PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M A al-Awqati

Publications and source records attributed to M A al-Awqati.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Consideration on some hormone binding proteins patterns during pregnancy.

Serum concentrations of sex hormone binding globulin, transcortin, thyroxine binding globulin, transthyretin together with retinol binding protein, ceruloplasmin, transferrin and albumin were measured sequentially in pregnant women in order to derive more definite suppositions relating to the prime function of hormone binding proteins. Thus, the fact that except for transthyretin all other specific hormone binding proteins exhibited appreciable but significantly variable increases would suggest: a) the apparent existence of more complex mechanisms regulating protein metabolism during pregnancy than hitherto postulated (i.e. the general notion of an integrated estrogen influence); b) a major and distinctive role for each of the hormone binding proteins is plausible since alterations in hormonal requirements by the fetus as pregnancy progresses can not be provided by the almost constant transplacental transfer rate of the "free" hormone moiety.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Free amino acids, copper, iron and zinc composition in sera of patients with thyrometabolic diseases.

Free amino acids together with copper, iron and zinc were measured in sera of 67 adult patients with thyrotoxicosis (n = 29) or hypothyroidism (n = 38). In contradistinction to the almost indifferences exhibited by the three metals, many amino acids displayed significant relationships with the thyrometabolic activity (mainly tyrosine and arginine with r values of 0.5 and 0.44, respectively). Additional analyses revealed certain patterns, between trace metals and amino acids, which conferred challenging difficulties to interpretation. Thus while zinc was associated positively with some amino acids (such as glutamic acid and alanine), copper correlated almost invariably in a negative manner with citrulline, alpha-amino-butyric acid, proline, glycine and valine. This new information should contribute to our knowledge of the complex metabolism of both trace metals and amino acids.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Ultrafiltrable copper and related analytes in maternal and cord blood.

We utilized the Amicon micropartition system (MPS-1) to prepare ultrafiltrates of serum for evaluating non-protein-bound copper (NPBCu). The method is rapid (a usual turnaround time less than 2 h), practical (only 1 mL of serum is required), and reproducible (average CV = 5.7% within assay and 9.3% between assays). Using this technique, we determined that (a) NPBCu in serum appeared to be fairly stable, showing little variation among subjects in different physiological conditions (normal female, pregnancy, or fetal samples); and (b) of all copper fractions studied, only NPBCu appeared to correlate between maternal concentrations and cord counterparts at delivery. Thus the NPBCu fraction may be appreciably involved in the overall mechanism of copper nutritional supply from mother to fetus.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Deprecating the diagnostic significance of free thyroxine levels in human serum.

Prime diagnostic importance has been postulated for the measurement of free thyroxine in human serum. During the past decade various innovative and routinely applicable techniques have been developed for its assay, and claims for their superior performance in clinical practice have subsequently been made. However, in our opinion, based on current literature concerning thyroxine metabolism together with basic information about the physicochemical characteristics that govern its intravascular distribution, it seems appropriate to indicate caution against overestimating the diagnostic sensitivity attributed to free thyroxine measurement irrespective of assay methodology and its conceptual elegance.

Humans↗