay with chlorophosphonazo-III using the the Cobas c 501 analyser (Roche Diagnostics). Statistical treatment of data was performed using the SPSS program, version 15.0.Results revealed a mean magnesium value of 1.65 ± 0.16 mg/dL in amniotic fluid and 1.97 ± 0.23 mg/dL in serum.ConclusionsIt would be interesting to extend the study to a larger number of pregnant women to determine variations in normal magnesium values in the three trimesters of pregnancy.

Isolation of a Fusion Protein Containing the Antigenic Domain 1 of Human Cytomegalovirus Glycoprotein B and its Application in ELISA Tests

The glycoprotein B (gB) of human cytomegalovirus represents a dominant antigen for the humoral immune response. The immunodominant region on gB is the antigenic domain 1 (AD-1), a complex structure that requires a minimal continuous sequence of more than 75 amino acids for antibody binding. In this study, this domain was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein with beta-galactosidase but yielded insoluble protein aggregates as inclusion bodies. To recover the fusion protein, inclusion bodies were solubilized by two extractions with urea 8 M: and the fusion protein then isolated using gel filtration chromatography. After confirmation of fusion protein antigenicity by Western blotting, the purified product was used as the capturing antigen in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine the presence of viral antibodies in serum samples of pregnant women. A cut-off point of approximately 0.2 absorbance units could discriminate the results of seropositive from seronegative pregnant women. The data indicates the potential usefulness of the fusion protein for the development of immunoassay for detection of the HCMV antibodies.

Differentiation between acute primary and recurrent human cytomegalovirus infection in pregnancy, using a microneutralization assay

Acute primary human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in pregnancy, the major cause of congenital symptomatic infection, is often difficult to differentiate from recurrent infection, which presents a considerably smaller risk to the fetus. Therefore, the diagnosis of primary infection in pregnancy is very important, especially if seroconversion is not documented and follow-up sera with declining IgM-titers are not available. To investigate the value of the neutralizing antibody response against HCMV in differentiating acute primary from recurrent and past infection, well-characterized sera from pregnant women were examined. Employing a microneutralization assay, it was found that neutralizing antibodies first appeared approximately 15 weeks after acute infection. However, serum samples of pregnant women with recurrent or past infection consistently displayed neutralizing activity. In conclusion, the neutralization assay can be used as a reliable method for discriminating acute primary from previous or recurrent infection in a single serum sample.

Thyrotropic activity of acidic isoelectric variants of human chorionic gonadotropin from trophoblastic tumors.

Previous studies have indicated that hCG has a weak intrinsic thyroid-stimulating activity. Differences in the molecular composition and biological activity of hCG in patients with trophoblastic diseases and pregnant women occur, but are not well defined. Therefore, we have studied the effect of serum samples and purified hCG preparations from patients with trophoblastic diseases on T3 release from human and porcine thyroid slices in vitro. We examined 30 serum samples from 13 patients with nonseminomatous testicular germ cell tumors, 3 from women with choriocarcinoma, and 5 from patients with hydatidiform moles. In all but 1 serum sample from the tumor patients, but in none of 11 serum samples of pregnant women, T3-releasing activity was found. Two patients with testicular cancer and 1 patient with molar pregnancy experienced episodes of frank hyperthyroidism. Isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels of tumor sera (n = 15) revealed substantial amounts of acidic isoelectric variants, pI 3.3-3.9, which were only barely detectable in pregnancy sera. The percentage of acidic hCG variants with pI 3.3-4.0 to total hCG with pI 3.3-5.2, as determined by hCG (+hCG beta) RIA of the eluted fractions of polyacrylamide gel isoelectric focussing, varied from 12-45% in sera of tumor patients and from 0-4% in pregnant sera. We purified the acidic variants of hCG with pI 3.6-3.8 (hCGav) from the urine of our patients. The beta-subunit of purified hCGav had a slightly higher mol wt (35,750) than that of hCG CR 119 (34,190) on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The hCGav showed a dose-dependant stimulation of T3 release and cAMP generation from human thyroid slices, whereas the other hCG fractions on isoelectric focussing had no thyrotropic effect in similar dose levels. The TSH-like activity of hCGav could be roughly estimated as 10 mIU TSH/IU hCGav. Anti-hCG (+hCG beta) antiserum, but not anti-hTSH antiserum, neutralized the biological activity of hCGav. These findings strongly suggest that acidic hCG variants act as functional stimulators of the human thyroid in vitro. Since these molecular variants of hCG can exist in patients with trophoblastic diseases in significant amounts, they could be responsible for some cases of hyperthyroidism in trophoblastic diseases.