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The gastric aspirate shake test (GST) was evaluated in 77 newborns with respiratory distress for predicting hyaline membrane disease (HMD) at KEM Hospital, Pune, India. Methods: Over 0.5 ml of gastric fluid was obtained within 30 minutes of birth and mixed with an equal volume of normal saline for 10 seconds; 1 ml of 95% ethanol was then added and the mixture agitated for 10 seconds. After standing for 15 minutes, the air-liquid interface was examined for bubbles. Results: All 21 infants with a negative GST developed HMD. However, 12 infants with an intermediate and 9 with a positive test also developed HMD. None of the infants with other respiratory disorders, e.g. transient tachypnoea and pneumonia, had a negative GST. A negative GST had a specificity of 100%, sensitivity of 70% and positive predictive value of 100% for developing HMD. Conclusion: GST is a useful test for predicting HMD and might be of particular value in developing countries


Neelaredoxin is a mononuclear iron protein widespread among prokaryotic anaerobes and facultative aerobes, including human pathogens. It has superoxide scavenging activity, but the exact mechanism by which this process occurs has been controversial. In this report, we present the study of the reaction of superoxide with the reduced form of neelaredoxin from the hyperthermophilic archaeon Archaeoglobus fulgidus by pulse radiolysis. This protein reduces superoxide very efficiently (k = 1.5 × 109 M1s1), and the dismutation activity is rate-limited, in steady-state conditions, by the much slower superoxide oxidation step. These data show unambiguously that the superfamily of neelaredoxin-like proteins (including desulfoferrodoxin) presents a novel type of reactivity toward superoxide, a result of particular relevance for the understanding of both oxygen stress response mechanisms and, in particular, how pathogens may respond to the oxidative burst produced by the defense cells in eukaryotes. The actual in vivo functioning of these enzymes will depend strongly on the cell redox status. Further insight on the catalytic mechanism was obtained by the detection of a transient intermediate ferric species upon oxidation of neelaredoxin by superoxide, detectable by visible spectroscopy with an absorption maximum at 610 nm, blue-shifted ~50 nm from the absorption of the resting ferric state. The role of the iron sixth ligand, glutamate-12, in the reactivity of neelaredoxin toward superoxide was assessed by studying two site-directed mutants: E12Q and E12V.


. Two patients, a father and his only son, suffered from a severe congenital hemolytic syndrome, which was characterized by the presence of spontaneous inclusion bodies in erythrocytes and by the excretion of dark-brown pigments in the urine.
2. The inclusion bodies present in approximately one-third of the erythrocytes, were indistinguishable from Heinz-Ehrlich bodies. They occurred in reticulocytes and occasionally in normoblasts. In addition to these bodies, many erythrocytes contained basophilic stippling, siderocytic granules and rod-like structures. These morphologic abnormalities are believed to be the result of an inherited metabolic abnormality of the red cells.
3. The urinary pigments were found to have properties which were similar to mesobilifuscin. It is believed that these pigments possessed a dipyrrolic structure and were derived from erythrocyte catabolism.
4. Transfusion of the patient’s erythrocytes into a normal recipient resulted in rapid removal of the heterologous cells from the circulation and in excretion of similar dark pigments in the urine